Just like working smoke detectors in your home are important, so is knowing exactly what you’re going to do if you have a fire in your home. Although having adequate homeowners insurance is a big part of your plan to cover you in the event of damage to your home due to a fire, so should be planning how your family is going to escape.
Do your children know what to do if the smoke alarm goes off? Do you have a safe place where you’ll meet outside your house? These are all part of the escape plan you should have in place in advance.
To learn how to get prepared, October 8th starts the Fire Prevention Week and Safe Kids is working together with Nationwide’s Make Safe Happen program to help inspire families to come up with their own home fire drill.
This is the week that families should take action to teach their children what to do when the smoke detector in their home goes off. Just like in schools where fire drills are practiced regularly, so should families practice them at home. In particular, families are encouraged to conduct a home fire drill on October 14, 2017.
Families are being asked to work together to come up with a plan to ensure they’re able to quickly escape safely from their home during a fire and practice this plan. It’s important that not only do you come up with this plan, but you continue to practice it with your entire family. Choose a location that’s outside your home at a safe distance practice getting to this location in under a couple minutes.
Home Fire Drill Tips
Below are some tips to help incorporate into your home fire drill.
Have a Safe Location
Pick a safe location near your home but that’s outside at a distance away that’s safe. Educate your children that when the smoke alarm goes off, they have to get out of the home as quickly as possible and meet you there at that safe location.
Make Sure Your Smoke Alarms Work
Ensure all your smoke alarms are working correctly and show your children what they sound like. You should have a smoke alarm on each level of your home as well as one in each bedroom.
Practice the Fire Drill
Have your children start off in their bedrooms and wait for the fire drill to start. Assign adults to help children who are under six years old. Set the smoke alarm off and start a timer. Have everyone make it to the safe location and then once everyone is there, stop the timer. Keep practicing this until everyone can make it to the safe location in two minutes or under.
If there’s a real fire, ensure everyone gets to the safe spot first, and then call 911. Keep all family members close until help arrives.
One last thing, remember to “stop, drop and roll.” If anyone’s clothing should catch on fire, it’s important to know this extra step. You can even make this a part of your drill.
