Fire Prevention XIX

Plan a Home Fire Drill

Take the time to create and practice a home fire drill with your family so everyone knows and understands what to do. If your kids go to school, then they should already be familiar with what a fire drill is. They may even be able to help you create the fire escape plan. Make it fun for them so they don’t get bored, or distracted while you are telling them about fire safety at home. Here is a Home Fire Drill Checklist with things you need to make sure you include when planning:

• Pick a safe spot.
  • Pick a spot that is easy for everyone to get to that is a safe distance from your home.
  • Make sure everyone understands that if they hear the fire alarm they need to get out of the house and meet at the safe spot.
• Make sure your kids know what the smoke alarms sound like (you can do this by testing them).
• As the parent, walk through and make sure you have smoke alarms on every floor and one in each bedroom. 
• Before you do your drill, draw a rough floor plan of your house so you can show the exits and best ways to get out. If a door isn’t usable, make sure they know how to get out the window, etc. and have escape ladders available.
• If you have young children, make sure someone is designated to helping them.
• Once you have gone over all the possible escape routes, have everyone go to their rooms and pretend that they are sleeping. One of the adults will “test” the fire alarm and start a timer and have everyone run the drill and meet at the safe spot you picked earlier. Work on this regularly so no one forgets (especially the younger kids). The goal is get out of the house and to the safe spot in under two minutes!
• Make sure everyone understands that whoever gets to the safe spot first needs to call 911 in the case of a real fire.