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SAFETY

You and your family are fast asleep when the smoke alarm sounds: Do you know what to do?

Consider this scenario: It’s 2 o’clock in the morning. You and your family are fast asleep when you awaken to the smoke alarm sounding and the smell of smoke. What do you do? If you and your family
don’t have a plan in place, it could jeopardize your safety, or even prove deadly.
In a typical home fire, you may have as little as one to two minutes to escape safely from the time the smoke alarm sounds. That’s why home escape planning is so critical in a fire situation. It ensures that everyone in the household knows how to use that small window of time wisely.
This year’s Fire Prevention Week theme, “Every Second Counts: Plan 2 Ways Out!” works to better educate the public about the critical importance of developing a home escape plan and practicing it. Medford Fire-Rescue is working in coordination with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA),
the official sponsor of the Fire Prevention Week, to reinforce those potentially
life-saving messages. Fire Prevention Week is in October.
In support of Fire Prevention Week, Medford Fire-Rescue encourages all City of Medford and beyond  households to develop a plan together and practice it. A homeescape plan includes working smoke alarms on every level of the home, in every bedroom, and near all sleeping areas. It also includes two ways out of every room, usually a door and a window, with a clear path to an outside meeting
place (like a tree, light pole, or mailbox) that’s a safe distance from the home. NFPA and Medford Fire-Rescue offer these additional tips for developing and practicing a home escape plan:
• Draw a map of your home, marking two exits from each room and a path to the outside from each exit.
• Practice your home fire drill twice a year.
• Teach children how to escape on their own in case you can’t help them.
• Make sure the number of your home is clearly marked and easy for the fire department to find.
• Close doors behind you as you leave — this may slow the spread of smoke, heat, and fire.
• Once you get outside, stay outside. Never go back inside a burning building.
• A good time to remember to check your smoke alarm and change the batteries is when you “fall back” as daylight savings time ends.     
For more information visit www.medfordfirerescue.org,

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