Hot Tips for Safety Away from Home
So you've installed smoke alarms in your home, worked out a fire evacuation plan, and even practiced it with your family. Thu can sleep confidently knowing you're prepared to escape from a home fire. The question is: Are you just as prepared to escape from a fire when you're away from home?
Maybe you can't be in charge of the fire evacuation plan at your local mall or in your high-rise office building. But there are a few simple things you can do when you're away from home to help protect yourself from fires.
"The primary thing is to always know two ways out of a building, whether you're in a movie theatre, at work or in a hotel," says Curtis Masses', who runs Massey Enterprises, a disaster-planning firm in Virginia Beach, Va.
Massey Enterprises develops disaster plans for high-rise buildings in the United States and Canada. These plans are then stored in three different locations in the high-rise, available for firefighters, paramedics and other first responders.
Scope out the building
You can do your part to help make firefighters' jobs easier. When you're in a public building, look for all the possible exits. There are emergency doors next to the screen in movie theatres, and you can always find a way out through the kitchen in restaurants.
"I think many people instinctively turn around and run back to the door they came in," says Massey. "If you do this somewhere like a shopping mall, you probably pass lots of emergency exits."
Before you even check into a hotel or motel, ask if the building has smoke detectors and a sprinkler system. Pack a personal fire survival kit when you travel, including a flashlight, a portable smoke detector, and wide duct tape. Right after you check in, follow these tips from the National Safety Council and the National Fire Protection Association:
- Study the hotel fire evacuation plan posted on the hack of your room door.
- Locate fire alarm pull stations and extinguishers near your room.
- Find the fire exits in our corridor. Make sure they're not locked or blocked.
- Count the doorways and other features between your room and the exits. "If there's smoke, the exit signs may be obscured," explains Massey
- Ask what the fire alarm sounds like and if there's a voice annunciation system.
- Test the windows in your room. Do they open? How do the latches work?
- Keep your room key and a flashlight close to where you sleep. You'll need our key to get back in your room if smoke or fire blocks the exits.
Keep low to the floor
If you hear a fire alarm, shouting in the corridor, or fire engine sirens, dent panic. Grab your key and your flashlight, and stay low to the floor. Switch on your flashlight to see if there's smoke in your room. Crawl to the door, and feel it with the hack of your hand. Don't open it if it's hot or warm. If the door isn't warm and there's no smoke in the hallway the NSC and NFPA recommend these tips for leaving your room:
- Make sure you have your room key, close the door tight behind you, and walk to the nearest exit.
- Take the stairs to the ground level, holding the handrail as you go. "Don't get in an elevator," says Massey. You could get trapped inside. Or the elevator could take you to a floor where the fire is.
- If smoke or fire block your route to the exit stairwell, return to your room and phone the front desk and 9-1-1. Let them know you're trapped in your room.
- If you can't make it hack to your room, try to reach another exit.
- If the fire starts in your room, pull the nearest fire alarm and follow the first three steps above. Use the nearest exit to escape.
Stay safe in your room
If the hallways are filled with smoke, you can stay in your room and still survive a fire. "If you can't get out, stay as low as you can — any oxygen will be at floor level," says Massey. Other tips include:
- Fill the tub with water. Use the water to wet towels and sheets and cool down walls. Use an ice bucket or wastebasket to bail the water.
- Seal the top, bottom and sides of the door from smoke. Use the wide duct tape in your personal safety kit. Or use wet towels and sheets.
- Turn off the air conditioner. Tape papers over the wall vent, or stuff it with wet towels or sheets.
- Telephone for help.
- If your window opens, open it slightly at the top and bottom to let in fresh air. Don't break your window. Falling glass can sever fire hoses and injure those below.
- Don't open the window, it will let smoke in from the outside.
- Hang a sheet out the window or in front of the glass to signal firefighters. It's too dangerous to jump From a window higher than the second floor.
- If smoke still enters your room, use a wet blanket or sheet to make a tent for your head. Try to inhale fresh air at an open window.
- If the walls are made of sheetrock, take a sharp object and poke a hole in the wall, or remove the phone jack assembly. You will find a fresh air supply in the wall void that can offer you enough air to survive until firefighters can reach you.
Include common sense in your plan
Regardless of the scenario, use common sense and be aware of your surroundings, says Massey. If the situation warrants an evacuation, leave as quickly and calmly as possible. Once you're out of the building, move away from the fire scene so you'll he out of the firefighters' way and safe from falling glass and debris.
When traveling to foreign countries, never take your safety for granted or depend on the building and all its fire-protection features to be truly adequate by U.S. standards, advises Massey. "Always keep your eves and ears open so you can be proactive, not reactive." he says.