Home Fire Safety Tips & Facts

Tips:

• Make sure to sleep with your bedroom door closed, as it's the smoke that usually kills not the fire.
• Change your smoke alarm batteries twice a year.
• Have a predetermined meeting place for your family to gather after exiting the house.
• Develop an exit plan (details below)

Facts

• The United States has one of the highest residential fire death rates in the industrialized world!
• Over 10 people die and 50 are injured in residential fires every day!
• Half of these deaths occur during the hours of 10:00 PM and 6:00 AM, when most people sleep, although only 25% of these fires occur during those hours!
• 30% of people who die in residential fires had working fire alarms/smoke detectors!

Why does this happen? Listen to a first hand account from a firefighter!

The REDI-EXIT ™ Fire Escape Systemsolves this problem.

The most important way for you and your family to survive a residentialfire is by developing an exit plan and practicing it at lease twicea year.

These practice secessions are known a by the Synonym E.D.I.T.H.or Exit Drills In The Home. They assure that alladults and children living in your home instantly know what to doin the event of a fire. Each room must have two escape routes incase one route is blocked by smoke or fire.

• Practice your plan at least twice a year; make sure everyone participates. Remember it is not a race, get out quickly but carefully.
• Start your drill from the bedrooms since the majority of fatal fires occur at night when people are sleeping.
• Make your drills as realistic as possible by practicing both escape routes. Pretend that a certain exit is blocked by smoke or fire, that there are no lights and the hallways are filling with smoke.
• Smoke contains deadly gases and is hot, so it fills a room from the top down. If you encounter smoke using your primary exit, use your alternate route.
• If you must exit through smoke the best air is several inches off the floor. Get down on your hands and knees, and crawl quickly to the exit.
• Test every door before opening to make sure there's no smoke or fire on the other side. Test by using the back of your hand to touch the door, the doorknob and the space between the door and the frame.
• If any of these feel hot use your second way out.
• If everything feels cool brace your shoulder against the door, and
  open carefully. Be ready to slam it shut if heat or smoke rushes in.
• As you leave, close all doors behind you as they slow down the spread of both fire and smoke.

Remember, having two ways out of each room greatly increasesyour chances of surviving a residential fire.