My Emergency Evacuation plan

Emergency evacuation is the urgent immediate egress or escape of people away from an area that contains an imminent threat, an on-going threat or a hazard to lives or property.


Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a storm or fire to the large scale evacuation of a city because of a flood, bombardment or approaching weather system. In situations involving hazardous materials or possible contamination, evacuees may be decontaminated prior to being transported out of the contaminated area

Emergency evacuation plans are developed to ensure the safest and most efficient evacuation time of all expected residents of a structure, city, or region. A benchmark "evacuation time" for different hazards and conditions is established. These benchmarks can be established through using best practices, regulations, or using simulations, such as modeling the flow of people in a building, to determine the benchmark. Proper planning will use multiple exits, contra-flow lanes, and special technologies to ensure full, fast and complete evacuation. Consideration for personal situations which may affect an individual's ability to evacuate is taken into account, including alarm signals that use both aural and visual alerts, and also evacuation equipment such as sleds, pads, and chairs for non-ambulatory people. Regulations such as building codes can be used to reduce the possibility of panic by allowing individuals to process the need to self-evacuate without causing alarm . Proper planning will implement an all-hazards approach so that plans can be reused for multiple hazards that could exist

The sequence of an evacuation can be divided into the following phases:

1. detection
2. decision
3. alarm
4. reaction
5. movement to an area of refuge or an assembly station
6. transportation

An emergency exit in a structure is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation, while it also provides an alternative if the route to the regular exit is blocked by fire, etc.

It is usually a strategically located (e.g. in a stairwell, hallway, or other likely place) outward opening door with a crash bar on it and with exit signs leading to it. The name is a reference to when they are frequently used, however a fire exit can also be a main doorway in or out. A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, mounted to the outside of a building

A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible. Fire escapes are most often found on multiple-story residential buildings, such as apartment buildings. At one time, they were a very important aspect of fire safety for all new construction in urban areas; more recently, however, they have fallen out of common use. This is due to the improved building codes incorporating fire detectors, technologically advanced fire fighting equipment, which includes better communications and the reach of fire fighting ladder trucks, and more importantly fire sprinklers. The international building codes and other authoritative agencies have incorporated fire sprinklers into multi-story buildings below 15 stories and not just skyscrapers

An emergency shelter is a place for people to live temporarily when they cannot live in their previous residence, similar to homeless shelters. The main difference is that an emergency shelter typically specializes in people fleeing a specific type of situation, such as natural or man-made disasters, domestic violence, or victims of sexual abuse. A more minor difference is that people staying in emergency shelters are more likely to stay all day, except for work, school, or errands, while homeless shelters usually expect people to stay elsewhere during the day, returning only to sleep or eat. Emergency shelters sometimes facilitate support groups, and/or provide meals

Evacuation Immediate  is a warning created by the National Weather Service meant to replace the issuance of Civil Emergency Messages, Fire Warnings, and other warnings for the purpose of evacuations. Evacuations are issued by a public official such as a law enforcement agency, State Office, or county emergency management, and relayed by the National Weather Service with the Emergency Alert System (EAS) tone and SAME heading.

An emergency is a serious, unexpected, often dangerous situation that requires immediate action. The emergency procedure is a plan of actions to be conducted in a certain order or manner, in response to an emergency event.

A fire drill is a method of practicing how a building would be evacuated in the event of a fire or other emergencies. Usually, the building's existing fire alarm system is activated and the building is evacuated as if the emergency had occurred. Generally, the evacuation is timed to ensure that it is fast enough, and problems with the emergency system or evacuation procedures are identified to be remedied.