Officials stress importance of having home fire escape plan
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Every second counts in a house fire. There's no time for confusion or hesitation.
"Do you have enough time to extinguish the fire yourself if you have an extinguisher, or do you need to bail out and leave? But you better make that decision pretty fast," Pittsburgh Fire Chief Darryl Jones said.
Jones says everyone, especially parents, needs to make a safety plan and practice it.
KDKA's Meghan Schiller talked to Jones and Jeffrey Tomovcsik, the chief of the City of McKeesport Fire Department. Both said that safety plans are top of mind for firefighters, especially after two small children died in a house fire in Sewickley on Tuesday.
"It takes a toll on you. It's something you don't forget, but we go out every year into the community, into the schools and we do as much as we can to try to prevent these things," said Tomovcsik.
He said creating a safety plan is a matter of life or death and recommends families identify a clear escape route from the second floor. Tomovcsik suggests parents help their children practice using window ladders on the first floor.
"You can teach your children to use their blankets to seal any cracks around the door to keep the smoke out, and as always your children should be sleeping with their doors closed," he said.
Something as simple as sleeping with a closed door and sealing up the cracks can give kids up to a 30-minute survivability cushion, according to Tomovcsik.
Next, he suggests people get to the window and start trying to get people's attention down below.
"Flashlights, bright colored objects, if they have stuffed animals, they can throw them. Stuffed animals are not going to hurt me or any police officers, but it will get our attention," Tomovcsik said.
Jones said in most homes, it's a matter of minutes for one reason.
"The contents that we have in our homes now is our biggest problem," said Chief Jones.
He said it's called "flashing over" and because of all the plastic and synthetic materials in peoples' homes, it "can flash over in about three minutes."
So, how can you make sure your family knows what to do? Chief Jones says to develop a plan and "smoke detectors, smoke detectors, smoke detectors."
Firefighters also suggest planning an overnight drill to see if your child hears the alarm and wakes up. It will help parents know in advance how the child will respond.
Lastly, Chief Tomovcsik wants families to practice the plan at least two times each year.
"They have to go over it enough so when it actually does happen, and the smoke alarm goes off and there's an actual incident, they can fall back on their training," he said.
The National Fire Protection Association is a one-stop shop for fire safety education, sample safety plans and more.