How to Create a Fire Safety Plan
As we continue chatting about home and auto safety, this month, we’re looking all over the home to provide you with safety tips. Fires in the home can spread quickly, so it’s important to devise a fire safety plan.
Here are suggestions to prepare for a fire emergency, courtesy of the U.S. National Safety Council:
- It’s best to sleep with the door closed. Teach children, in the event of a fire emergency, to feel the door for heat before opening.
- Create an escape route for each area of the home, and decide on a meeting point outside the home.
- Create a map that’s easy for everyone to read.
- Tell young children not to hide during a fire. Also explain that they shouldn’t be afraid of firemen — that firemen are there to help.
- Teach children to drop down and crawl beneath the smoke to escape the home.
- In low-level homes, make sure that bedroom windows open easily (aren’t painted shut), as they may be a secondary means of escape.
- Make sure that everyone in the house knows how to use an escape ladder.
- Explain that no one must ever go back into a burning building.
- Young children should know their last name, street address, and how to dial 911 from a neighbor’s house or cell phone.
