Keeping your Home and Family Safe

Get ready before emergencies happen. Here are some things you can do to be safe:
• Be sure your doors have good locks and keep them locked at all times. Don’t give your door keys to strangers. Be careful about opening your door to strangers. Ask who they are and what they want before you open the door.
• Smoke alarms make a loud noise when there is smoke in your house or apartment. Make sure you have smoke alarms on the ceiling near bedrooms and on each floor of your house. Replace the batteries in your smoke alarm twice a year. Check the alarm once each month to make sure it works.
• Find out where the nearest hospital and police and fire stations are located. Keep these important phone numbers (police station, fire department, and doctor) near your phone, where you can easily find them.
• Find the main valves for gas, electricity, and water in your home. Be sure you know how to turn them off by hand.
• Prepare a disaster kit that includes a flashlight, portable radio, extra batteries, blankets, a first-aid kit, and enough canned or packaged food and bottled water to last for three days. Also include trash bags, toilet paper, and pet food, if needed. Keep all these things in one place that is easy to find.
• Practice with your family how to get out of your house in case of a fire or other emergency. Make sure your children know what the smoke alarm sounds like and what to do if they hear it. Plan a place to meet your family if you have to leave your home.
Choose one spot outside your home and another spot outside your neighborhood, in case you can’t return home. Ask a friend or family member living in another area to be the main person your family will call if you are separated in an emergency. Make sure everyone knows to call this person and has his or her phone number.
• Ask about emergency plans at your children’s school. Be sure your child knows what to do. Ask where you can go to meet your child in an emergency