Emergencies: Practice Your Plan

Once you have your plan, the next step is talking to your family about what to do. It’s especially important to keep kids informed. 

Here are some ways to keep the plan fresh in everyone’s minds:

• Do emergency drills. Just like schools and offices make people practice fire drills, you can do the same at home. Pretend a disaster is happening and go through the motions.
• Practice escaping from different rooms. You should have two escapes from every room in your house. Practice escape drills in every room in the house.
• Quiz your family. Keep your kids on their toes. Ask what they would do in the case of different emergencies. Don’t forget to ask your spouse, parents or anyone else who lives with you.
• Test your alarms and detectors every month. If you can’t reach your smoke alarm, you can use a broom handle to push the test button. Test carbon monoxide detectors too by pushing the test button too. Remember to change your batteries at least once a year.