Community leaders urge you to come up with a fire safety plan before disaster strikes

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Fort Wayne’s NBC) - Just days after last week’s tragedy on Grassy Lane, community leaders want to make sure that you know what to do if your home catches fire.

Assistant fire chief Jim Murua works with a team that meets people during times of need. For him, it’s part of the job. However, that didn’t make Thursday’s tragedy any easier.

“It’s really heart-jerking and sad to have something like this happen,” Murua said.

While firefighters look for more information, community leaders say it serves as a reminder to have a plan. Murua says you should work on prevention, planning and practicing.

“When you sit down with your kids, make a map and show pictures of the home and draw it with them,” Murua said. “Draw two ways out of every room so that they know how to get out safely.”

Murua says don’t forget to check your smoke detectors. He recommends testing at least once a month and if there’s a fire, you need to get out. Remember door handles can be hot and get close to the ground to avoid rising smoke.

“You want to teach everybody in the household that if you wake up in the middle of the night and hear the smoke detector going off, ou want to yell ‘fire!’ and let other people in the home know that something is going on,” Murua said.

Meanwhile, at the Red Cross, planning is always top of mind. Executive director Olivia Lusher says it’s important to keep everything in perspective.

“Everything in the house is replaceable and temporary,” Lusher said. “The first thing you want to focus on is getting your family out safely. o talking about what some of the obstacles may be. Where your exit point may be depending on where you are during the emergency.”

Both the Fort Wayne Fire Department and Red Cross have programs that offer smoke detectors for free.

On Thursday, the fire department and Homeland Security will give away free smoke detectors on the city’s north side, including in the Dupont Estates Mobile Home Park.

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