Smoke Detectors Are Life Savers

It's an amazing fact, but about 70% of deaths in house fires occur in homes without working smoke detectors.

Working smoke detectors are the only thing that will wake you up in time to escape a fire. Relying on sense of smell is too risky. Gases produced by the fire will cause unconsciousness and death very quickly.

Install smoke detectors on every level in your home, including the basement. Positioning them outside bedrooms is very important.

Here's what you should know about smoke detectors:

• Smoke rises, so detectors should be mounted high on walls or ceilings.

• Test the batteries at least once a month and replace them annually.

• Never decorate a smoke detector with paint or stickers.

• Replace smoke detectors every ten years.

• Practice so everybody in the home knows what the alarm sounds like. Discuss what to do if the alarm goes off.

• Test the detector at night to ensure everyone wakes up. If not, factor that in to your family's home escape plan.

• Families that sleep with their bedroom doors closed should have a qualified electrician install interconnecting alarms so that if one sounds, they all sound.

• Always assume that the sound of a smoke detector indicates a real fire and follow your escape plan.

Home Fire Drills

Home fire can spread rapidly, leaving as little as two minutes to escape once the alarm sounds. Getting out safely depends on advanced warning from smoke alarms and advanced planning - a home with a fire escape plan that everyone in the household understands and has practiced.

Exit Drills In The Home (EDITH) help prepare for an emergency. Most home fires begin between the hours of midnight and 8:00 a.m. when everyone is sleeping. That's why knowing what to do before a fire starts is so important.

Plan an Escape

• Gather everyone in the house and make a plan. Walk through the home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes, making sure they are clear.
• Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of you home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors.
• Make sure there is at least one smoke alarm on every level of the home.
• Choose an outside meeting place a safe distance away from the house to make sure that everyone has gotten out safely.
• If windows or doors in your home have security bars, make sure the bars have quick-release mechanisms inside so they can be opened immediately.
• Practice the home fire escape plan twice a year, making the drill as real as possible.
• Allow children to master fire escape planning and practice before holding a fire drill at night when they are sleeping.
• Find a way for everyone to sound a fire alarm. Blow a whistle, pound on walls, etc.
• If your house has two floors, everyone must be able to escape from the second floor rooms. Keep an escape ladder in or near the windows to provide an additional escape route. Practice setting up the ladder from the first floor window to make sure you can do it correctly and easily.
• Everyone in the family should practice getting low and going through the smoke to the exit.
• Train family members to feel the door for heat. If the doorknob is hot, teach them not to open it. Instead, use the second way out.
• Closing doors on you way out slows the spread of fire, providing more time to safely escape.