Household Fire Safety Precautions
How to Create a Home Fire Escape Plan and Reduce Risk of Home Fires
Aug 26, 2008
House fires can be devastating, resulting in the loss of irreplaceable mementoes and treasured belongings and endangering the lives people living in the home. It is important to put some basic safety strategies in place to minimise the risk of fires and to ensure that family members know what to do in an emergency.
Drawing a Home Fire Escape Plan
Preparing a home fire escape plan involves only a few basic steps:
- Draw a basic house plan on a piece of paper, clearly marking all doors and windows. Two exits should be marked for each room.
- Decide on an outside meeting point away from the home, such as the letterbox or neighbour’s letterbox or driveway.
- Discuss the escape plan with everyone living in the house and display it in a prominent place.
- Practice the escape plan at least twice a year so that everyone is familiar with what they should do and where they should go in an emergency.
- Make sure that pets are included in emergency evacuation plans.
The NSW Fire Brigade has a home fire escape plan grid available with room for the evacuation house plan and some basic fire evacuation safety tips.
When family members are evacuating a home, it is important to remember to check the temperature of any doors with the back of the hand before opening them and to close doors as they are passed through to slow down the progress of the fire.
Discussing Fire Safety with Children
It is particularly important for young children to be aware of what they should do in an emergency. They should be reminded that they should never return into a burning home for a favourite toy or to rescue a pet.
It is also worthwhile discussing with them the appearance of fire fighters who may enter the home to rescue them, particularly pointing out that they will often be wearing breathing apparatus that can appear quite frightening to a small child. Children should be reminded that they need to leave the house quickly in an emergency and should never hide, even if they are frightened.
Basic Home Fire Safety Tips
It is important to ensure that all windows and security doors and screens can be quickly released from inside a home during an emergency.
Every home should have at least one fire alarm installed per floor. These should be checked monthly using the appropriate switch to ensure that they are functioning and batteries should be replaced every year. Choose a significant date to change the batteries, such as a birthday or anniversary or the beginning or end of daylight savings, as a memory trigger.
Keep a fire blanket or appropriate fire extinguisher in the kitchen for emergencies. Fire extinguishers should be checked periodically by the appropriate authorities to ensure that they are still functioning correctly.
Minimise Home Fire Risks
House fires can have tragic consequences. It is important to do everything possible to minimise the risks of a fire at home and, most importantly, to ensure that family members know how to escape from an emergency situation quickly and safely.
Related Article: Home Inventory Checklist
 |
