Fire can develop and spread quickly not allowing time to plan your escape. Planning before fire strikes greatly increases everyone's chances of escaping safely. Here are some simple steps:
Have a Plan.
Make sure your office space has an emergency evacuation plan in place. At home, identify two ways out of every living space such as bedrooms, living rooms, etcetera. Don't forget windows. Check that all doors and windows open easily. Don't forget a plan for opening those screens and security bars. They need to open from the inside without special tools or knowledge.
Know the Plan.
Be sure to know more than one way out of any building from any location within that building and get in the habit of mixing up how you leave from the building. This way you are more assured that exits and doors are not blocked or locked.
No plan is complete without an outside place to meet. Make sure everyone knows where to meet outside, make it a safe distance from the building, and where emergency responders can see you. Plan on accounting for everyone once safely outside.
Practice the Plan.
People who have participated in drills and received training in emergency response react faster and exercise better decision making than those without training.
This is why conducting fire drills is so valuable. Make fire drills realistic. Participants should not know that there is going to be a drill. The idea of having drills is to practice an emergency evacuation and to test the quality of the evacuation plan.
Most of us routinely use the same entry and exits and may not be familiar with alternates even after working and living in a building for years. If we had to exit the building in an emergency, we are likely to do what we have been practicing, possibly passing up other exits.
