15
WHAT TO DO IF SMOKE IS DETECTED
RESPONDING TO AN ALARM
• Don’t panic; stay calm. Follow your family escape
plan. Your safe escape may depend on thinking
clearly and remembering what you have prac-
ticed. Get out of the house as quickly as possible.
Don’t stop to get dressed or collect anything.
• Feel doors with the back of your hand before
opening them to see if they are hot. If a door is
cool, open it slowly.
• Don’t open a hot door—use an alternate escape
route.
• Stay close to the floor. Smoke and hot gases rise.
• Keep doors and windows closed, unless you need
to escape through them.
• Meet at your planned meeting place outside your
home, and do a head count to make sure every-
one got out safely.
• Call the Fire Department as soon as possible from
outside. Give your address, then your name.
• Never go back inside a burning building for any
reason.
Contact your Fire Department for more ideas on
making your home safer and on creating your own
family escape plan.
NEVER ignore any alarm. Ignoring the alarm may
result in injury or death. If the unit alarms and you
are not absolutely certain of the source of the
smoke, get everyone out of the house immediately.
If the unit alarms and you are certain that the source
of smoke is not a fire—cooking smoke or an extreme-
ly dusty furnace, for example—use the Silence
Feature to quiet the alarm, or open a nearby window
or door and fan the smoke away from the unit. In
most cases this will silence the alarm, and once the
smoke clears the unit will reset automatically.
If you hear the alarm horn sound
3 beeps, pause, 3 beeps, pause
and the RED SMOKE light is
flashing, smoke has been
detected. Evacuate everyone
from the building.
