How long would it take you to escape your house in the event of a fire? Need to grab the valuables, children, pets? Do you or a loved one have a disability? Will you be able to locate scared children and pets immediately? Hopefully, you can accomplish all this in 5 minutes because that’s the estimated time it takes for a room to flashover (become engulfed in flames) in today’s modern home.

The UL Firefighter Safety Research Institute (FSRI) shares a video on “YouTube” that illustrates this fact. Take a look at “UL FSRI Home Furnishings Comparison (Natural vs. Synthetic).” It is a short video that can save your life. In it, you see how modern building materials have substantially increased the fire risk. Furniture, flooring, building and upholstery materials are now made with synthetic materials that contain petroleum which burns considerably faster; about eight times faster than “legacy” materials like solid wood and natural fiber materials.

In the case of residential structure fires, most fires are caused by cooking accidents. It can include an unattended pan where grease or oil ignites or flammable material near the burner catches fire.

Here is your “to do” list for today:

1. Have your emergency escape plan in place and be sure all family members are aware of it.

2. Space out furniture in rooms to slow the spread of fire.

3. Install (or check your) smoke detectors.

4. Create a new house rule not to walk away from food cooking on the stove. Keep flammables away from stove. If a fire starts, teach your family to put a lid on the pan immediately or douse the fire with baking soda (NOT baking powder).

5. Share this video with everyone you know.

The damage done by fire can be devastating. Fires do happen. Have a plan and react as quickly as possible.