Essay on Preventing & Surviving Home Fires: Challenges & Solutions

Introduction

Home fires are a common emergency issue that affects people. It is important to understand the home fire safety approaches. Learn ways of preventing home fires, escaping from the fires in the shortest time possible and recovering from the fire. Family members face challenges when it comes to home fires. Both family members and the government have to undertake measures of addressing the emergency issue. Preparedness is key to success in home fires.

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Challenges of home fires

Home fires are likely to be a great risk to the residents’ safety. It has the potential of causing social and economic damage for the victims. When home fires occur, the members face challenges since they lack the understanding to fire safety approaches. First, the building may lack smoke alarms. Installation of smoke alarms is crucial in a building, including the bedrooms and outside the sleeping places (Ahrens, 2019). The importance of smoke alarms is that it helps to notify or alert in event fire outbreak occurs. Members can have the opportunity to evacuate from the scene or take measures of addressing the issue (Ahrens, 2019). The absence of smoke alarms is challenging for occupants of a building to respond immediately to fire outbreak.

Second, family members may experience the challenge of escaping from the scene. Members may not understand the best way to escape when a home fire occurs. Since it is not possible to tell when a fire outbreak will occur, it is important to develop a fire escape plan (Campbell, 2016). The absence of the plan makes family members face confusion on the escape routes for every room. Therefore, an escape plan is one of the significant challenges that people face during home fires. It is important to share the plan with all members and educate them on the escape routes or measures to take if the fire occurs. Third, the lack of home insurance cover is a challenge for a family member. Home fires are destructive, and they can leave the family economically challenged. Therefore, having a home insurance cover would help protect the family from a fire disaster. The fourth challenge is on the firefighters. They were based far from the place, and it meant they would take some time before arriving at the scene. The time taken to arrive at the scene would lead to more damages from the fire. However, their response was best regardless of the distance. When they arrived, they managed to put out the fire.

Home fires emergency actions

Home fires, like any other emergency, require a response to address the situation. One of the important response plans is getting out of the building. Rushing out in orderly manner help to avoid injuries. It is advisable that once one is outside the building, he or she should stay out (Campbell, 2016). Going back inside the building to collect anything is dangerous since it poses risks of injuries or even death. Members are advised to remain outside the building and call for help. There are identified call centres and numbers such as 9-1-1 that can be used in such a situation to request for help. The government sends an emergency response team to the scene to help put out the fire. Besides, family members use their communication plan to call every member if they cannot find one another. The next measure includes assembling in a safe outside place after escaping from the fire. The place includes a safe distance from smoke, heat, and flames. Assembling in a particular meeting place helped identify any missing member. It helps advise the firefighters regarding the person who may require help and the location of the missing member in the building.

Emergency response success

The success of an emergency response depends on the behaviour of both victims and the government. When the home fire occurred, escaping the building using different escae routes was helpful for all family members. It helped avoid rushing to a common exit point that would likely cause injuries. Using different routes for an escape from the building also helped quick escape before the smoke or fire caused injuries. Escaping outside was orderly to ensure family members did not rush for their safety (Ahrens, 2019). Once a member managed to get out of the building, we were advised to remain outside and not go back into the building to pick certain stuff or look for someone inside the building. The measure helped to ensure that members did not risk getting fire injuries after they successfully came out of the building initially. Assembling at a common meeting place helped identify that all members had escaped outside the building. Since the place is far from the fire incident, it helped keep members safe from heat and smoke or even risks of flames. We all remained safe during the fire disaster. The next step was to call firefighters to help put out the fire. Even though they would take some minutes before arriving, their response was great. When they arrived, they helped put out the fire to stop it from causing more damages. The fire was put out, but it was clear that a substantial loss was incurred. However, the damage would not worry us since we had home insurance coverage. It helped indemnify to the same level and avoid the challenges of recovering from the fire damages.

Conclusion

Emergency response is important for the victims and the country as a whole. When emergency issues occur, it has an impact on both an individual and to the country based on economic and social impacts. There are numerous emergency issues, including home fires. Safety and preparedness are important in case of a fire outbreak. Residents of a building need to have a fire escape plan and educate all members on how to approach the incident. They also need to call emergency response teams such as firefighters to help address the issue.

References

Ahrens, M. (2019). Smoke alarms in US home fires. National Fire Protection Association.

Campbell, R. B. (2016). Home Fires Involving Heating Equipment. National Fire Protection Association.