Emergency Planning Could Save Your Family

7/7/2020 (Permalink)

Make sure your family knows what to do in the event of a disaster.

You wake up in the middle of the night and you smell smoke. Something is burning in your home and you have to get out. Do you know what you’ll do in the event of this worst-case scenario? If you don’t, then it’s probably a good idea that you sit down and make an emergency plan for your family. 

There are many resources on the internet that will provide you with the tools to get started in your emergency planning. Ready.gov suggests asking yourself these questions:

1. How will I receive emergency alerts and warnings?
2. What is my shelter plan?
3. What is my evacuation route?
4. What is my family/household communication plan?
5. Do I need to update my emergency preparedness kit?

They also provide an emergency plan that you can fill out or simply reference to create your own. This guide will help you make sure you don’t leave any important pieces out of your own plan that you may not have considered if you have never been in an emergency situation before.

Once you have an idea of how you will handle each of the above tasks, as a family you can begin to put together your emergency preparedness kit. The American Red Cross has a list on their website that you can follow as you compile things. You should always start by looking around the house for things you already have before you run to the store to purchase supplies. Chances are you might have quite a few things you need on hand. If you don’t want to spend the time hunting down all the supplies for your kit, however, there are places that you can purchase pre-made kits. Just make sure that you consider the specific needs of your household and add the items that you think you might need that have been left out.

After your plan has been made and your emergency kit is put together, the most important thing you can do with your family is practice. You want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what to do when the time comes to act. In the heat of the moment, some people might panic and forget what to do, but the more you practice the plan, the more likely everyone is to remember. Emergency planning is about ensuring everyone’s safety and there is no better way to do that than to take the time to make sure everyone understands.

Of course, we all hope that we’ll never have to use our emergency plans but it’s better to have one and never need it than to need one that you never made. And if disaster comes knocking at your door, know that SERVPRO of Canton will be right behind it ready to clean up the mess. We will come to your aid 24/7/365 with our highly trained team or disaster restoration specialists and make it "Like it never even happened." Give us a call when a disaster happens and you’ll be back to normal in no time.