Fire Escape Plans
A home fire escape plan is the most important thing you can do to ensure your family’s safety. Modern house fires can quickly grow out of control, leaving people only three or four minutes to escape the building. By working on a home escape plan together, everyone in your family will know how to respond in the event of a fire.
Below are some tips to help you make a home escape plan.
Plan Your Fire Escape Route
Make sure your family has an escape route from each room in your house in case of a fire or other emergency.
- Identify two exits and know your primary (first way out) and secondary (second way out)! The first way out should be your front or back door, and the second way out may be a window.
- Make sure windows can be opened easily.
- Plan your escape in a two-storey home through a window onto a roof or porch.
- Consider purchasing a deployable fire escape ladder, if you must use one for your escape plan.
- Practice your escape plan at least once a year.
- Basement bedrooms must also have an adequately sized and code compliant egress window for a safe way out.
If you see smoke around your primary escape route, use your secondary exit. If you must escape through smoke, get low and go beneath the smoke.
Choose a Meeting Place
Make sure your family knows where to meet outside after escaping the home. Choose a meeting place and mark it on your home escape plan. A good meeting place would be a tree, a telephone pole or a neighbour’s home.
Apartment Escape Planning
If you live in an apartment, remember the following tips for exiting your building during a fire or emergency:
- Always use the stairs, never use an elevator in case of a fire.
- Residents should know all exit options in advance; there are at least two exit stairways from the floor level your apartment is situated on.
- Do not use elevators even if they appear to be working (when the alarm sounds, elevators may be grounded and in control of the responding firefighters).
If fire or smoke blocks your exit, protect yourself and your family in place by doing the following:
- Close your apartment door, but do not lock it.
- Cover all cracks where smoke could enter using wet towels or tape.
- Call 9-1-1 even if firefighters are already onsite and telling them the number of your apartment.
- Wave a sheet or towel from the window to help firefighters locate you.
- Stay calm and listen for instructions from fire personnel.
Use our free Fire Escape Plan grid to draw a floor plan of your home. Show all doors and windows and two (2) ways out of every room. Mark the meeting place outside your home.
Contact Us
City of Woodstock
P.O. Box 1539, 500 Dundas Street
Woodstock, ON N4S 0A7
Phone: 519-539-1291
Sign up to our Newsletter
Stay up to date on the city's activities, events, programs and operations by subscribing to our eNewsletters.