Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape!
When the smoke alarm sounds, you may have as little as two minutes to safely escape your home. It is critically important for everyone in the family to know how to safely get out of the house and where to meet.
October is Fire Prevention Month in the Central County Fire & Rescue (CCFR) district. The annual awareness campaign is organized in conjunction with the National Fire Protection Association’s Fire Prevention Week, which is the longest running public health and safety observance on record.
This year, CCFR and the NFPA are putting the focus on planning and practicing emergency escape routes, with the theme “Not Every Hero Wears a Cape. Plan and Practice Your Escape.”
On average there are more than 300,000 home structure fires nationwide. Last year, there were nearly 50 right here in our St. Peters community.
“Many times these fires happen at night while people are sleeping and not alert, which makes practicing your home escape plan even more important,” CCFR Assistant Chief Steve Brown says.
How To Make a Home Escape Plan
- Draw a map of your home that marks all doors, windows and smoke alarms. Smoke alarms should be on every level of the home, and inside and outside each bedroom.
- Visit each room in your home. Find two ways out of every room, and make sure all windows and doors open easily and can be used to get outside.
- Pick a meeting place outside in front of your home where everyone will meet in an emergency.
- Assign someone to call 911 from a neighbor’s house once everyone is out.
- Practice makes perfect! Practice your home escape plan at least twice a year.
Throughout the month, when crews are not responding to an emergency situation, their efforts go toward educating the community about fire prevention. CCFR has developed a special curriculum that is delivered to students at every school in the area; crew members also attend community events and provide fire prevention training to high-hazard properties in the area.
Right-click on the image below to save this checklist and make sure you complete the following action items this month!
