Guide To Fire Safety For Non-Mobility Challenged

Fire Prevention: Due to your limitations you have to be aware of your abilities and disabilities.

Work with you Occupational Therapist to promote effective strategies to promote Fire Safety.

To be most effective, the strategies should be individualized to match your abilities.

For example an Occupational Therapist Generate a step-by-step instruction sheet while cooking.

An Occupational Therapist can recommend modifications to the appliances and to your home.

Start with Safety: What disability you have might make escaping from a Fire more difficult.

What steps should you –or your Family members take to ensure that you escape safely in the event of a Fire.

Know your Community: Some Fire Dept. Maintain Voluntary Registries for residents that need assistants in an Emergency. Consider asking your Fire Dept. to start one if they do not have one.

Safety Tips For People With DISABILITIES

Planning and Being prepared: what to do is important for you to have additional time in order to escape safely.

The Key to Planning is: to know your abilities, do you need help to escape, and can you hear the smoke alarm when it sounds.

Be Ready to Call: make sure the Fire Dept. knows of your Disability. Keep a phone by your bed, along with Emergency Numbers incase you get trapped by smoke or fire and can’t escape.

Escape Planning: every house hold needs an escape plan and you need to be included. Designate a member of the house hold and decide on a back up incase he or she isn’t home to assist you with your escape. Fire drills are a good opportunity to make sure you have all the bugs out of your plan. It also gives you a chance with repetitions to help with your memory.

Sound the Alarm: if you are deaf or hard of hearing, consider a smoke alarm with flashing strobe lights. The life time of a smoke alarm is ten years from the date you install it. They do have 10 year lithium batteries with helps with the changing of batteries twice yearly. But your smoke alarms have to be tested every month.

Some Smoke Alarms Have Features to Make Testing Easier: Some are equipped with large easy to use testing buttons. Some can be tested using a flashlight or a television remote are particularly helpful for people who are mobility challenged.

Installation and Maintenance: Install smoke alarms on every level of the home and outside each sleeping area. If you take medication and sleep with your door closed have a qualified electrician install interconnected alarms in every room cause when one sounds they all sound. Remember to test you alarms once a month.

Escape Considerations For You: because of your limitations and you may not be able to save yourself you there for need special consideration in your fire escape plan.

Have a Designated Member: Your designated Member should know and review the fire escape plan for a person with mobility issues. This can be a great responsibility but remember it will be a great honor to save some ones life.

Practice helping you escape safely in the event of smoke filling the house: If you are able to get down on the floor and crawl safely, you can crawl to the door and check if it is hot. If it is hot don’t open it, your designated member should be along shortly. Stay on the floor and crawl to the phone and call 911.

Know Your Exits: it is especially important for persons with limitations to sleep near an exit. There for if the door is cool and they stay low to the ground they can escape from a Fire easily.

Keep Beside Your Bed: a flashlight you may need it to signal to Firefighters if you become trapped. A bottle of water and a cloth, this is used temporary to protect against smoke as you escape it is not 100% effective as a breathing apparatus.

Escape Tips: If you hear the smoke alarm, do not hesitate. Respond immediately by following your escape plan. If you need help, make noise even call 911 until your Designated member comes. If it is possible get low to the ground air is cleaner and cooler a foot to 2 feet above the floor. Check the door if it is cool open it slowly there my be a fire or smoke if there is close it and move away from the door.

If you can not Escape: If blocked exit paths or mobility problems prevent you from escaping. Close as many doors as you can between you and the Fire. In you Escape plan you selected a refuge room, go in there and seal as much around the door as you can and cover vents to prevent smoke from coming into the refuge room. Call 911 and tell them you are trapped and where to look.

When your Designated Member Arrives: They got to your room but there is no way escape. There are 2 ways out of every room that has a window. Once again sleeping on the ground floor is a great idea. If you have a window as long as it is not a long drop have the member lower you to the ground.

When you Escape to Outside: go to a meeting place selected by the family so everyone can be accounted for, if anyone is missing tell the firefighters who is missing and where to look.

Remember in Your Plan: for the first family member to be outside go to the neighbors and phone 911 and then go to the meeting place. GET OUT AND STAY OUT Let the Firefighters do there job!

Repetitions: Using Fire Drills periodically gives the individuals memory a chance to memorize your fire escape plan. The faster you can do it the safer you’ll be.

For more information email: mikeseaborn36@aol.com