With students' heading back to school, it's the perfect time to have a fire & life safety check-up! Rutherford County Fire-Rescue hopes you'll take this opportunity to have a fire safety conversation with your family, and make sure you review and practice your fire escape plan.

It is important that you have fire safety conversations with your entire family often and ensure that everyone knows the escape plan. Not sure what a fire safety conversation should entail; the National Fire Protection Association has captured the following information to encourage these family fire safety discussions and to assist you with creating your escape plan.

Pull together everyone in your household and make a plan. Walk through your home as a group and inspect all possible exits and escape routes. Households with children should consider drawing a floor plan of your home, marking two ways out of each room, including windows and doors. Also, mark the location of each smoke alarm.

• Everyone in the household must understand the escape plan.
• When you walk through your plan, check to make sure the escape routes are clear and everyone can open doors and windows easily.
• Choose an outside meeting place (i.e. neighbor's house, a light post, mailbox, or stop sign) a safe distance in front of your home, where everyone can meet after they've escaped. Make sure to mark the location of the meeting place on your escape plan.
• If there are infants, older adults, or family members with mobility limitations, make sure that someone is assigned to assist them in the fire drill and in the event of an emergency. Assign a backup person too, in case the designee is not home during the emergency.
• Closing doors on your way out slows the spread of fire, giving you more time to safely escape.
• Once you're out, stay out! Under no circumstances should you ever go back into a burning building. If someone is missing, inform the fire department dispatcher when you call. Firefighters have the skills and equipment to perform rescues.
• Practice your home fire escape plan twice a year, making the drill as realistic as possible.

"I can't stress enough the importance of preplanning an escape plan," stated Chief Larry Farley, "Practicing and knowing multiple escape routes and knowing what to do when there are no viable escape routes, can be the difference between life and death when an emergency occurs."

Volunteers Needed

Rutherford County Fire-Rescue relies on brave men and women to volunteer their time to serve as volunteer firefighters to ensure that every call for help is answered. Besides the men and women who respond to emergencies, other types of volunteers are also needed. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, please contact Rutherford County FireRescue at http://firerescue.rutherfordcountytn.gov or call 615-867-4626.