Per the Red Cross, If a Fire Starts
FIRE!!

- Know how to safely operate a fire extinguisher
- Remember to GET OUT, STAY OUT and CALL 9-1-1 or your local emergency phone number.
- Yell "Fire!" several times and go outside right away. If you live in a building with elevators, use the stairs. Leave all your things where they are and save yourself.
- If closed doors or handles are warm or smoke blocks your primary escape route, use your second way out. Never open doors that are warm to the touch.
- If you must escape through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your exit. Close doors behind you.
- If smoke, heat or flames block your exit routes, stay in the room with doors closed. Place a wet towel under the door and call the fire department or 9-1-1. Open a window and wave a brightly colored cloth or flashlight to signal for help.
- Once you are outside, go to your meeting place and then send one person to call the fire department. If you cannot get to your meeting place, follow your family emergency communication plan.
According to Underwriters Laboratories, which conducts state-of-the-art fire safety testing, you have three minutes or less to exit your home. Most people underestimate the speed and power of smoke and fire, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
They claim you should not fumble with the fire extinguisher, grab your photo albums or even rescue your dog. GET OUT!!
I don’t have a dog, however I think it’s unconscionable to leave a pet while saving your own ass. That dog certainly would rescue you should the tables be turned. Pets are family, therefore, GET YOUR FAMILY OUT!!!
The Underwriters Laboratories says that 30 years ago, you had 17 minutes to escape a house fire. Today’s homes burn faster due to open floor plans which provide oxygen and don’t provide barriers.
Plus, synthetic building materials and furnishings burn at a faster rate than the natural products used decades ago.
Moreover, synthetic material; wood, carpet, flooring, clothing, plastics, etc. contain chemicals that release toxic vapors and gases under extreme heat.
Small concentrations of products such as hydrogen chloride and ammonia cause direct irritation of the respiratory tract and the eyes. Although irritants may serve as warning agents and alert occupants to fire, under certain circumstances they can prevent victims from finding an exit even before reduced visibility from smoke traps them. The toxic products responsible for fire deaths are usually not known because detailed pathological examination of fire victims is rarely conducted.
Carbon dioxide, Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Hydrogen chloride, Cellulous in wood- formaldehyde!
Several years ago, I saw a fire where a family perished in an apartment due to bars on window and doors. It was a wood framed apartment. Had they taken a heavy object and pounded on the wall, they could have bored a hole large enough to escape. Stucco and bricks will crumble as well under the force of kicking and banging with a hammer.
DO WHAT YOU CAN TO GET OUT….WITH YOUR PETS!





