How to Survive a House Fire - Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Broker

How to Survive a House Fire

You might only have a few moments to get out of your house or apartment safely once you hear the smoke alarm going off. According to the US Fire Administration, there's a fire in an American home every minute that is severe enough to call the fire department.

Paul Bianchina of Inman News, writes that, on average, "2,600 people die every year in house fires in the U.S. -- that's one person every three hours -- and an average of 13,000 people are injured."

None of us wants to think about this happening but you can protect yourself with these important steps:

Smoke alarms are obviously the most important thing you can install in your home to give you warning of a fire. They are inexpensive to buy and install and you should make sure there are an adequate amount of them placed throughout your house.

"You should have one outside the door of each room where people sleep, and a minimum of one detector centrally located on each floor of the house." says Bianchina and most importantly, "Once installed, be sure the batteries are changed once a year -- pick a specific day of the year, and mark it on the calendar!"

Have an escape plan in place for your family. Make sure everyone knows what to do in case of fire. Every member of the family should be involved, so they all know how to get out and where to meet up so you can be sure that everyone is safe.

Decide on a meeting spot: This is a place everyone agrees on and immediately goes to so that you know everyone is safe and no one will risk going back in the home.

"Leave immediately," says Bianchina, "Your home's contents can be replaced -- you can't. If you're alerted to a fire in your home, get out immediately. Don't stop to gather any belongings. Don't even stop to call 9-1-1 -- you can do that with a cell phone from outside, or from a neighbor's house."

The front door is not always the best or safest route out. Make sure everyone knows a few different ways to escape from any room, one of those escape routes might be a window.

Practice, practice, practice. Practice your plan using different escape routes in case one of them is blocked. If the door to your room is closed make sure you feel it first before opening it to make sure its not hot, the fire could be blazing on the other side. If you need to escape out a window, figure out how you can safely do that. Upper floors might need an escape ladder to safely evacuate. Escape ladders, both permanent and single-use, can be found online and in many home centers.

"No matter how well you know your house," cautions Bianchina, " during the heat, smoke, and chaos of a fire it's easy to become confused and disoriented -- especially at night. Everyone in the family needs to know and practice the escape route from each room all the way to the exterior of the house."

Read the full story at Inman News.

photo credit: Phantasmagore