Our 3-Step Escape Plan

  • First Escape Route
  • Second Escape Route
  • Meeting Place
Notes

Use this space to note any additional information about your escape plan, i.e. who will assist

Your checklist

  • Get low

    Smoke is poisonous and more deadly than flames.

    If you breathe smoke for more than a few breaths it can kill you.

  • Be fast

    A house fire can kill you in less than three minutes.

    Don't spend time trying to save possessions.

  • Close doors

    A closed door buys you time.

    It slows down the spread of fire, giving you more time to get to safety.

  • Get out - stay out!

    People have died by going back into a fire.

    Don't leave the meeting place to go back inside for any reason.

Call emergency services as soon as you are out and safe. Ask for FIRE.

Clearly state your address and let the operator know it anyone is still inside or has not made it to the safe meeting place.

Emergency call 111 Emergency text 111
Fire & Emergency New Zealand

Smoke alarm proves life saving

Smoke alarm proves life saving

21 August 2019

A neighbour's swift actions may have saved a Palmerston North man’s life, says Fire and Emergency New Zealand.

Matthew Weavers heard a smoke alarm sounding from the house next door, alerting him to smoke filling his neighbour’s kitchen.

"After investigating, he saw the smoke was caused by a steak cooking on the stove and took it outside. He then realised someone was still in the house and called 111," says Fire and Emergency Station Officer Barry Madgwick.

"When our crew arrived, we found the occupant fast asleep. Needless to say, he got a bit of a shock to be woken up by firefighters in a smoke-filled house and was very grateful to his neighbour for preventing a potentially fatal situation."

Unattended cooking is the most common cause of house fires in New Zealand.

"A brief distraction while you are cooking has the potential for disaster," says Barry Madgwick.

"It’s lucky in this instance the neighbour found the smoke before a fire started."

It serves as a good reminder to check that your household has working smoke alarms.

"Without the smoke alarm alerting the neighbour to the smoke, this situation could have turned out very differently," says Barry Madgwick.

"If you see, hear or smell anything out of the ordinary at a neighbour’s house, like smoke or the sound of smoke alarms - call 111. You could be saving a life."

ENDS

For more information contact:

Media | Fire and Emergency New Zealand

Email: media@fireandemergency.nz, Mobile: 027 591 8837

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