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Escape Drills In The Home

A National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) report shows that there were approximately 530,500 structure fires and 3,000 associated civilian deaths in the United States in 2007.  That’s why E.D.I.T.H. is so important.  Escape Drills In The Home (EDITH) should be practiced at least 2 times every year and must include all family members, regardless of age or ability.  You can survive a fire in your home if you plan and practice your escape.

Plan your escape:

●  Draw a floor plan of your home and identify two ways out of each room.  Discuss this step-by-step plan with all members of your family. Download your floor plan grid here.

●  Agree on a meeting place outside where all family members will gather.  Once you are out, stay out!

●  Practice your home escape plan.  Have a fire drill in your home.  Appoint a monitor to ensure everyone safely escapes.  Remember, this is not a race.  Get out quickly, but carefully.

Be Prepared:

●  Make sure everyone can hear and recognize the sound of all smoke alarms.  If you sleep with bedroom doors closed, consider installing interconnected smoke alarms in each room so that when one alarm sounds, they all sound.

●  Teach everyone in your household how to unlock and open all windows and doors, even in the dark.  Windows with security bars should be equipped with quick-release devices.   

●  Be sure all exits and stairways are clear from clutter.

Escape tips:

●  If you live in a multi-story home and must escape from an upper story window, be sure there is a safe way to reach the ground, such as a fire escape ladder.  Persons with difficulty moving should have a phone in their sleeping area and should sleep on the ground floor, if possible.

●  If you live in an apartment or high-rise building, use the stairway to escape and NEVER use an elevator during a fire.  Carefully follow your buildings emergency evacuation plan. 

●  Feel a closed door and knob with the back of your hand.  If the door is hot, use an alternate escape route.  If it is cool, brace your shoulder against the door and open it with caution.  If smoke pours through the door, quickly close the door.

●  If you must escape through smoke, get low and crawl under the smoke.  Cleaner air will be near the floor.

●  Close all doors behind you to slow the spread of fire and smoke and do not try to rescue possessions or pets.  Go directly to your meeting place and call  911 from a cell phone or neighbor’s home. 

●  Once you are out, stay out!  Don’t return for any reason.  Because the heat and smoke of a fire are so overwhelming, firefighters (with their training and protective equipment) have the best chance of rescuing trapped persons.   

●  If you are trapped inside a burning building, close all doors between you and the fire.  To keep out smoke, stuff the cracks around the doors and wait at a window and signal for help.  If you have access to a phone call  911 and report exactly where you are.

Install and maintain smoke detectors:

●  Install smoke detectors on every level of your home, in all hallways leading to sleeping areas and inside   each sleeping area.  Test your smoke detectors monthly and replace the batteries yearly.  Replace smoke detectors that are more than 10 years old.  Consider installing strobe light smoke detectors for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.  

● Consider installing a residential fire sprinkler system in your home.  These sprinklers spray water only on the area where the fire began and have proven to be effective in quickly extinguishing fires.

Please contact our Fire Prevention Bureau at 774-2800 if you have any questions or for help in setting up your escape plan.