Have an escape plan. Review escape routes with your family.
In high-rise buildings, never lock fire exits or doorways, halls, or stairways. Never prop stairway or other fire doors open.
Make sure windows are not nailed or painted shut.
Teach family members to stay low to the floor, where the air is safer, when escaping from a fire.
Finding an Escape Route
Check closed doors with the back of your hand to feel for heat before you open them.
If the door is hot, do not open it. Find a second way out, such as a window. If you cannot escape through a window, hang a white sheet outside the window to alert firefighters to your presence.
If the door is cold, slowly open it and ensure that fire and/or smoke is not blocking your escape route.
If your escape route is blocked, shut the door and use another escape route.
If clear, leave immediately and close the door behind you. Be prepared to crawl.
Contacting the Fire Department
Do not assume someone else already called the Fire Department.
Get out of the house, then call the Fire Department.
After a Fire
If you are with a burn victim or are a burn victim yourself, call 9-1-1 and cool and cover your burns until emergency units arrive.
Once you are out of the building, stay out! Do not go back inside for any reason.
Tell the Fire Department if you know of anyone trapped in the building.