homes with emergency plans. A home evacuation plan should contain at least the following;

• Procedures for actions taken during an emergency

• An evacuation plan showing alternate escape routes •

An assembly point.

1.  Draw a floor plan of your home. Include the following:

• primary and secondary exit route from each room. The primary route should be directly to the outside such as through the window.

• The location of any fire equipment

• Mark the area where everyone is to meet once they are outside of the house.

• Mark the location of utility shut-off switches and valves.

2.  Physically check the exit routes to be sure that anyone, who will need to use them, can use them. This will clarify the need for things like escape ladders, ramps, security grill release mechanisms for protected doors and windows, and the availability of keys for double key locks.

• Make sure that everyone understands that they are not to go back into the house or apartment once they are out. Go to the meeting area and wait.

• Discuss how to feel the door if it is closed and not to open it if it is hot.

• Talk about the danger of smoke and heat and the importance of staying low.

• Discuss what to do in the event that they become trapped.

• Be sure that everyone knows what the smoke detector sounds like. 

The first thing to consider when formulating a plan is to have some method of being made aware of the danger. Smoke detectors are simple, automatic devices to provide that notification. You may also consider providing each bedroom with a whistle of some sort as a manual method of notifying the family to get out.

Sleeping with the doors closed provides barriers between those you love and night time fire in your home. The average household door will last approximately three to five minutes with a fully involved room. Closed doors have saved many lives by giving people the time to escape. Sometimes, people with small children or infants think that leaving, the door at night will enable them to hear in case their children cry or call out. In a fire the open door may allow toxic gases to enter the rooms and render both the parents and the children unconscious before any of them are aware of the problem. Inexpensive devices not only allows monitoring other rooms, but in some cases, communicating with them.

At the sound of the alarm or if you suspect that there is a fire in your home, get out! If you reach a closed door, feel it before opening. If it is hot, don’t open it. Try to use a direct exit to the outside. If the door is cool to the touch, open it cautiously, keeping the door between you and the opening. Stay low and be prepared to close it quickly if heat or smoke is present. In the event that you must move through smoke, stay low, on hands and knees crawling quickly to the nearest exit. If you must break a window because it won’t open, you can use a heavy object. Use it to punch out all of the glass starting from the top. Scrap the bottom edge of the window to remove fragments that may be sticking up and could injure you. Placing a blanket, pillow or article of clothing on the sill before you climb out provides additional protection. 

Evacuation from a two story home or a second floor apartment can be a little more difficult. Consider is the purchase of an escape ladder. They are all designed to attach quickly to a windowsill. (Available for three story buildings) It is important that every member of the family practice with the ladder. 

In a two-story building, You must go out the window without a ladder, lower yourself out of the window feet first, facing the building. Hang down from the windowsill at arm’s length, let go and drop to the ground. In this position in your average residence, an adult’s feet are within six or seven feet of the ground.

In the City of Los Angeles, buildings are required to have an address posted that is large enough to be seen from the street. The reason for this becomes very evident on those occasions when you have called 911 because you need help and your help is delayed because of difficulty in locating you because there is no address on the house is hidden or too small to read. You want them to find you, and find you quickly. It is always a good idea to send someone outside to meet the Fire Department to guide them to the emergency. This is especially true if you live in a large apartment complex with only one address for many units or even buildings.

SECURITY BARS

Where security devices are used on windows and doors, it is important to remember that whatever keeps others from entering your home, can keep you and those you love from getting out. Make sure that everyone in the family knows how to use any release devices in the event of an emergency. Bars on windows should have quick release devices if they are installed on windows in a room where someone sleeps. Make sure that everyone in the home knows how to use any release devices in the event of an emergency. Test these devices at least twice a year to make sure they are working properly. Doors that require a key to open them from either side when they are locked should have the keys left in them on the interior side at night. Someone getting to that door without a key, or dropping a key in the smoke may never get out. Regardless of how you got out of the building, go to the predetermined meeting place. Remember, if there is a fire in your home, get out and stay out. Practice your plan and take it seriously.

If there is a fire in your apartment, get everyone out first and confine the fire by closing the doors. Turn in the alarm to both the building and the Fire Department. The same steps that were taken in a house should be follow in an apartment fire. It is important to slow the fire spread so other people will have time to evacuate the building should that becomes necessary. In this case, notification includes notifying the other tenants as well as the Fire Department. This may be done by activating the fire alarm system if the building has one, or by knocking on doors if that is the only way to let them know.

If you hear an alarm or smell smoke, but do not know where the fire is, evacuate but be cautious. Go out the door after feeling to see if it is hot. If it is hot, don’t open it. Try another way, or if there is no other way, follow the advice given under what to do if you are trapped. Also remember that if you don’t know where the fire is, it could be below you. Check every closed door that you have to open, including fire doors in the hallway and stairway doors. There could be fire on the other side. Never use an elevator!

Become familiar with your building. Learn where all the stairways are located and in the case of buildings three or more stories in height, find out which stairways give you the most options. For instance, some stairways have two doors at the bottom, one that goes into the building and one that goes directly to the outside. Some stairways go to the roof, some don’t. In some buildings this can be a practical escape option. In multistory buildings in the City of Los Angeles you should find signs in the stairwell landings that will give you this information. Also you should know how to operate the fire alarms if the building is equipped with them. Fire doors in the halls should never be blocked open for any reason. These doors are to provide a barrier between you and a fire. If they are open, you lose that protection. This is also true of doors leading to the stairways. Open fire doors aid in the spread of the fire, fill hallways and stairways with smoke and heat and make escape difficult or impossible.

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