How do I plan an escape route from a fire?

A fire escape plan is worth an hour once. In a real fire you have a small number of minutes, no light, and no ability to think clearly — so the decisions have to have been made already.

Safety

Step by step

1. Walk the house and find two ways out of each room.The door, and a second option — usually a window. Do this room by room. The second route is the one that matters, because a fire commonly blocks the first.
2. Identify the primary route.Normally the stairs and the front door. Everyone should know it well enough to follow it without light or thought.
3. Check windows actually open and people can get through.Painted shut, restricted, or with a key nobody can find. Test each one. A window that needs a key should have it on a hook nearby, out of reach of a child but findable in the dark.
4. Keep escape routes clear.Nothing stored on the stairs or in the hallway, and nothing blocking a door. This is the most common failure and the easiest to fix.
5. Agree a meeting point outside.Somewhere specific and away from the building — a lamp post, a neighbour's drive. It is how you know quickly whether everyone is out, which is what the fire service will ask.
6. Decide where the keys live.Door and window keys in the same place every night, reachable in the dark. Hunting for keys in smoke is a recognised cause of people not getting out.
7. Plan for everyone who needs help.Children, older relatives, anyone with limited mobility or hearing. Decide who is responsible for whom, and consider ground-floor sleeping if stairs are a problem.
8. Know what to do if you cannot get out.Into a room with a window, close the door, put bedding along the bottom of it, open the window and make yourself visible, and ring 999. A closed door buys a substantial amount of time.
9. Fit and test alarms properly.One on every level at minimum, ideally in every bedroom and interlinked so they all sound together. Test monthly. Smoke alarms are what give you the minutes the plan depends on.
10. Do a night-time routine.Close internal doors — it genuinely slows fire and smoke — switch off and unplug what can be, and check the cooker is off. Closing doors at night is the highest-value habit here.
11. Practise it, including in the dark.Twice a year, with everyone. It feels excessive and it is the difference between a plan on paper and one that works when nobody can see.
12. Plan for a flat or shared building.Find out whether the building's policy is stay-put or evacuate, where the escape routes are, and never use a lift. The policy should be displayed; if it is not, ask the building manager.
13. Teach children the specifics.That the alarm means get out, not hide; that they must not stop for anything; and where the meeting point is. Children hide from fire, which is why this needs saying explicitly.
14. Book a free home fire safety visit.Most fire and rescue services offer one, free, and will fit alarms. Particularly worth arranging for older or vulnerable residents.

Tips

• Close internal doors at night. It is free and it buys real minutes.
• The second way out of each room is the whole point of the exercise. One route is not a plan.
• Practise once in the dark. It is completely different from walking it with the lights on.

Common mistakes

• Going back inside — Smoke incapacitates within a couple of breaths and visibility drops to nothing. Tell the fire service who is still inside and where — they are equipped for it and you are not.
• Storing things on the stairs or in the hall — It is the primary escape route for the whole house and the one you will use in the dark. Anything on it is a trip hazard and fuel.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask