Fire Safety

Be Ready For a Fire

Last year, more than 16,000 Ohio families found out first-hand the devastation that fire can cause. Smoke and fire killed 130 people in Ohio, half of whom could have been saved had their homes been equipped with working smoke detectors.

Fire is one of the most common disasters. Fire causes more deaths than any other type of disaster. But fire doesn’t have to be deadly if you have early warning from a smoke detector, everyone in your family knows how to escape calmly, and you have and know how to use a fire extinguisher. How you respond in a fire depends on how well you’ve prepared.

• Make sure everyone is familiar with the sound of the detector’s alarm.
• Plan escape routes. Know at least 2 ways out of each room. Agree on a meeting place outside your home where all residents will gather after they escape.
• Practice your escape plan at least twice a year, and teach every member of your household these survival techniques.
• Crawl low under smoke. If you must escape through an area with smoke, crawl to the nearest safe exit on your hands and knees. Smoke and poisonous gases rise. Keep your head 12 to 24 inches above the floor.
• Stop, drop, and roll. If your clothes catch fire, stop, don’t run. Drop to the ground, cover your face with your hands, and roll over and over to smother the flames.
• When an alarm sounds, leave the building immediately and go to your meeting place. Then call the fire department from a neighbor’s phone.
• Once you’re out, stay out. Never return to a burning building.