Keep your family safe with a home escape plan

Perhaps the most crucial step in making your plan is practice, writes Mike Doyle

Yorkregion.com
Feb. 10, 2021
Mike Doyle

Does your family know where to meet in the event of a fire? Do you know two different ways to leave your home if there is a fire?

These are important questions to have the answers to. Making and practising your home escape plan is one of the best things you can do to help keep you and your family safe.

A home escape plan includes the layout of your home, all escape routes and a place to meet once you are safely outside. Start by drawing the home’s floor plan, including all doors, windows and stairs for each level.

Also, note any features that could help you escape, such as a garage or a balcony. Mark at least two escape routes from each room so that if the door is blocked, you know another way out, like through a window.

Decide on a meeting place outside where all household members will go to wait for the fire department to arrive. It should be a place that everyone can get to safely, such as a neighbour’s front yard, a nearby mailbox or a street sign. This will allow you to count heads and inform firefighters if anybody is still inside your home.

Never go back into a burning building, no matter the reason.

Suppose you live in a highrise apartment or condo. In that case, you can ask the building management about the building’s safety plan, which will include information about the fire safety features, such as sprinklers, and an outline of the emergency procedures.

Know the locations of all available exit stairs from your unit and floor if the nearest one is blocked by fire or smoke. Include exit stairwells on your floor plan drawing along with a meeting place outside of the building.

It is essential to consider whether anyone in your household is very young, elderly or has a medical, mental health or physical condition and would require help getting to safety. Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service has a free voluntary Vulnerable Persons Registry that first responders reference during an emergency to be best prepared to provide special assistance to those who need it.

You can learn more about the registry by visiting vaughan.ca/VulnerablePersonsRegistry.

Perhaps the most crucial step in making your plan is practice. Practise your escape plan with everyone in your household at least twice a year. You can even make it part of the routine when changing the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Ensure everyone in your household knows what they should do.

Practise different scenarios, such as a blocked exit where you need to use an alternate escape route, or everyone is asleep and must get themselves out of their rooms in the dark. Remember that the drill is not a race, and you want everyone to get out quickly but carefully.

No one expects a fire to happen. However, by making and practising your plan, you can ensure that everyone knows what to do should the fire or carbon monoxide alarm go off.

It only takes a little time, and there is no cost, but it will increase your chance of getting out safely.

Mike Doyle is the acting fire chief of Vaughan Fire and Rescue Service.