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:
- detection
- decision
- alarm
- reaction
- movement to an area of refuge or an assembly station
- 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.
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