This topic contains 17 replies, has 16 voices, and was last updated by 
OldMt Woman 8 months, 2 weeks ago.
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There’s a very common disaster that a lot of folks don’t think about much. It can happen whether you live in an off-grid cabin in the forest, an apartment in the city, or a townhome in suburbia.
The disaster I’m talking about is house fires.
Between 2011 and 2015, the U.S. fire departments reported an estimated of 358,500 residential home fires every year. In the reported house fire cases, there were about 2,695 deaths, 12,000 injuries and property damage averaging of $7 billion. (source)
Obviously, you’ll want to have a homeowner’s or rental policy to cover the contents of your home, but what about survival?
The most important thing to do in the event of a house fire is to get out of the house. Do you have a way to get out, no matter where you are in the home? How would you escape each room of the house in the event of a fire? Do you need to get any ladders to get out if you’re in a room on the second story of your home? (We have one of these in each upstairs bedroom, just in case.)
Do you have a fire escape plan?
Do you have a plan to help your family escape from any place in the house in the event of a fire? Do you have a room that is more challenging than others? Share your plans here – you may be able to help others figure out their own plans.
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We have a plan and a meetup location, we had to use them last year, fortunately containable. Tonight we’ll have another drill.
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Yes we have an exit plan and meet up plan. In fact we were talking about it with the boys couple of week ends ago and get this, both remember the plan and where to meet up and they’ve been outta the house for a long time now LOL.They both have plans for their homes as well. One of the things we need to get for Son 1 (Christmas present) is one of those ladders for a second story escape now that they are in a 2 story home. Son 2 has one for their home, both his kids know(9,6) where it is and how to set it up. We practice often as my DH went thru a house fire when he was younger. His parents lost a good part of their home at that time so understandably he’s a bit concerned about house fires.
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This is an easy one for me. I live alone in a small one-story home with an appropriately placed fire alarm. I can exit to the outside from every room in the house, via windows or doors, without any long drop to the ground. We have a local volunteer fire department in our little community that can be at my house within minutes as the fire chief is my next door neighbor.
This does, however, remind me to ask my son 2 who recently moved his young family into a two storied home whether he has thought about fire escape for his children.
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We have an escape plan and a meet up plan. We, also, have an escape ladder upstairs and fire extinguishers upstairs and downstairs. We do have some challenges, though. My mother is deaf and elderly, so we are unable to do drills. I tried and terrified her. So, I have discussed the plans. She’s my responsibility. We, also, have a disabled son. He’s my husband’s responsibility. We, also, have an 8 ft wall around our back yard, so we’ve stationed ladders in the back as a way to escape.
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I also can exit my home via windows and doors. But I noticed that in some rooms all of the windows have screens.
Looks like I’ll be taking down some screens.
I have 2 fire extinguishers, a small hand held one called tundra and a larger one with a hose.
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Every room has a window or door except the kitchen (you have to walk around the counter to get to the door). I have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, as well as one of those cans to put fires out next to the stove. I also have a fire extinguisher in the laundry / utility room. We have a meet up place outside the house, about 30 feet away from the house. However, we have never done a drill. We will do that today!!
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Our very small house is built into the steep hillside. Living is upstairs in the front…up/down a flight of exterior stairs. But we can walk out the back door at ground level. MUCH easier for access. Under is garage.
It’s so small that there is only the front area – living room/kitchen. Tiny bathroom. Immediately …as in: no hallway…are doors to two bedrooms. One bedroom has the back door. If trapped in the other bedroom, the window opens with the ground merely 3′ down. No screens or storm windows for winter. [Evac is the only reason that’s a good thing…hmph!] Even the bathroom has a ledge outside the window that could be navigated a few feet to ground with minimal balance.
Exits from garage are a regular door at one side and a big garage door on the other side. There is less than 700 sq ft upstairs or downstairs so distance to exit is minimal. Course opening a door, especially in the closed garage area would give fresh air to the fire …..so we’d need to hurry! Especially since the propane furnace is down there.
Shut-off valve to the propane is outside the house….something to remember to turn off. Shutting it off at the propane tank down the hill would be the next step in case the pipe melts past the shut-off in an extreme fire.
We’ve both got shoes at each door….. A whole lot of them so we might not get out the door with a matching set. 😉
One fire extinguisher near the pellet stove. Garden hose is near the faucet outside and if not too dangerous, could be rather quickly fed inside thru the bathroom window. Hadn’t thot about that.. Could be sprayed into kitchen/living room area from standing outside too….like a kitchen fire that hadn’t gotten out too badly out of control. But…with arid climate and the wood of this old house, it’s not really too likely that would be possible. More likely any fire would be Rip ‘n Run!
I was in one house fire long ago…with 2 other roommates. We DID use the hose up the stairs and the owner-roomie stood up there in the smoke. ‘Course she ended up in ER for smoke inhalation but did keep down the fire [tongue-groove paneling] to just the one bedroom. [Mine] Someone left a fan running too close to blowing window curtains during our Move-In day….we’d been in there less than 24 hrs. Fire chief took that half-melted fan to use as Exhibit A during Fire Prevention talks. We got verrrry lucky in that one since it was merrily burning upstairs while we were downstairs! No smoke detectors in those days. We didn’t even have our phone installed yet – met the neighbors in a “house warming party” no one could forget. They called fire dept – no 911 yet either.
When we hosted a close relative and her 8 yr old for a short time, we instructed/practiced with him — Get out immediately and stand next to the power pole. Stay there til someone gets you!!!
Plan for DH and I would be 1) ALERT the other, if home, while dialing 911. 2) ASSESS: can we do any Fire Suppression? 3) Get shoes on while doing #1 and #2 [I was bare foot during the Roommate Fire].
If YES to #2….DO IT! One of us would get the dog out to car. Then return to assist fire suppression…..constantly reassessing: Do we need to just get out?
If NO to #2…. Grab ourselves and dog and anything reasonably On-The-Way out the door/window. Get vehicles out the the way for fire trucks in the way in small driveway area.
Ah HA! We REALLY need the other set of keys to my vehicle hung at the back door. Phone handsets [no cell] are in various locations. —Just moved set of keys to back door on same hook as the small flashlight. AND a spare dog leash. Done!
If the fire’s really bad too quickly, DH and I and dog might have to just get out and go up the hill and make our way to those neighbors. Make a 911 call from there.
OldMtWoman ….hadn’t thot of Roommate Fire in years. Still in contact with both of them.
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We live in a one story house and every room has casement windows. Makes it easier to get out of the window from bedroom if needed to. We have 3 doors, one in kitchen, den and the front door as well. We have fire alarms as well. So would have a warning. DH’s mother’s house burned down when his daughter was in process of moving out. It had a floor furance and she left the pilot light on. Seems some papers fell on the furnance and it caught fire. Just glad no one was home when that happened. But the house was a total loss. We have practice drills a couple times a year. But now with DH and his balance being so bad. I am working on an easier way for him to get out of a window if he can’t get to a door. We have natural gas and since he worked for the gas co. He has a way for me to be able to turn off gas at the meter that is easier that using the cut off on the meter itself.
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Not much other than some furniture can burn rest is steel,concrete,stone and special closed Cell spray foam. Not much can burn unless lava wild fire Will just make it sooty
The kitchen is a commercial stainless steel with halon fire suppression
There are 10 20 liter gel fire extinguishers around the home and shop. Every piece of equipment has one as well.
We have our own fire fighting nomex suits and 3 mark 3 pumps with 600 feet of hose each.
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Drill baby Drill. We practice twice a year. All one floor so easy exit. We do have screens on the windows but they could be kicked/punched out if need be in a desperate situation. Pretty easy to remove though. Fire extinguishers in kitchen and garage. Maybe add one to back bedrooms. Meet up place already set. Good idea to have keys handy to move cars out of the way for fire department. We also have a volunteer dept. and rumor is they come to make sure neighbors houses don’t go up. Thank goodness it has not been put to the test. The Department has been making lots of improvements with the extra taxes on our bill.
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In the new house, there is a second floor. We do not have a ladder but will put it on the list to get ASAP. I will plan a drill when DD and DGD is there later this week. I have had a plan in the old house which is one floor. I do have new smoke detectors in both houses and fire extinguishers in both.
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We have a plan that we’ve practiced with the family. When we were foster parents, it was required to have an evacuation map in each bedroom and to do monthly practice run throughs. We also have 2 fire extinguishers.
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Living in the middle of a huge forested state park, fires are a big concern. In addition to having a plan for egressing the house, I have a plan for quick egress of the area. In each of the vehicles, I keep extra sets of keys available as I may not be able to access the keys in my entry way. I also keep all vehicles at least 1/2 tank full. I have local maps with multiple egress options just in case. I have driven each and every one of the egress options. In my bugout bag, I keep copies of important documents and such to facilitate finding a hotel (pet friendly).
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Somehow I skipped this one. We have one story house with windows in each bedroom and fire extinguisher & smoke alarms. It would be difficult for disabled person to get out of window so will work on that.
I had a house fire before (wasn’t home and cause not determined) and later on when neighbor’s house burned, went over after calling fire dept put kids in my care that was parked out of way of fire dept and tried to put out fire till time to get OUT and then grabbed an armload of coats and boots on the way out. Soon windows blew out, and house was a goner.
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Wow, glad you got out, Woodsrunner… Good reminder of how volatile the situation of a house fire is…..so we don’t stay inside for just one more minute too long.
OldMtWoman
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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.
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@CinnamonGrammy
RE: propane. There should be [legally, I think] a shut off right where the propane enters your house. THEN SECONDLY, you can always lift the heavy metal lid and shut off the gas from the tank itself. Due to propane trucks not wanting to do our steeeep driveway in winter, we were forced to relocate the tank waaay down in barnyard. It’s so much more accessible to them and freed up some space on our “perch” up here around the house.
I would shut off both…given the chance. We did when we left in wildfire Evac. If you do shut off AT THE TANK….leave the heavy lid OFF….on the ground. That’s supposed to let the fire fighters know that valve is off. But it also prevents the lid from blowing sky-high if the tank suddenly “vents” in the heat of wildfire. What goes up…..comes down and you don’t want it to hit those with hoses on your house or shovels making fire-breaks.
Down side is that a professional really needs to relight your pilot lights when you return from Evac. ….and that’s when we got a new furnace. [expensive year!]
Your house sounds like it would be very interesting. Homes built now tend to be economical and boring. I love older ones with generations of odd add-ons!
Ours is 25×25….too small to be interesting. “Quaint” perhaps. lol
OldMtWoman
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