The fire brigade says this habit might actually save your life

Of course, we hope that this won’t ever happen to you, but it’s best to be prepared for the worst, right? What if a fire breaks out in your home at night: what’s your escape route? It’s always good to know what the best way to leave your house is. Through a window, via the balcony, through the front door or the back door? Try to determine what the quickest and safest route would be. And there’s one last thing you can do to give yourself more time in case of a fire.

Protect yourself.

Prevention

Try to prevent a fire from breaking out by never using broken electrical cables and never smoking inside. It’s also important to own a fire extinguisher and functioning smoke alarm. The fire brigade has added another tip to this: always shut your bedroom door. This will slow down the fire and the smoke, which means you won’t be suffocated by the smoke as easily.

Escape

Escaping a fire can sometimes come down to minutes or even seconds. The smoke can cause you to be unable to breathe pretty quickly. Back in the day, people had 17 minutes on average to escape their houses in case of a fire. These days, you only have three minutes. This is due to the way we decorate and arrange our homes, which can cause the fire to spread more quickly.

Closed door

Shutting your door can mean the difference between life and death. By shutting the door, the fire won’t be able to enter the bedroom as easily and the smoke will stay out longer as well. This will give you more time to escape or to wait until the fire brigade arrives to save you. A lot of people think it’s better to leave the door open because you’ll be able to get out quicker. Unfortunately, by leaving the door open you run the risk of actually suffocating because of the smoke before even noticing there is a fire.

Read more: BEWARE: Many tumble dryers pose a fire hazard! Find out if your dryer is on the list as well!

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Source: Real Simple | Image: Pexels