This is not a drill

Advance planning can mean the difference between life or death in a household fire

• Saturday, Feb. 24: Two Boston college students die in a fire started by a candle.
• Saturday, March 3: Three children die in a Claxton, Ga. fire; the suspected cause is a space heater.
• Wednesday, March 7: Nine children and one adult die in a fire that sweeps through a four-story building in the Bronx. Again, a space heater is believed to be the cause.
• Saturday, March 10: Four adults die in a Chicago fire; arson is alleged.

Day after day, week after week, we are hearing about one horrific fire after another. In the first three weeks of February alone, at least 200 people were reported killed in home fires. While the exact causes of these fires differ, the fatalities underscore the importance of prevention and pre-emergency planning. And by prevention we don’t just mean checking your appliances and electrical cords — or making sure your smoke detectors are working. Those, of course, are important first steps. But we also want to encourage families to develop an escape plan and review it with every family member — frequently. As we all remember from grade school, getting out quickly can be the difference between life and death. We don’t need the deaths of children in the Bronx to remind of us that.

In fact, fire safety officials say you could have as little as two minutes to get out of the house once the alarm sounds. But according to the National Fire Protection Association, a nonprofit international standard-setting organization, only one-fifth to one-fourth of all households have actually drafted and practiced an evacuation plan.

It’s not hard to do and the NFPA has some good tips to get you started. They include:

• Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes. 
• Everyone in the household must understand the escape plan. When you walk through your plan, check to make sure the escape routes are clear and doors and windows can be opened easily. 
• Choose an outside meeting place a safe distance in front of your home where everyone can meet after they've escaped. 
• Once you're out, stay out! Under no circumstances should you ever go back into a burning building.

In planning an emergency evacuation, remember that research has shown that children younger than 16 may not reliably wake up when the alarm goes off. So fire safety officials advise parents to conduct a fire escape drill either late at night or early in the morning to find out if their children are awakened by and able to respond to the sound of a smoke alarm. (The NFPA recommends holding a household fire drill twice a year.) For those children who do not respond, parents will need to make sure they get assistance in waking and getting out of the house.

Also remember that the elderly and infirm may need extra help in getting out as well.