Escape from a Fire

Being prepared, having a plan, and practicing that plan are essential to escaping a fire. Craft your plan by taking into account your home’s particular layout and your household’s members. Think ahead, and know what to do in any location you frequent, live, or visit. Learn general escape solutions, and familiarize yourself with more specific procedures, whether you live in a single family home, a high rise apartment, are staying at a hotel, or work in a tall building. If you are a frequent hiker or camper, learn how to track smoke and plot your route in case you need to escape a wildfire outdoors.

Steps

Escaping a House Fire

  1. Have an escape plan and practice it. Prepare for the worst by developing a fire escape plan and making sure everyone in your household knows what to do in case of a fire. Your plan should identify all available exits from each room and routes that lead from the room to a safe, open-air space. Designate a meeting space away from your house, such as a neighbor’s yard or a mailbox across the street.[1]
    • It’s important that your exit routes do not lead to a closed-in area that would prevent escape away from your home, like a gated courtyard. It’s best that any gates or fences can be easily unlocked or unlatched from inside.[2]
    • Make sure everyone in your household knows how to unlock or unlatch any doors, windows, gates, or fences. Routinely inspect any and all of these potential obstacles to be sure they will actually provide a means of escape in the event of a fire.
    • Practice your plan every few months, including at night, which is when fires are most deadly since it’s more difficult to find a safe exit.
  2. Plan around the abilities of everyone in your household. When making an escape plan, take any handicaps or abilities into account. If you or someone in your household depends on glasses or hearing aids and will need them in order to find their way out, make sure they’re always on a nightstand or other handy spot. Make sure wheelchairs, canes, and other means of mobility assistance are by their user’s bed or easily accessible.[3]
    • It’s best for anyone with mobility issues to sleep on the ground level of a multi-story home.
    • Contact your local fire service’s non-emergency number and tell them about anyone in your household with special needs that should be kept on file.[4]
  3. Stay low and crawl to an exit to avoid smoke inhalation. Stay as low to the ground as possible while you swiftly make your way to the nearest exit, especially if there is smoke in the area you’re located. Smoke inhalation can cause you to lose consciousness, and the freshest air will be closest to the ground since smoke and toxic chemicals rise. In addition, staying low below smoke will increase your ability to clearly see your escape path.[5]
  4. Feel doorknobs to see if they’re hot. Never open a door if the doorknob feels hot. That means there’s most likely a fire behind it, and opening the door will put you in danger and fuel the fire with oxygen. If your primary means of escape is blocked by a hot doorknob or other obvious sign of fire, find an alternate route or a window.[6]
    • Use the back of your hand to feel doorknobs, rather than your palm. The thinner skin on the back of your hand is more sensitive to heat, so you’ll notice heat before getting burned.
    • Open any doors you come across slowly and be prepare to quickly shut it in case you encounter fire or smoke.
  5. Don’t hide in the event of a fire. Even if you’re scared, it’s most important never to hide under a bed, in the closet, or anywhere else during a fire. If you hide during a fire, firefighters or other responders won’t know where you are. Try not to panic, and do your best to remain calm and make your way to the nearest way out of your house.[7]
  6. Know what to do if your escape routes are blocked. If all possible exits are blocked, it’s important that you do everything you can to let any emergency responders know where you are. If you have a phone handy, call emergency services to let them know your exact location. Yell for help, shine a flashlight at a window, or find a light colored cloth or clothing item to signal out the window.
    • If you are stuck in a room, cover all vents, close the door and put a towel, clothes, or anything on hand that can suitably cover any cracks around it. This will help keep smoke and fire from entering the room.

Escaping from a Fire in a High Rise Building

  1. Know evacuation routes and procedures. Whether you live in apartment building, are staying in a hotel, or work in a tall building, familiarize yourself with its floorplan and evacuation routes. Know the shortest and fastest path to the nearest stairwell, and know where any alternative exit routes is located. Talk to the building’s superintendent or management personnel about specific emergency procedures.[8]
  2. Take the stairs. Never take an elevator in the event of a fire emergency. Every now and then, practice taking the stairs if you live in an apartment building or work in a high rise. Make sure you’re familiar with how many flights there are and how long it takes to descend the stairwell. Use handrails and step to the right (or to the appropriate side as determined by your building’s emergency protocol) to make room for any emergency responders ascending the stairwell.
    • Turn back if you notice smoke coming from lower levels of a staircase. If possible, make your way to the building’s roof. Keep the door to the roof open to help clear smoke from the lower levels of the staircase, which will help those who might be incapacitated and allow emergency responders easier access.[9]
    • Once on the roof, make your way upwind (walk in the direction the wind is blowing), call emergency services if you haven’t already done so, and let them know your exact location.
  3. Take into consideration any mobility issues. Tell your building’s management personnel about any potential difficulty you or someone in your office or household by have escaping via a stairwell.
    • If you use a wheelchair and cannot use a stairwell, try to find someone in the immediate area who can assist or carry you down the stairs. Call your local fire department's non-emergency number ahead of time to let them know about your mobility requirements in the event of a fire.
    • If there is no elevator available and you're stuck on an upper floor, let emergency services know your exact your location and create window signals using any available means.
  4. Keep keys and key cards handy. If you’re staying at a hotel, be sure to keep your key card handy as you evacuate your room and floor. In the event that the hallway or stairwells are blocked, you’ll need to return to your room, seal off any cracks around your door, cover vents, and use a flashlight or light article of clothing to signal your location in the window.[9]
    • Remember to check your room’s doorknob before you exit in case there is a fire in the hallway.
    • If you work in a high rise office, follow similar procedures in case all means of exit are blocked. Close your office or suite’s door, and make sure it’s unlocked or keep your keys or key card handy if it locks automatically.

Escaping from a Wildfire

  1. Move downhill and upwind. Hot masses of air that rise cause wildfires to travel uphill, and walking uphill will slow you down anyway. Move into the direction that the wind is blowing, and locate this direction by looking to see where smoke is blowing.[10]
    • Try to look high in the sky for the direction of the smoke’s travel.
    • Look for the direction that leaves and branches are swaying.
  2. Search for an area without combustible material. Once you’ve set your direction of downhill and upwind travel, look for a natural firebreak. A firebreak is an area that has comparatively less material for the fire to consume, like a rocky area or field of boulders, road, body of water, or patch of large trees that might retain more moisture than other nearby foliage.[10]
    • Steer clear of open areas with small, dry shrubs or bushes.
  3. Find or dig a trench if escape is not possible. If you cannot escape to a safer location, look for a trench or gully. If you find such an enclosure, try to quickly dig it out to create a space deep enough for you to fit your body. Crawl in, preferably with your feet facing the direction of the fire, and cover yourself with dirt. Make sure you can breath as you take cover.[10]
    • Call emergency services if you haven’t already done so. Let them know your location as precisely as you can.
    • If a wildfire is within close range, surrounding you, or otherwise blocks all means of downhill and upwind escape, and if no safe locations are available, you might have to resort to running through the fire’s leading edge into an area that’s already burned.
  4. Practice safe hiking and camping practices. Prevent getting stuck in a wildfire before hiking or camping by looking up assessing risks like weather conditions, extreme drought, any buildup of dry materials in your hiking or camping area, and the wind’s direction. Check with local park rangers if there is any threat of wildfire in your area.[10]
    • Don’t build a campfire in dry conditions, especially if your park ranger lets you know there’s a local burn ban.
    • If it’s safe to build a campfire, keep it small, contained, and away from trees or shrubs. Never leave it unattended.
    • Make sure your campfire is completely extinguished before you leave by pouring lot of water over it, stirring the ashes, pouring more water, making sure there’s no hissing sound, and lastly making sure it’s cool to the touch.
  5. Evacuate as soon as you’re ordered to if a wildfire threatens your home. Grab bare essentials as quickly as possible and leave immediately if you’re under a wildfire evacuation order. If you live in an area threatened by wildfires, contact your local fire department’s non-emergency line or search the internet to find out about any available email or text message alert systems.[11]
    • Call emergency services if you see a nearby wildfire but haven’t received an evacuation order. Don’t assume someone else has reported it.

Tips

  • Always call emergency services at the earliest available opportunity. Don’t assume someone else has called emergency services in the event of a fire at a public location or outdoors.
  • Install smoke detectors and routinely check them. Take every alarm seriously.
  • If your clothes catch on fire, stop, drop, and roll. Cover your face, drop to the ground, and roll over repeatedly until the fire is extinguished.
  • If someone is unable to roll due to physical impairment, drown the fire with blankets or towels.

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.nsc.org/NSCDocuments_Advocacy/Fact%20Sheets/Fire-Escape-Plan.pdf
  2. ↑ http://www.firesafe.org.uk/basic-means-of-escape-from-fire/
  3. ↑ https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/outreach/escape.html
  4. ↑ https://www.ready.gov/home-fires
  5. ↑ http://www.com.ohio.gov/documents/fire_getoutalive.pdf
  6. ↑ http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340079_FireEscapePlanningFactSheet.pdf
  7. ↑ http://kidshealth.org/en/kids/fire-safety.html
  8. ↑ http://www.nfpa.org/public-education/by-topic/safety-in-the-home/escape-planning/escape-planning-in-tall-buildings
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://trip.ustia.org/safety/tips/1173/how-to-escape-during-a-hotel-fire/
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 http://scoutingmagazine.org/2016/04/survival-strategies-help-escape-forest-fire/
  11. ↑ https://www.ready.gov/wildfires
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