Woodsrunner, sorry about your house fire. I cannot imagine the feeling of total loss.
We have an old house that has no logical floor plan and ten rooms. No self-respecting architect would design it. It has addition after addition and is convoluted. Some parts with basements, others without; some with attic and some without. There is a fire extinguisher in the laundry room, and near the wood stove. The fire alarms are sensitive and shriek loudly. The fan above the kitchen stove will turn on by itself when it thinks there is too much heat from the stove. The problem with that fan is that it vents into the house and not outside. We have good cell phone service and will be able to reach the 911; the fire number marker is out on the main road to show our exit.
The newer part of the house is surrounded by a main-floor porch. From the second storey it will be easy to escape out the window and over the porch roof. Plus, the heavy-duty gutters would be strong enough to hold on to as you ease your way over the roof edge and grab onto the porch support beams with your legs. Then step onto the railing and three feet to the ground.
There are two other rooms, though, that will be a challenge. They both have a two-storey drop from the window. In one, if you can break open the skylight far enough, you can get onto the porch roof. In the other though, it would be a serious ankle-twisting fall onto concrete without an escape ladder. The only option there, would be to try and get to the attic which is just outside the door. In the attic, you can climb out the window and onto the middle roof that will lead to the lower porch roof.
We would need to meet at the metal pole-barn garage and just realized we need a set of car keys stashed out there in case we must escape from the second floor. It is next to the well pump. There is not enough garden hose to reach the house from the well head, water pressure, or water in the storage tank to put out a house fire. There is only one garden hose attached to the house, but it is outside where we have our wood stove.
Our hilltop is surrounded by trees and a woodlot. If there was a wild fire, we have only one drive to exit from the acreage; which would take us through the woods and right past our propane tank. There is only one other possible get away, in a vehicle, which leads through the neighbor’s fields around us and then through more woods. If we were walking, it would be no problem to go in the opposite direction of a wildfire -if it was possible. No real obstacles, such as cliffs, or water, to worry about.
If it is a house fire, depending on where and what it is, the fire extinguishers may be used. We have a volunteer fire department and live five-miles out of town on a narrow easement of a road. The fire trucks would fill the drive and it may be difficult for them to use! I doubt the house would be saved. With he trucks there, we could not drive out or away at all.
I do not know where the shut-off is for the propane tank! Thanks for the heads-up, Old Mt. Woman. Something new to learn.