Practice Your Home Fire Drill

1. At least twice a year, push the smoke alarm button to start your home fire drill.
2. Get out fast.
3. Practice escaping from bedrooms when people are asleep.
4. Make sure everyone in your household can open all doors and windows. Security bars on windows should have emergency release devices so they can be opened easily from the inside.
5. Go to your meeting place.
6. In a real fire, get out and stay out.
7. Call 9-1-1 from outside.

Escaping From A Bedroom

1. Keep bedroom doors closed.
2. If you’re awakened by the smoke alarm, roll out of bed and crawl to the door. Smoke may already be in your room, and you should stay low.
3. Feel the door with the BACK of your hand.
   
   If it’s hot, don’t open it. If possible place a towel under the door to block smoke, and go to the window.
   
   If it’s not hot, carefully open it. If there’s smoke outside, don’t try to go through it. Smoke can overwhelm you before you get outside. Close the door and go to the window.
4. Practice! Getting out of your bedroom when it’s dark can be very different than in the daytime. Keep your pathways clear.

Get Out And Stay Out

Don’t go back inside for anything.

Why not? If you open a door or window to go in back inside, you let in oxygen. That’s all the fire needs to engulf a room. It could:

• Kill the person you tried to rescue.
• Force the fire into the one open space—the door or window you just opened, killing you.

Stay outside at your meeting place, where you can do the most good by communicating with firefighters. It takes just a few seconds to tell them:

• If everyone is outside and at your meeting place.
• Anything you know about how the fire started and its location.
• About any pets that may still be inside