Fire Alarms
When a fire alarm sounds it is time to get everyone out of the vicinity immediately. It doesn’t matter if it is at your home, a school, or your office. Too many people panic in such situations or they try to take material items along with them. A fire can spread very rapidly so getting everyone in the area out of the building is very important.
Fire alarms can be startling and they can scare small children. It is a good idea to have them hear the fire alarm in a practice situation on a regular basis. This way they know what to expect when it does sound. It is also important to have an evacuation plan in place for when a fire alarm does sound. If people are going in all directions it is impossible to determine who is still inside and who has gotten out.
This places firefighters at risk if they go back in to check and no one is still inside. It also wastes valuable time looking for them outdoors and then realizing they are still inside where the fire is. There have been numerous accounts of parents rushing into a fire to save children who are safely outdoors with someone else.
A fire alarm needs to be extremely loud so that it will be heard by everyone who will be affected by events taking place. Loud factories need to have extremely loud fire alarms because of the work being done inside. Many people may be wearing earplugs that can prevent them from responding to a normal sounding fire alarm.
In a home a fire alarm needs to be very loud in order to wake everyone up. Many fires occur while individuals are sleeping. The longer it takes for them to wake up the less time they have to get out of the environment. They also need to be loud because the fire alarm that sound may be in the basement area but the sleeping quarters are upstairs.
All fire alarms need to be tested on a regular basis to ensure they are working properly. Fires are extremely dangerous and the spread rapidly. If your home isn’t equipped with fire alarms you need to get them immediately. Work on a family evacuation plan as well.
