About this site | Directories | Site Index | Contact us

Home safety

• Is your home safe?
• Fire safety equipment
• Children
• Outside your home
• Prevention
• Escape
  • Planning your escape
  • What to do if there's a fire
  • Escaping from a high-rise building
  • Escaping from a house
• After a fire
• Getting help

What to do if there's a fire

If a fire does break out in your home, chances are you will only have a short amount of time to get you and your family to safety. Remember, if there's a fire - get out, stay out and dial 999.

• Raise the alarm
• How to make a 999 call

Raise the alarm

If the smoke alarm goes off when you're asleep, shout to wake everyone up, get everyone together, follow your escape plan and get out of the building.

• Don't stop to investigate the fire or to collect valuables or pets.
• Use your escape route to get everyone out and meet at an agreed point.
• Close any doors which are open, and only open the doors you need to go through (this will help to stop the fire from spreading so rapidly).
• Check doors with the back of your hand. If a door is warm, don't open it - the fire is on the other side.
• If there is a lot of smoke, crawl along the floor as the air will be cleanest there.
• Once you've got everyone out of the building, use a mobile phone, a neighbour's phone or a phone box to call 999. Give the emergency operator your name and address.
• Don't go back into the building for anything. If there is still someone inside, tell the Fire and Rescue Service when they arrive - they'll be able to find the person quicker and more safely than you.
• Find somewhere safe to wait near the building, and give the Fire and Rescue Service as much information as possible about the fire and the building.

How to make a 999 call

999 calls are free. Don't call your local Fire and Rescue Service's number - it could take longer to be answered. The more information the Fire and Rescue Service has, the quicker firefighters can get to you and do their job.

Speak slowly and clearly
• Give the full address of your home, including the town.
• Say what is on fire (for example, a two-storey house or a flat in a high-rise block).
• Explain if anyone is trapped and if so, what room they are in.

Return to top

Privacy statement | Terms & conditions | Photo credits | Accessibility | Crown copyright