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Fire Safety

Escape Plans

If fire breaks out in your home you have to get out fast! Escape planning is a must. Prepare an escape plan for your home.

  1. Draw a floor-plan of your home, marking two ways out of every room - especially sleeping areas. Discuss the escape routes with every member of your household. If you live in a building with an elevator, do not include this route in your plan - use the stairs.

  2. Agree on a meeting place outside your home where every member of the household will gather after escaping a fire to wait for the fire department. This allows you to inform the fire department if anyone is trapped inside the burning building. Once you are out, stay out!

  3. Practice your escape plan at least twice a year. Have a fire drill in your home. Appoint someone to be a monitor and have everyone participate. A fire drill is not a race. Get out quickly, but carefully.

  4. If you live in a two-storey house, and you must escape from a second-storey window, be sure there is a safe way to reach the ground. Fire escape ladders are recommended for a fast and safe exit from two and three level buildings. Make special arrangements for children, older adults, and people with disabilities. People who have difficulty moving should have a phone in their sleeping area and, if possible, should sleep on the ground floor.

  5. Make sure everyone in the household can unlock all doors and windows quickly, even in the dark. Windows or doors with security bars need to be equipped with quick-release devices and everyone in the household should know how to use them.

  6. Once at the meeting place, have one person go to a neighbour's phone to call the fire department. In addition to telling them your name and address, tell them if anyone is still in the house.

Getting Out When There is a Fire
When your smoke detector goes off remain calm!

While kneeling or crouching at the door, reach up as high as you can and touch the door, the knob, and the space between the door and its frame with the back of your hand. If the door is hot, DO NOT OPEN IT. Use your alternate escape route.

If the door is cool, open it with caution. Brace your shoulder against the door and open it carefully, being ready to close it quickly if heat or smoke rush in. Crawl low under smoke. Smoke contains deadly gases, and heat rises. During a fire, cleaner air will be near the floor. If you encounter smoke when using your primary exit, use your alternate escape plan. If you must exit through smoke, crawl on your hands and knees, keeping your head 12 to 24 inches (30 - 60 cm) above the floor, and maintain contact with the walls as you head to the nearest exit.

If you are trapped, close all doors between you and the fire. Stuff the cracks around the doors to keep out smoke. Wait at a window and signal for help with a light-coloured cloth or a flashlight. If there is a phone in the room, call the fire department and tell them exactly where you are.

In case of fire, don't stop for anything. Do not try to rescue possessions or pets. Go directly to your meeting place and then call the fire department from a neighbour's phone or an alarm box. Every member of your household should know how to call the fire department.

Once you are out, stay out. Once you are out of your home don't go back for any reason. If people are trapped, the fire fighters have the best chance of rescuing them. The heat and smoke of a fire are overpowering. Fire fighters have the training, experience, and protective equipment needed to enter burning buildings. Make sure everyone in the family understands the importance of not going back for anything! If you go back in, you may not come back out.

Make Your Home Fire Safe

  1. A fire escape plan.

  2. Smoke detectors on every level of your home.

  3. A fire extinguisher in the kitchen.

  4. Rope ladders in all second storey bedrooms.

  5. A sprinkler system.