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NFPA says a fire can leave you as little as one or two minutes to escape once the smoke alarm sounds. A plan you’ve drawn and practiced is what makes those minutes enough. This free printable gives you a grid to draw your home and a one-page checklist to make and practice the plan, based on guidance from NFPA, the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA) and Ready.gov.
Emergency
In a fire, get out and call 911. Get everyone out first, call from outside, and never go back in for belongings.
Download the escape plan grid
- Page 1: a quarter-inch grid for one floor of your home, a legend (doors, windows, ways out, smoke alarms, meeting place, escape ladder), and blanks for your meeting place, who helps whom and your drill dates. Print one per floor.
- Page 2: a make-the-plan and practice-it checklist, what to do if you can’t get out, apartment and high-rise notes, and a drill log.
How to draw your plan
- Walk the house together. NFPA suggests bringing everyone in the household and inspecting every possible exit and escape route.
- Draw each floor. USFA: draw a map of your home and include all doors and windows.
- Mark two ways out of every room, usually a door and a window (NFPA, USFA). For an upstairs room, the second way out may be a window with an escape ladder (Ready.gov).
- Mark every smoke alarm. NFPA says to install them in every sleeping room, outside each sleeping area and on every level.
- Pick a meeting place in front of the home, a safe distance away. NFPA’s examples: a neighbor’s house, a light post, a mailbox or a stop sign.
- Assign helpers. NFPA says to assign someone, plus a backup, to help infants, older adults and anyone with limited mobility. Ready.gov adds a plan for each child under six.
How to practice it
- Drill at least twice a year (NFPA, Ready.gov), at different times of day or night (Ready.gov).
- Start the drill with the smoke alarm. USFA says to push the test button to sound it.
- Get low and go under the smoke to your exit, closing doors behind you (NFPA).
- Aim to be out in under 2 minutes (Ready.gov).
- Check who sleeps through the alarm. NFPA says that if someone doesn’t wake up, assign a person to wake them.
- Once you’re out, stay out. Tell the 911 dispatcher if anyone is missing (NFPA).
Upstairs bedrooms with an escape ladder: NFPA says to practice the setup from a first-floor window, and children should practice only with a grown-up. Our fire escape ladder guide covers measuring your window and sill before you buy.
Where this guide stops
This is a household plan. Apartment and high-rise residents should also follow their building’s fire plan: USFA says to know where all the exit stairs are and use the stairs, not the elevator, and NFPA notes high-rise residents may be safer “defending in place.” For a home safety visit or help with smoke alarms, call your local fire department’s non-emergency number.
More free fire-safety tools: the smoke and CO alarm replace-by guide and the escape ladder sizing chart.
Last reviewed: October 21, 2026. General information, not professional advice.
Sources
- NFPA — Home Fire Escape Planning. https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/home-fire-safety/escape-planning
- U.S. Fire Administration — Home Fire Escape Plans. https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/home-fires/prepare-for-fire/home-fire-escape-plans/
- Ready.gov — Practice Your Home Fire Escape Plan. https://www.ready.gov/home-fire-escape-plan