Fire safety plan
Why do you need a fire escape plan? According to the Public Health Agency of Canada, 100 children are killed and another 250 are injured each year due to fires in Canada.
How to make one:
1. On a sheet of paper, draw an outline of the layout of each level of your home.
2. Identify an escape exit, such as a doorway, from each room. Draw an escape route with arrows. There should be an alternate escape exit, such as a window. In the case of an apartment fire, your children need to know which stairways will get them out of the building.
3. In a two-storey home you may want to consider buying a roll-up escape ladder for upper storey windows to create an alternate exit.
4. Include a meeting spot outside your home.
5. Your plan should be practiced several times a year. Children often respond to smoke or fire by trying to hide in a closet or under a bed. Tell them to follow the plan, get out immediately and to never go back into a burning building.
