When a fire occurs, there's no time for planning. Sit down with your family today and make a step-by-step plan for escaping a fire.

• Draw a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of every room, especially in sleeping areas.
• Agree on a meeting place outside your home where every member of the household will gather after escaping a fire to wait for the fire department. This allows you to count heads and inform the fire department if anyone is trapped inside the burning building.
• Practice your escape plan at least twice a year. Have a fire drill in your home. Appoint someone to be the monitor and have everyone participate. A fire drill is not a race. Get out quickly, but carefully.
• Make your exit drill realistic. Pretend that some exits are blocked by fire, and practice alternate escape routes. Pretend that the lights are out and that some escape routes are filling with smoke.
• Be Prepared. Make sure everyone in the household can unlock all doors and windows quickly, even in the dark. If you live in an apartment, use stairways to leave the building. Never use an elevator during a fire - it may stop between floors or take you to a floor where the fire is burning.
• If you live in a two-story house and you must escape from a second-story window, be sure there is a safe way to reach the ground. Make special arrangements for children, older adults, and people with disabilities. People who have difficulty moving should have a phone in their bedroom and, if possible, should sleep on the ground floor.