Include all children and family members that live in the home in building your safety plan. Even if you think your child may be young still include them, you never know what might stick! If you can, have the kiddos draw out the safety plan so they visually understand.
Next, identify all possible escape routes within the home and within each room. Each room should have a way to obviously get out of the door but also a window. Explain to those included in your safety plan that some escape routs might be blocked with fire, smoke, or debris and to think critically when trying to evacuate the house. If you live in an apartment, make sure the plan shows the location of stairwells that lead downstairs to building exits.
Draw out your home and exit plan options on a large piece of paper. If you have blueprints of your home use these to trace over. If you don't, make your drawing as accurate as possible to the layout of your home. Circle where your major exits are and draw a line from each room where the nearest exit may be. Include window escape options as well.
Create a designated meeting space for all family members to congregate outside of the home. This should not be a backyard or alleyway. This should be in the front of your home at a safe distance from the building where emergency services can reach you but you are not in the way of their defusing the fire.
Make sure all of the children have memorized your address to tell emergency services. Ensure they have a neighbor that they feel comfortable with to ask to call 911.
Talk about what to do in the immediate moments following the conclusion that a fire is happening in the home. Here are some things you need to do right away.
Remember to stay calm.
- Yell "FIRE, FIRE, FIRE" several times to alert anyone in the house that may still be sleeping.
- Get out of the home immediately to call 911.
- Go directly to the designated meeting place.
Hopefully, these tips help kickstart your families safety plan. Of course, you should have one for fires but you should also have one for other natural disasters that might be prevalent in your area such as tornadoes, floods, or hurricanes. We care about everyone's safety so if you are worried your home's electrical might cause a hazard for you or your family call Eco Electric today and we will get you on the right and safe track.