Safety Drawings

Moving into a new home is an exciting time. As your family gets used to their new digs and its new neighbors is a good time to update your fire safety plan. First, test all smoke detectors in your home. You must have at least one per floor - depending on the size of the house, additional alarms near rooms can be a good idea.

Use graph paper draw a diagram of floor plan of your house, a page for each floor. You can involve children in this process - they may even want to draw their own diagrams. You want your children to be prepared and confident and not terrible. allowing them to take part can make the planning enjoyable.

Once you have basic scheme of the house, filling all windows, doors, staircases and all other possible outcomes.

Each room should have two possible exits clearly labeled. The first will be the most obvious - the door. But if this route is blocked? Plan alternate escape. In some cases this may mean that the escalation of windows, but you should plan to make them safe. Is there a tree down? Can you safely reach a garage or shed roof? You may need to consider a fire escape ladder or other means to reach the ground.

Most fires occur at night when people sleep, which must be taken into account in planning your routes. Your evacuation plan should be practical for all members of the family and your planning should take into account those who need extra help. When planning for the rooms, you must ensure that the occupants of this particular room can use their second exit.

Teach children to sleep with their doors closed. If they hear the smoke alarm, they should feel the door before opening it - if it's hot, they should use their alternate exit. If you open the door and find the path is blocked by smoke, they should use another exit.

Choose a meeting place outside the house. This is where everyone will meet in case of fire. All family members should know to go directly to the meeting place and not return to the burning building. From here, a person may be sent to neighbors to call 911 for fire.

Now it is time to put the plan into action! Implement the Comprehensive Plan, to everyone in the house is familiar with the exits of each room and know how to escape. This small effort can make a huge difference - the familiarity will reduce the indecision can be fatal in a real emergency.

You should practice your plan every six months - how often you change the batteries in your smoke detector. Linking this to the DST, it is easy to remember. Each time you change your clocks you also change the batteries and practice the plan.

Keep the fire plan fresh in your mind can help your family avoid tragedy, and you can sleep better knowing you're ready for a rude awakening.