Safety Tips 411

Do You Need a Fire Escape Ladder?

If you live in a second or third-floor apartment building, or own a multi-story home, a fire escape ladder must be an essential part of your home fire safety program. Having a fire or smoke alarm is great, but if you're on the second or third floors and you hear the alarm sound, you may be prevented from exiting on the first floor. A fire safety ladder will allow you to escape a fire by exiting from a second or third story window.

You don’t need to pay a lot of money for an expensive fire escape ladder; all you need is one that is durable and sturdy. Fixed-structure residential fire escape ladders are the best to get, simply because you don’t need to assemble then. With a fixed structure ladder, all you need to do is climb down to safety. They are permanently attached to your home - so they will always be there when you need them.

You do, however, have to also consider the fact that a fixed-structure ladder may also make it easier for someone to enter your house. You may also want to consider a collapsible fire escape ladder, a retractable ladder, or a portable escape ladder made by the Kidde company which you hook to your windowsill and drop the rest out of the window, allowing you to climb out for safety. These ladders begin at about $55 for 2-story ladder.

You might want to have a ladder for each upstairs bedroom, and have practice drills for family members, especially children, so they will know how to use the ladder properly.

In the event of a fire you should instruct everyone to close the doors to the room before opening the window, so as not to intensify the existing fire.












Synonyms:  Security and safety are used synonymously. 

Scape, secape, eescape, ecape, ecsape, esscape, esape, esacpe, esccape, escpe, escpae, escaape, escae, escaep, escappe, escap, and escapee are typos and mispellings for "escape."  Adder, aldder, lladder, ldder, ldader, laadder, lader, laddder, lader, ladedr, laddder, laddr, laddre, laddeer, ladde, and ladderr are typos for "ladder."