The State Fire Marshal’s office is reminding families to prepare an escape plan in case of a fire in your home. Department of Public Safety spokesperson Jessica Lown says a survey from the National Fire Protection Association shows that only 23-percent of U.S. households have a fire escape plan.
And she says there’s something else lacking. She says statistics show that even when people have a plan they don’t practice the plan enough. Lown says practicing the plan is key, so you know what to do in a fire.
Lown says you need two different escape routes for every single room of your house. Lown says you need to take time and carefully go through the plan so everyone understands. Lown says the best thing to do is to write the plan down, so everyone knows where to go.
This is Fire Prevention Week, and Lown says it’s a good time to be sure you’re properly warned of a fire. She says you need smoke alarms in every sleeping room and outside every sleeping room in your house. Lown says you also need to test the smoke alarms every month, and replace the alarms every 10 years.
Lown says more than half of all home fire deaths happened in fires reported between 11:00 p.m.and 7 a.m.