19 How can I survive a home fire that starts while I am awake?

If you are alerted to a fire starting in your home, you first priority is to call the fire department and get everyone out of the house. The best response time for their arrival is three to five minutes. This will be much longer during a general emergency. Fire doubles every few minutes, so having fire extinguishers and using them effectively can mean the difference between survivable damages and total devastation for your possessions. If the fire has already filled a room with heavy smoke, or it involves quantities of flammable liquids, or you are in any doubt that you can extinguish it safely, just get out; no property is worth your life. The following sequence of photos demonstrates how a small fire enlarges over just four minutes to engulf a room. Survivability to escape would be less than three minutes.