How to Construct a Fire Safety Plan for Your Family
As a parent, you want to keep your child as safe as possible. You teach them about stranger danger and ensure they know how to cross the street and look both ways. We all know the basics of helping our kids stay safe. However, would you believe that a fire safety plan is one area where many families struggle? In general, families do not have a fire safety plan in place. This leads to problems when a fire occurs in the home, including injury and possible death. Having a fire safety plan is essential to keeping your family safe during a fire.
Fire safety in Chicago includes having a safety plan in place for your family. The place you live needs to be considered along with exit points and a meeting area after exiting the home. A fire safety plan must be in place and practiced regularly in order for everyone to act if a fire breaks out.
Creating Your Plan
For starters, the adults in the family need to make the plan. Sit down with your significant other or other older family members in the home to create a plan. You need to have an exit strategy in several scenarios. If you live in an apartment and have a fire escape, you need to speak with your landlord and ensure the fire escape is up to code and working properly.
Fire safety codes in Chicago require that fire escapes work so that residents have an option for escape other than the front door, stairways or elevators. All the exit points need to be discussed and decisions made on if the fire escape will be used in a given scenario or if the stairs or elevator will be accessed.
The fire safety plan should also include directions on how to act and leave the premises, aside from the exit points. Children, as well as adults, need to know that if smoke is present, they must exit low to the ground to avoid inhaling the smoke and soot in the air. While it may seem silly, practicing crawling out of the home to the exit points can be effective, especially with children so they react quickly if a fire occurs.
Practice Makes Perfect
Practice makes any activity a learned one. We practice playing instruments to get better or sports to become more proficient in the activity. When it comes to a fire safety plan, practice will ensure everyone gets out safely.
In an emergency situation, it can be scary, and panic can set in. However, if you have a fire safety plan in place and have practiced numerous times, everyone will react based on repetition. The motions will be familiar and each family member will know how to exit to safety.
Keep your family safe by creating a fire safety plan and practicing various situations on a regular basis. In the event a fire does occur in your home, you will be prepared and ready, giving your family members a better chance to survive in the process.