Whether you’re a business owner or a homeowner, having an emergency fire evacuation plan is vital to keep everyone safe! Evacuation plans let people know when to move and where to go so they don’t get caught up in the panic of an emergency.

It’s easy to build an emergency evacuation plan, so let’s run through how to create one! We’ll also cover why installing photoelectric smoke alarms in the right places is absolutely vital to the success of your new plan.

Why Are Smoke Alarms Important for an Evacuation Plan?

No matter what kind of building you’re planning an evacuation for, the most important part of the evacuation is making sure everyone knows they need to leave. Human beings are often reluctant to believe that they are in survival situations, meaning they can be slow to react, even if they see signs of an emergency.

Alarms are important because they remove that part of the decision-making process. When an alarm sounds, occupants know there is an emergency, and they must get out quickly. This leads to faster evacuation times and ensures that no one is left behind.

To make sure everyone hears the alarm, it’s vital to place smoke or heat alarms throughout the entire building. Make sure you use long-life photoelectric smoke alarms as recommended by Fire and Emergency Services, as these are less prone to false alarms and last for up to a decade.

If you can, opt for a set of interconnected smoke alarms. That way, if one alarm in the building triggers, all of them will go off simultaneously. This means that all occupants learn of the emergency at once, triggering a smooth evacuation.

For Homes

•         Install at least one photoelectric long-life smoke alarm in every bedroom or no more than three metres from each bedroom door.
•         Install at least one photoelectric long-life smoke alarm on every floor of your home to make sure no fires go undetected for too long.
•         Install thermal heat alarms in kitchens, laundries, workshops, and near bathrooms to detect fast-acting fires. In moisture-heavy environments like these, photoelectric smoke alarms are not recommended, as they will trigger false alarms.

For Commercial or Industrial Properties

•         The New Zealand Building Code requires an approved photoelectric smoke alarm to be fitted in every hallway or possible escape route for easy egress.
•         Thermal heat alarms should be installed in shared kitchen and bathroom spaces to prevent false alarms from photoelectric smoke alarms.
•         Carbon monoxide detectors should be installed, especially in industrial settings.

With all that covered, let’s dive into how to create an emergency evacuation plan for your property!

How to Create an Emergency Evacuation Plan

Fires are scary and disorienting, whether they’re happening in your home or your workplace. Smoke, the heat, and structural weakness can all play a role in stopping your escape. Therefore, it’s important to build an evacuation plan that gets all occupants out as quickly and safely as possible.

Build an Evacuation Plan for Your Home

1.     Make sure all your smoke alarms are installed properly, working, and in the right spots in your home.
2.     Establish your first escape route. The best choice is the normal way you come in and out of your home (for most people, this is the front door).
3.     Consider if this way out is locked or blocked in any way. If so, place keys nearby and remove any potential obstacles that could stop your escape.
4.     Account for anyone in your home who might need help getting out, such as young children or anyone with mobility issues.
5.     Do the same for a second and third escape route.

Congratulations, you’ve built your evacuation plan! Make sure to discuss this plan with your family so everyone knows what to do in the event of a fire. House fires act quickly, so it’s vital that everyone is on board with the plan ahead of time.

Build an Evacuation Plan for Your Business

In New Zealand, any buildings that are classified as ‘relevant buildings’ require a pre-planned evacuation scheme. Some examples include buildings where 100 or more people gather, buildings where 10 or more people work, or buildings used for hazardous substance storage.

If you own a ‘relevant building’ you will need to apply for your evacuation scheme through Fire and Emergency Services. You’ll need to show them a variety of documentation to prove your building is fire-safe, including an evacuation training programme and a site plan showing means of escape.

Most evacuation procedures require you to:

•         Know the routes of potential evacuation from all spots in the building.
•         Train your employees with regular fire drills.
•         Assign fire wardens to manage the evacuation and check that everyone made it out.

With all these steps taken, no matter whether you’re a home or a business, you’ll be ready should you ever need to evacuate. Stay safe!

Make sure all occupants know when it’s time to evacuate with CAVIUS smoke alarms.

Our range of photoelectric smoke alarms are designed to last for a decade without replacing the battery. They’re incredibly easy to install and small enough to go undetected while doing their job.

We also offer a range of interconnected smoke alarms to make sure everyone in your home or business knows when it’s time to evacuate. Browse the range of CAVIUS smoke and heat alarms to make sure all goes to plan.

Fire Escape Plans are critical to saving your family in the event of a fire taking hold in your home. House fires are frightening, and having to escape your house can be more terrifying than it needs to be, especially if your kids haven’t practiced the plan in advance. We recommend teaching them your house escape plan in advance, so in the event of a house fire, they know how to get out of the house instead of staying put and you can be confident in their ability to get out if the worst occurs.

NZ House Fire Escape Planning Tool

The New Zealand Fire Service has an excellent Fire Escape Planning tool that is designed to help you create and highlight the escape routes in your home in the event of a fire. You can then print your personalised Home Escape Plan out for the whole family to use. TIP: Stick it on the fridge for a week so everyone gets familiar with it!

The Waterman’s Fire Escape Plan

Here is an example of the Waterman’s house. They have two children, Georgia and Jack. They know that it’s more likely a fire will start in the kitchen or family room so their escape plan has the children heading away from that area. The Waterman’s also want to make the escape as short as possible for their children and to make sure they are already heading towards them if the children identify a fire before them.

When the Waterman family practiced their escape, they also showed Georgia and Jack how to escape from their window and onto the grass if they couldn’t escape via the hallway. There is a big walnut tree out the front of the Waterman’s house and that’s the meeting place. One big rule for everyone is that they will all meet there first before trying to find where their cat Midnight is.

How to use the House Fire Escape Planning Tool

It’s a five minute job to create using the Fire Escape Planning Tool, simply follow these four steps.

1. Draw your house in blue.
2. Escape plan in red.
3. Add furniture emoji to identify each room.
4. Add window and door emoji’s to identify escape points.

Where do New Zealand House Fires Start?

Kitchens, bedrooms and family rooms make up over half of the sources of house fires according to the New Zealand Fire Service. It is highly recommended to install photoelectric smoke alarms in your family room and each bedroom, the alarms in these areas will provide the earliest detection and enable your family to escape your home. Old style ionisation alarms use a less effective technology so ensure you installed photoelectric smoke alarms.

Let Your Children Create The Family Escape Plan

Letting your children contribute to the creation of your fire escape plan can be a fun activity for a rainy day, and helps them take ownership of this important responsibility. If you’d like your children to help create the family escape plan you can make your own using this cool Fire Escape Plan Drawing Guide that the NZ Fire Service has created. There’s all the furniture, arrows and escape doors and window emoji you’ll need to make if both fun and educational! This also helps children use reasoning skills as to why various escape routes are likely to be safer than others.

On Saturday, 16th of June 2018, Callum McNeil and his wife experienced a close call which reminded them exactly why it’s so important to have efficient smoke alarms as well as a secure escape route. Callum shares his story below:

Firstly, we had our lounge, kitchen, dining and hall redecorated recently, and thought it would be a good idea to get the rest of our smoke alarms changed to your Cavius alarms. Thank goodness we did. My wife got up early, as she was having trouble sleeping. It was cold, as it was winter. She lit a fire in our free standing fireplace, which still had an unburnt log from the night before. After a time, the log combusted, if that’s the right word to use. It gave her a fright. Due to the force, it blew smoke out the front gaps which would normally contain it, but this was not what activated the alarm. She carried on pottering around, enjoying the heat, when suddenly, the alarm activated. She said she never smelled any smoke, and this goes to show that when they say smoke is a silent killer, they weren’t telling porkies. As she hadn’t smelled the smoke, she thought the combustion caused a fire in our ceiling, which we couldn’t see. She yelled out to get us, our daughter and I, out of the house, and we got out via the back door, which is the safest route out. Joy was on the phone to 111 FENZ very quickly.

Our house is 112 years old. It would burn like paper. Very fast! The Fire crew from our town, and a backup pump from the next closest town were sent. Luckily, there was no fire in the roof cavity either. So, why did the smoke alarm go off, you ask? Well, unbeknown to us, there was a crack in the base of the firebox. Only 5cm long. However, this was enough for the alarm to alert us there was a problem. It was a VERY early warning, which gave us good time to evacuate. It did make us think how we could refine our escape route. No house should be without an escape plan, especially with alternatives, if one is blocked. Practice once a month. Make it a safe ‘challenge’ to see who did the escape well.

We spent the extra money to get the Cavius photoelectric smoke alarms, and we are very glad we did. I ask the question, would the other alarms have picked up the smoke like yours did? Would we have had the same amount of time to escape? We placed them in the areas recommended by, Cavius. This reminds me of a situation whereby a person I knew, removed the battery from a smoke alarm, as it kept going off. It’s a pretty simple solution really.. Replace it! For a matter of a few dollars, or if money is really tight, visit your local fire station, which should have free ones. Life is too precious.

We all want to thank you for such an incredible product which picked up a problem way before we could. Definitely worth the money!! Thank you again.