Fire evacuation policy

[claire85]

Just updating policies , my fire evacuation policy states i will get out through the front door or side windows of my playroom , have been thinking though i need to get through to the kitchen to get to the back garden. In my garden i have a section parted off with a locked gate and then the rest of the garden has our green house in. and the back gate which is locked and leads out to a lane its a lots of hassle this was if i have lots of children unlocking gates etc. do you think it would be ok just to leave it as the front door way ?

[moggy]

I'd just list what is possible and leave it at that. If the event occurred you would do what you can at the time depending on the situation- you have no idea what the situation would be: there may be issues of smoke/obstacles/position of fire etc etc. If the only option at the time was the window or kitchen door or whatever then that is what you would do and would make the best of it.

[mama2three]

try it out! Do some practices and you will soon know how practical it is. Its ok to leave by the front door usually , but what if the fire was in the hall?
I don't say exactly how I would get out as this change with the children I have , what and where the actual 'emergency' was etc...
I do however do regular fire practices which test out the practicality and safety of a number of options. Then I update any RAs if I need to , for example to make sure there was a back gate key hung by the appropriate exit etc...
I would probably write in a policy ( not that I have one) that we will leave by the safest exit!!

[hectors house]

I agree with mama2three - I try out different scenarios eg: kitchen is on fire and children are in lounge, hair straighteners been left on upstairs and started fire, 2 mindees upstairs asleep and one playing downstairs (and yes I have practised carrying downstairs 2 non walkers and practised taking upstairs a mindee and shutting ourselves in bedroom and putting rolled up duvet by door)! In my policy I just say that we practise different scenarios and make the decision on which door to exit by as and when we need to. Sounds like your front door makes more sense but if fire is blocking your exit you would have to go out back doors and maybe have keys to gates hidden somewhere in the garden as you wouldn't want to be trapped close the the house in case the windows exploded out!