10 Home Safety Plans To Survive A Disaster

Whether you live in an apartment, condo, or a free-standing house, there are all kinds of potential disasters that might come your way. They range from fires to floods to home invasions. Obviously, no one wants to go through something like that.

However, sometimes, you have little choice in the matter.

In this article, we will look at 10 scenarios where you are facing a disaster as a homeowner or renter. We will also talk about some ways you can escape to safety along with your family.

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Use A Hidden Room As A Panic Room

Let’s start with a home invasion scenario. Maybe you have burglars who are trying to break in while you’re at home.

If that happens, maybe you have installed a hidden room somewhere in the house. It can act as a panic room. You might use a sliding Murphy door that leads into your hidden room. These types of doors are easy to conceal.

If you have access to this type of a room, then you will be in a much better position to call for help if someone breaks in.

By bringing a smartphone into the hidden room with you, you make it much more likely the police can come before the would-be burglars escape.

Call 911

Calling 911 is also a foolproof way to get some attention from the authorities if you ever have any type of emergency situation while you’re at home.

You should teach your kids to dial 911 from the time when they are very young. By giving them that information, it’s probable they will be okay if there’s an emergency and you’re not able to call for help yourself.

You can put the number by a landline if your home has one. Even if you only have cell phones, putting 911 and other emergency contact numbers on the fridge is a solid plan, particularly if you have children.

Make Sure You Have Working Smoke Alarms

Let’s move to fire situations. Fires can break out in your home at any time. That’s why it’s helpful to have working smoke detectors.

If you move into a house, condo, or apartment, check the smoke detector situation. Do you have some installed already?

If you do, make sure to test them. If they are not working, replace them. Having working smoke detectors ensures that you get an alert if there’s ever a fire or smoke situation. This way, you can vacate the house or fight the fire.

Fighting the fire is only appropriate if it’s relatively small and has not gotten out of control.

Go Down The Fire Escape

If you live in an apartment, you can also go down the fire escape if there’s ever a fire. Nearly all modern buildings with apartments or condos in them have fire escapes.

Check the fire escape to make sure everything is in good working order when you move in. You should also check to make sure the window leading to the fire escape opens easily.

You never know when you will need to open that window and hastily make a retreat down the fire escape to ground level.

Use A Fire Blanket

You can keep a fire blanket in the house as well. Fire blankets are typically made of flame-retardant material. You can take the blanket, unfold it, and throw it over a fire to smoother it.

You can practice doing this with your kids. Show them how they would throw the blanket over the fire if it has not gotten too large or out of control.

Use A Fire Extinguisher

You can supply your home with fire extinguishers as well. Fire extinguishers do not cost a lot, but they can truly be lifesavers in many situations.

You can teach your kids the acronym PASS, meaning pull, aim, squeeze, and sweep. You pull the pin out of the extinguisher, aim it at the base of the fire, squeeze the trigger gently, and then sweep the extinguisher back and forth as the foam comes out.

Take Shelter In The Basement

Getting away from fire situations, you might also have a home plan to survive an extreme weather event like a tornado. If high winds produce tornado situations, the last thing you want to do is to go outside.

Instead, you can shelter down in the basement till the danger passes.

Many homes have basements if they are in parts of the country where tornadoes are common. This is another situation where teaching your kids what to do in case of this particular danger makes sense.

Take Shelter At A Community Center

In some instances, you will want to have a plan in place to take shelter at a community center if it’s not safe for you to remain at home. If there are wildfires nearby, for instance, then vacating your home and heading to a community center is logical, as long as the center is not also under threat.

You might also head to a church, synagogue, mosque, YMCA, or any other large building where people might gather together for safety.

Create An Emergency Action Plan

You can create an emergency action plan for your home and share its details with all your family members. This plan can be put into action in different dangerous situations.

Your family members should all know what to do if there’s a fire, intruders, a tornado, etc. You can run through practice drills periodically with the family as well.

Install An Alarm System

Installing a hard-wired alarm system is never a bad idea. You can have an alarm system that you set whenever you go to bed at night.

The alarm triggers if someone tries to break through your locked door or come in through your windows. The operating company will immediately call you and send help if the alarm is triggered.

This option costs a little money every month, but you might feel it’s well worth it if someone ever tries to break in or a similar event occurs.