Home Fire Escape Plan Checklist: Two Ways Out and One Meeting Place
A home fire escape plan should identify two usable ways out of every room, one outdoor meeting place, and the assistance each household member may need. Draw it, walk every route, and practice it.
What to know
- Identify two exits from every room when physically possible.
- Keep doors, windows, stairs, and corridors unobstructed.
- Choose one meeting place outside and in front of the home.
- Practice the plan at least twice a year.
- Once outside, stay outside.
A home fire escape plan should identify two usable ways out of every room, one outdoor meeting place, and the assistance each household member may need.
Draw the plan, walk every route, test whether doors and windows can actually open, and practice with everyone who lives in the home.
What to know
- Identify two exits from every room when physically possible.
- Keep doors, windows, stairs, and corridors unobstructed.
- Choose one meeting place outside and in front of the home.
- Practice the plan at least twice a year.
- Once outside, stay outside.
The U.S. Fire Administration recommends drawing every door and window, identifying two ways out of each room, clearing exits, choosing an outside meeting place, and practicing the drill with the whole household. [1]
Draw every level
Sketch each floor separately.
Mark bedrooms, living spaces, doors, windows, stairs, exterior fire escapes, smoke alarms, building exits, and the outside meeting place.
A simple hand drawing is sufficient. Artistic merit is irrelevant, a rare mercy granted by emergency planning.
Find two ways out of every room
The first route is often the normal door.
The second may be another door, a window leading directly to safe ground, an approved exterior fire escape, or another route identified by the building’s evacuation plan.
Do not count an exit that is painted shut, blocked by furniture, requires a missing key, cannot be opened by the room’s occupant, leads to an unsafe drop, or passes through a known hazard.
Test windows and doors during planning, not during an actual fire.
Clear the route
Keep escape paths free of boxes, furniture, bicycles, mobility devices parked in corridors, locked security gates without an approved quick release, seasonal storage, extension cords, and rugs that create trip hazards.
Apartment residents should learn the locations of exit stairs and building alarms. Use stairs rather than elevators during a fire unless emergency personnel specifically direct otherwise. [1]
Choose the meeting place
Pick a fixed location outside, a safe distance from the structure, in front where firefighters can identify the household, and away from traffic and responding equipment.
Examples include a particular mailbox, sign, tree, or neighbor’s property.
Everyone should report directly there. The meeting place allows the household to identify who is out without anyone returning to search.
Plan for assistance
Assign help for infants and young children, older adults, people with limited mobility, people who are deaf or hard of hearing, people with vision impairments, anyone who may not wake to an ordinary alarm, and visitors unfamiliar with the building.
Children should learn how to escape independently when developmentally capable because an adult may be unable to reach them.
Do not assign a child responsibility for rescuing another person.
Include smoke alarms in the plan
Ready.gov recommends smoke alarms on every level and inside sleeping areas. Verify that alarms are installed according to current local requirements and manufacturer instructions. [2]
Use the test button to begin a practice drill so household members recognize the sound.
Replace or service alarms according to their instructions. Never disable an alarm because of recurring nuisance activation; correct its placement, contamination, battery, or equipment problem.
Practice the drill
Practice at least twice each year, during daylight and after dark, using different starting rooms, with children and assistance plans, without using elevators, and without retrieving possessions. Ready.gov recommends practicing the home fire escape plan twice each year. [2]
Do not create dangerous drill conditions. Never produce real smoke, disable lighting in a hazardous way, or climb from an upper-story window without approved escape equipment and trained guidance.
What to do during a fire
When the alarm sounds or fire is discovered:
- Leave immediately using the safest available route.
- Stay low when smoke is present.
- Close doors behind you when possible.
- Go to the meeting place.
- Call 911 from outside.
- Tell responders if anyone may remain inside.
- Stay outside until firefighters declare it safe.
Never reenter for pets, medicine, phones, identification, or belongings.
When an exit is blocked
Use the second planned route.
If no route is safely usable, close the door between yourself and the fire, call 911, state your exact room and floor, signal from a window, and follow dispatcher instructions.
Do not hide without communicating your location.
Bottom line
Map two exits, clear them, pick one meeting place, assign assistance, and practice. A fire plan stored only in one person’s head is not a household plan. It is merely unpublished fan fiction about how smoothly an emergency will proceed.
Limits and cautions
- Building layouts, accessibility needs, and local fire-code requirements vary.
- Upper-story escape equipment and procedures require building-specific and fire-department guidance.
Source notes
- Home Fire Escape PlansU.S. Fire Administration
- Home FiresReady.gov
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