How to make a home fire escape plan and practice it

A fire can become life-threatening in two minutes, and a house can be engulfed in flames in five. Once the smoke alarm sounds, you could have less than 2 minutes to get out. Fire also turns a house dark with smoke, so draw the routes and practice them before you need them.

What you need

• A sheet of paper and a pen, or graph paper for a cleaner floor plan
• Everyone who lives in the house, for the drill
• A step stool, to test the smoke alarms

Steps

1. 1

   Draw the floor plan

   Sketch each floor with every room, door and window. Mark where each person sleeps.

   10 min

2. 2

   Mark two ways out of every room

   The second way out is for when fire or smoke blocks the first. In most rooms that's the door and a window.

   10 min

3. 3

   Check that each way out is clear

   Walk the routes and move anything blocking a door or window. Open each window you marked, check that the screen comes out quickly, and make sure any security bars open.

   10 min

4. 4

   Pick the meeting place

   Choose a spot outside in front of the house, such as the mailbox or a tree. Once outside, everyone goes there and stays there, and you call the fire department.

   2 min

5. 5

   Check the smoke alarms

   Put alarms inside and outside each bedroom and sleeping area and on every level, and test them monthly.

   5 min

6. 6

   Teach the two moves for smoke

   Drop to the floor and crawl low under smoke to the exit, since heavy smoke and poisonous gases collect first along the ceiling. Feel the doorknob and door before opening it. If either is hot, or smoke is coming around the door, use the second way out.

   3 min

7. 7

   Run the drill with everyone

   Press the smoke alarm's test button and have everyone follow the plan to the meeting place. Practice twice a year, and once with eyes closed to feel your way out. Time it, and walk the slow parts again.

   5 min

Children and anyone who needs help

Walk young children through each route in daylight before you run a drill. Decide in advance who helps a baby, a young child or anyone who can't get out alone, and put that name on the plan. If someone uses a walker or wheelchair, check that it fits through every exit.

Teach children to go to the meeting place and stay there, and never to hide from firefighters. If you can't reach someone who needs help, get out and call 911, and tell the operator where that person is. Tell firefighters right away about any pet still inside.

If you can't get out

Close the door, and cover the vents and the cracks around the door with cloth or tape to keep smoke out. Call 911 and say where you are, then signal at the window with a light-colored cloth or a flashlight. A closed door can slow smoke, heat and fire, so sleep with the bedroom door closed.

If something goes wrong in the drill

Wake any child who sleeps through the alarm and walk them out, then run the drill again another night. Fix a window that sticks, or a screen that won't come off, before the next drill. When the drill takes much longer than two minutes, find the slow part and walk it again.