Fire Prevention Week begins on October 8. This year’s main them is entitled, Fire Drills: The Great Escape! It is the goal of Fire Prevention Canada to establish an effective working relationship with the private and public sectors to achieve fire safety through education. It is also in the best interests of each and every citizen in this country to pay attention to the messages that this organization is trying to get out.

The statistics are truly alarming!

It is no wonder that home insurance is skyrocketing and smoke detectors have become mandatory. New building codes are about to be implemented which will require the installation of sprinkler systems in modern residential buildings as well as commercial facilities.

Unfortunately, fires will happen. It is impossible to eliminate them, however, as a homeowner, it is imperative that you do everything you can to reduce the risk of fire by cleaning up hot spots around your house. Make sure you don’t have any combustible materials lying around in places where something could trigger a fire.

Of equal importance is taking time to develop and practice a fire escape plan for home. This should be done with your entire family. Draw a floor plan of your house, showing all of the possible exits from each room (including windows). Make sure that everyone in the house understands that if they should hear the smoke alarm they are to begin shouting "fire" and immediately evacuate the home. Do not go around the house looking for other family members. Go directly to a designated meeting place outside, such as the end of the driveway, so that you can determine if everyone escaped safely. If anyone in your home is unable to evacuate without assistance, assign someone in advance to assist them. Above all, make sure that everyone understands the number one rule about house fires: DO NOT RE-ENTER A BURNING HOUSE! Make the phone call to the fire department from a neighbour’s house. Finally, you should ensure that your baby sitters know the routine as well. Have a complete description of the fire escape plan available and read by all new baby sitters.

Planning is not enough, however. You should also practice your escape. Pretend the fire starts in different spots in the house and start the escape according to a variety of times of the day. You may also want to practice escapes from bedroom windows and try to come up with a plan to avoid injury if there is a long drop, or at least inform all members of the family that they are to shout for outside assistance.

When we go to work we all make sure that the fire escape plan is known by our co-workers. Why should it be any different at home.