Tips For Holding A Fire Safety Drill

by DoItYourself Staff

Having an evacuation plan and an actual fire drill are critical elements of any good fire safety plan. If you've created a fire escape plan for your home or office, now is the time to test it to see how effective it is. Hold a fire safety drill. Holding just one drill a year won't work. You need to hold drills until the response is automatic. Remember, most fires happen at night, and are unexpected. Minutes, even seconds count. You or your children may be awakened in the middle of the night and have to move quickly while sleepy, scared or confused. Only repeated drills where your actions are automatic may save your life.

Make fire safety awareness part of your fire drill. Make sure children know why they should crawl along the floor in a smoky room, and have them check their bedroom door for heat before they open it. Home fire drills shouldn't be just a matter of walking outside. Practice different scenarios-like it's nighttime and the smoke alarm goes off. What do you do first? Talk and walk through things like calling 911, waking up other family members. Putting on shoes, etc. Make it realistic and talk about what might happen in a real fire.

Tips for Holding a Fire Safety Drill

Be consistent with your expectations and performance. Don't be lax with one drill, and strict with another.
Include baby-sitters, neighbor's kids and anyone who visits your house regularly.
Have holiday fire drills too. Once the Christmas tree or holiday decorations go up, have a drill that takes the new decorations into consideration.
Have nighttime drills where family members must use flashlights to escape.
Have fun, but take all drills seriously. Insist that all family members who are present participate, including seniors and people who may be wheelchair-bound.
Getting out of the house is step one. Your fire drill should include meeting up outside the house at a predesignated place, like a neighbor's house, or a landmark or structure a safe distance from the house.
Practice fire drills where family members must escape from different rooms including bedrooms, bathrooms, the kitchen and the living room.
Hold drills at all times of the day and night. Fire strikes anytime, so practice at all times.
If you have second-story windows, practice using a fire ladder. Deploy it and climb it.
Children in your family should know how to deploy fire ladders, and use a fire extinguisher and how to call 911.
Appoint one person as "fire marshal." It's their job to trigger the alarm and time the exit.
Time your drills. Knowing how fast people are getting out will help you improve your plan.
Keep records of every drill. In case of a fire, your insurance company will look favorably on this information.
Make everyone participate. This builds teamwork and helps family/employees learn to depend on each other.
Throw in unexpected blocks, like having a family member block an exit and shout, "I'm a fire! Go out another way!" or use a piece of cloth draped or pinned across an exit to represent fire or a blocked exit.
Talk about the fire drill afterward and critique it. What went right, what went wrong. What could you do better next time.