Escape Plan - FDNY Fire Zone

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	Fire is powerful—but so are you! Having an escape plan is one of the best things you can do to keep your home and family safe from fire. Work together with your family to complete the following steps; when you're done you'll have your own plan! You can download maps at each step to help you draw your own escape route.


		Step 1: Determine what your building "type" is. Do you live in a house? An apartment building? Does your home have more than one floor? If so, are there elevators or stairs? Which windows lead to a fire escape?


		Step 2: You'll need several different-colored pencils or markers and several sheets of gridded paper. You can download a sheet of gridded paper and print some out here. PDF or GIF


		Step 3: Imagine what your home would look like from the sky, with the roof removed: you'd see the shape and location of each room, each doorway, each window, the hallways and the stairways. Draw a picture of this on a sheet gridded paper, labeling each room. You can download gridded paper here.


		Step 4: Next, for each person living in your house, mark out a route from their bedroom to the closest doorway outside. This is each family member's primary escape route.


		Step 5: In case a fire is blocking any family member's primary escape route, it's important to also map out a secondary escape route for everyone. This usually leads to a window with a fire escape, or perhaps a window in their own room. It's usually helpful to mark this out in a different color from the primary route.


		Step 6: Establish a Meeting Place. If a fire should occur, it's important to know that everyone has made it out of the house and is accounted for, so decide with the whole family what a safe meeting place will be. Is your meeting place both easy to reach and easy for the whole family to remember? Choose something like a familiar tree, a mailbox or a neighbor's house. Is your meeting place well enough away from the house to keep everyone safe—and out of the way of the fire fighters? Remember: once you're outside, stay at your meeting place! This allows firefighters to make sure everyone in your family is safely out of the house.


		Do you live in an apartment building that has elevators? If so, make sure they're not a part of your escape plan! Always use the fire stairs in the event of a fire—it should be marked by an "Exit" sign. Elevators are dangerous not just because they can stop working if the electricity goes off, but they can also carry fresh oxygen to a fire, which would help it spread. Did you know that, in a high-rise fire, it may be best for you to stay in your apartment, rather than evacuate down the stairs? If the fire is on a floor above you, you should make your way to the fire stairs and get outside as quickly as possible. If the fire is on a floor below you, you should stay in your apartment, with the windows and doors sealed.


		Don't forget: in an emergency, get out of the house first, then CALL 911! Do you have young children living in your home? If so, be sure to tell them never to hide in the closet if a fire should occur. Firefighters will have a very difficult time finding them if they're hiding. Everyone needs to get out of the house and stay out to be safe. Do you live in an apartment building that has elevators? If so, make sure they're not a part of your escape plan! Always use the fire stairs in the event of a fire—it should be marked by an "Exit"� sign. Elevators are dangerous not just because they can stop working if the electricity goes off, but they can also carry fresh oxygen to a fire, which would help it spread. Did you know that, in a high-rise fire, it may be best for you to stay in your apartment, rather than evacuate down the stairs? If the fire is on a floor above you, you should make your way to the fire stairs and get outside as quickly as possible. If the fire is on a floor below you, you should stay in your apartment, with the windows and doors sealed.

The flames were right between me and the door...and I knew I was going to have to use my second exit!

I was choking and gagging from the smoke... but I knew I had to let someone know where I was!

It was so confusing in the smoke. And all that stuff I'd kept in the hallway—it was like being caught in a spider's web!

Hiding in the closet was wrong... we should have told about the fire right away!

I started yelling "Fire! Fire! Call 911!", and then I just took off down the stairs.