Your ability to get out depends on advance warning from smoke alarms and advance planning.

​

Smoke alarms save lives. Smoke alarms that are properly installed and maintained play a vital role in reducing fire deaths and injuries. 

If there is a fire in your home, smoke spreads fast and you need smoke alarms to give you time to get out.

​

TEST YOUR SMOKE ALARMS MONTHLY

• PULL the pin out of the fire extinguisher’s handle.

• AIM the nozzle at the base of the flames.

• SQUEEZE or press the handles together to activate the extinguisher.

• SWEEP or move the nozzle side to side at the base of the flames.

Often called the invisible killer, carbon monoxide is an odorless, colorless gas created when fuels (such as gasoline, wood, coal, natural gas, propane, oil, and methane) burn incompletely. In the home, heating and cooking equipment that burn fuel are potential sources of carbon monoxide. Vehicles or generators running in an attached garage can also produce dangerous levels of carbon monoxide.

Fire can spread rapidly through your home, leaving you as little as one or two minutes to escape safely once the alarm sounds. 

Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home and inspect all possible exits and escape routes. 

Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors. Also, mark the location of each smoke alarm.