Two ways out of every room, and a drill the kids will ask for

Quick answer: Find two ways out of every room, pick one meeting spot outside, and run a timed drill twice a year. The Red Cross says you may have as little as two minutes to get out of a burning home, so that's the number to beat.

Start with a floor plan and a pencil

Sit at the kitchen table with the kids and draw the house. Boxes are fine. Nobody's grading the art.

Mark every bedroom, every door, every window. Then draw two arrows out of each room in different colors. The first way out is the door. The second is usually a window. If a room has only one exit that works, you've found your first project.

Do this with the children, not for them. A kid who drew the arrows remembers the arrows.

Check the windows you've never opened

This is the annoying part, and it's where most plans fall apart. A second way out only counts if it opens.

Go room by room and open every bedroom window. Look for these:

• Windows painted shut or stuck from years of humidity
• Security bars without a quick-release latch
• Storm windows or screens that take a tool to remove
• A window air conditioner parked in the only opening

Fix what you find. Cut the paint seam with a utility knife. Swap the bars for ones that release from inside, and make sure everyone knows how. Pull the screen and see how it comes out.

If a bedroom is on the second floor, buy a fire escape ladder rated for that height and store it in that room, not in the garage. Adults should practice deploying it. Children shouldn't practice climbing down from an upper window. Show them where it lives and what it's for, and leave the real use to the real thing.

Count your smoke alarms first

The plan starts when the alarm sounds, so make sure it will. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) recommends an alarm inside every bedroom, outside every sleeping area, and on every level of the home, including the basement.

Press the test button on each one this week. Then put a reminder on your phone to do it monthly. Look at the date printed on the back of each unit. NFPA says to replace alarms when they're ten years old, no matter how well they seem to work. Many people have never checked.

Let the kids hear the alarm during the test. A child who's heard that shriek once on purpose is less likely to freeze when it comes at 2 a.m.

Pick a meeting spot you can see from the street

Choose one fixed place outside, a safe distance from the house. The mailbox. The big maple at the end of the driveway. A neighbor's front walk if yours is crowded with cars.

It needs to be the same spot for everybody, every time. Once everyone's at the meeting place, the family stops looking for each other. That's the whole point. Without it, somebody notices a head count is off and runs back in.

Then say the two rules out loud:

1. Once you're out, you stay out.
2. Call 911 from outside, using a cell phone or a neighbor's.

Nobody goes back for the dog, the wallet, or the photo albums. Firefighters can go in with gear and training. You can't. Say that plainly to your kids, and say it more than once.

Teach four small skills

Keep these short. A six-year-old can hold four things.

Feel the door. Before opening a closed door, touch it with the back of your hand. If it's hot, don't open it. Use the second way out.

Get low. Smoke rises. Under it, the air is better. Practice crawling to the door on hands and knees.

Shut doors behind you. A closed bedroom door slows fire and smoke. Make it a habit on the way out, not a ritual that costs you seconds.

Stop, drop and roll. If clothes catch fire, stop, drop to the ground, cover the face with your hands, and roll until the flames are out.

Add one more for the little ones. Firefighters in masks and heavy gear can look frightening, and some children hide from them. Tell your kids those masked people are the helpers, and that if they ever hear someone calling for them, they should call back.

The drill: make it a race

Here's how to get kids who'll groan at a "safety lesson" to beg for another round.

Give it a name. "Beat the Clock" works. Put a stopwatch in a child's hand and let that child be the official timer, the one who yells "go" and "stop." Adults run the course. Kids run the course. The dog gets honorary entry.

The setup is simple. Press the alarm test button to start. Everyone, from wherever they are, gets out using the plan and runs to the meeting spot. The timer stops when the last person touches the mailbox. Record the time on a piece of paper on the fridge. Next drill, try to beat it.

Run a few versions over time:

• Different rooms. Start in the basement one time, a bedroom the next, the bathroom after that.
• Blocked exit. Tell one person the door is hot and send them out the window route. Do this on the ground floor only.
• Lights out. Run one at night, in pajamas, with the hallway dark. The Red Cross recommends practicing both day and night. Most fires that turn deadly start while people are asleep, so this one counts.
• Who's helping whom. Decide ahead of time which adult grabs which small child. Some kids sleep right through an alarm, and you want to know that before the real thing, not during it.

Finish with a reward that matters to your family. Pancakes at the table. A scoop of ice cream on the porch. The kids will connect the drill to a good memory, and you're after exactly that.

Do it twice a year

The Red Cross and NFPA both say to practice at least twice a year. Tie it to something you already do. Many families change smoke alarm batteries when the clocks change in March and November. Run the drill that same weekend and you'll never have to remember it separately.

Update the plan when the house changes. A new baby means a new assignment. A grandparent moving in downstairs means a new route and a new person responsible for them. If you've got older parents of your own, the outage checklist for your parents is a good time to check their smoke alarms too, because they rarely get checked.

Pair it with the rest of your readiness

A fire drill covers the first two minutes. What comes after matters too. Keep a seventy-two hour kit where you can grab it on the way out of the garage, or at least know where the documents and medications are so you can get them from a neighbor's porch afterward. And if your region has tornado season, practice that route as well. Our guide on where to shelter from a tornado uses the same approach: pick the spot, walk it, time it.

For specifics on alarms and escape planning, check NFPA.org, the Red Cross, and your local fire department. Many departments will do a home visit or answer questions by phone.

The part that matters most

Everything above is for one purpose. When the alarm goes off, a father and mother need to be able to count on their children to move, and the children need to know exactly where to move to.

Run the drill this weekend. Time it. Write the number on the fridge.

Then beat it in six months.