Once a house fire starts, you have three minutes or less to escape.
According to a recent survey from UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute, more than a quarter (27 percent) of people estimated they would have more than three minutes to safely exit their home in the event of a home fire.
Although a majority of people understand that they need to quickly exit their home, 47.8 percent of people believe they would have enough time to gather what’s important to them and safely exit their home.
Here are three fire safety behaviors people can adopt to give them more time to respond and escape in the event of a fire:
CHECK YOUR SMOKE ALARMS
Have working smoke alarms on every floor of your home, including inside and outside every sleeping area. Check your smoke alarms monthly and replace them every 10 years.
CREATE AN ESCAPE PLAN
Have an escape plan and practice it; know two ways to get out if there is a fire. If smoke blocks a door or first way out, use your second way out. Also, if your first way out is blocked, get a closed door between you and the fire to buy time to use your second way out, especially if that requires escaping out a window. More than 60 percent of respondents indicated they have a fire escape plan, but more than half (56 percent) only review that plan once per year or less often. Nearly 40 percent of people have no escape plan.
CLOSE BEFORE YOU DOZE
A closed door can be an effective barrier against carbon monoxide, smoke and flames, and may give you more time to respond to the smoke alarm. In fact, there can be a 900-degree difference in room temperature between a room with an open door and one with a closed door, with the open-door room reaching temperatures of 1,000 degrees or more.
In 2018, UL FSRI released its “Dramatic Difference” video demonstrating this comparison. The annual fire safety survey conducted in September 2020 shows that many misconceptions still exist around fire safety. Only 35 percent of people always sleep with their door closed, up from 26 percent in 2019.
For information, visit closeyourdoor.org.
This article is courtesy of Brandpoint.