Learn the dos & don’ts of house fire safety
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Remember these dos and don’ts to help you and your family protect against the dangers of a house fire:
• DO keep a smoke alarm on every level of your home. Half of home fire deaths happen between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. Stay safe with smoke alarms outside of every bedroom and each separate sleeping area.
• DON’T forget to test your smoke alarm every month. The risk of dying in a home fire is cut in half in homes with working smoke alarms. If your alarm doesn’t sound when tested, it’s time to replace it.
• DO address your needs. If you require eyeglasses, hearing aid, cane or a wheelchair, ensure they are next to your bed to quickly grab if necessary. If there is a fire, you may have less than three minutes to get out of your home. Be ready to act immediately.
• DON’T assume you’ll hear the fire alarm if it sounds. If you test the alarm and can’t hear it, consider getting a strobe light that will flash or a bed shaker that will shake when the smoke alarm sounds.
• DO make a fire escape plan that shows at least two ways out of every room. Identify a meeting place in the front of your home, to verify that everyone is safe and help firefighters ensure everyone exited safely.
• DON’T stop to call 911 until you’re safely outside and away from danger. Stay outside until the fire department says it’s safe to go back inside.
• For even more fire safety tips, visit the U.S. Fire Administration’s webpage at www.usfa.fema.gov. You can also follow FEMA Region V at twitter.com/femaregion5 and www.facebook.com/fema. Individuals can always find valuable preparedness information at www.Ready.gov.
FEMA’s mission is to support our citizens and first responders to ensure that as a nation we work together to build, sustain, and improve our capability to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards.
