Fire Escape Plan Complete Guide

Edraw Content Team

Do You Want to Make Your Fire Escape Plan?

Learn everything about creating fire escape plans and design amazing fire escape plan examples using free EdrawMax templates.

Try It Free Switch to Mac >

Try It Free Switch to Linux >

Try It Free Switch to Windows >

Try It Free

Fire emergencies are considered one of the deadliest emergencies because they can be natural or accidental. In most of the private or commercial complexes, including some of the resorts you will find on the remote areas of any tropical island, you will see those specific guidelines are placed to properly evacuate the residents at the time of a fire emergency. This article will elaborate on the importance of creating a fire escape plan and how easily you can make a fire escape floor plan using the free templates and home escape plan symbols provided by EdrawMax templates.

Before we start discussing the fire escape plan in detail, you should first understand the primary need for creating it. In addition, what are some of the elements that you have to consider adding to the fire escape floor plan? After going through this complete guide to understanding the fire escape plan, you will understand how to read the symbols and legends and what are the appropriate actions that you have to take at the time of any fire-related emergency.

fire escape plan

1. What is a Fire Escape Plan

Like any other emergency plan, a fire escape floor plan graphically represents the emergency routes or exits that one has to take through a building, home, or public property in a fire or other mortal emergency. A fire escape plan indicates the best way the residents can come out of a building at the time of any fire-related emergency.

A fire escape plan will outline:

A safe and orderly way for the residents to evacuate the building during a fire emergency
Important maintenance and housekeeping notes are required to prevent any fire
Detailed information of the concerned authorities

As you see, fire escape floor plans are often required by your local government bodies, especially for certain buildings (factories, IT offices, manufacturing units).

2. What Should be Included in a Fire Escape Plan

As we saw from the general definition of a fire escape floor plan, such emergency exit plans help you identify important routes through a building or home in the event of a fire. To create a fire escape floor plan, you should understand the important elements and components it generally includes. Unlike other building plans, like HVAC plans or elevation plans, a fire escape plan should be as simple as possible because if it is too confusing or it has such elements that are not user-friendly, the chances are that the residents will not be able to read it at time of any fire-related emergency properly.

Fire escape plans include almost similar elements or features that you will find in other evacuation plans. The major difference that you will find in such home escape plans is the inclusion of a few tools that help you reduce the drasticity of fire, like sand or a fire extinguisher. So, most of the features and elements you will see here can also be used in other evacuation plans.

Some of the most common elements that are included in a fire escape plan are:

The exact exit route from the building to a safe location is shown in bold and clear fonts. You can use designated exit symbols to mark the exit routes from a building or a complex.
Emergency contact details of all the personnel in charge. Suppose you are creating a fire escape plan for an elevator, including the contact details of the security guard of the building. If you are creating a home escape plan, include the contact details of the nearest fire brigade team.
Complete the address of the shelter-in-place, accompanied by the contact details and route to reach the location.
Remember to include the right stairway location on each floor while you start drawing a fire escape plan for a complex.

What Includes in a Fire Escape Plan:

Some of the most common important elements that are included in a fire escape plan are: bold and clear exit route, Emergency contact details, the address of the shelter-in-place, and the right stairway location.

3. Benefits of Making Fire Escape Plan

Like any other escape or evacuation plan , a fire escape plan also has several benefits. The foremost benefit of making a fire escape plan is that it helps save lives. In addition to this, there are several other important benefits of creating a fire escape floor plan, like:

It ensures the safe exit of all the residents or anyone present on the building premise when a fire emergency occurs.
With the help of a well-designed fire escape plan, firefighters can put out a fire more quickly without putting themselves in grave danger.
Putting a fire escape plan in the building (near the elevator or on the entry side of the stairways) can avert one from breaking out of the fire in the first place.
With the help of a home escape plan, maintenance engineers will stay in the loop about different important units placed by the building owners.

4. Symbols of Fire Escape Plan

In order to create a technically sound fire escape plan, you will need knowledge of some of the most common fire escape plan symbols . If you choose to create the fire escape plan on paper, having the basic idea of these symbols will ensure that your design is correct and adheres to the local government guidelines. The below-mentioned fire escape plan symbols are some of the most common symbols that most builders and architects use worldwide.

Apart from the usual floor plan symbols (walls, windows, stairs, furniture, appliances), some of the most common home escape plan symbols are:

Fire Extinguisher: The fire extinguisher is the most common and one of the most important fire escape plan symbols. This symbol usually comes in the red color to catch the attention easily. This symbol suggests the location of the fire extinguisher on the floor or in any building.
Alarm: Most complexes and buildings have alarm systems in place. An alarm symbol will provide information about the location of the emergency alarm systems.
Ax: In emergency cases, you should know the location of an ax so you can easily break down any window or door. With the help of this ax symbol, you will easily learn the right location of this equipment.
First AID: A big plus sign represents the first aid symbol. It is used in fire escape plans to ensure that the residents can easily get basic medical help if they get hurt while exiting the building in haste.

Symbols	Descriptions	Symbols	Descriptions
	Your Current Location: This symbol represents the location you are currently at.		Defibrillator: When you see this symbol, you can know that a defibrillator can be found here for shock treatment in case of an emergency.
	Escape Route: This symbol guides you to the way to get to the right route for safe escape.		Fire Alarm Call Point: You can see this symbol to identify the calling button to initiate the fire alarm.
	Emergency Exit: In case of fire, not all passages are safe. This symbol tells which door can be used for evacuation in an emergency.		Fire Hose Reel: If some wood, cloth, or paper catches fire, a fire hose reel would be something you should look for as it gives a controllable and steady supply of water.
	Emergency Telephone: Should you feel the need to make a call to someone in case of emergency, you would want to look out for this symbol.		Fire Extinguisher: One of the most important pieces of equipment, an extinguisher, is used to get rid of the fire. When you see this symbol, you can know that a fire extinguisher can be obtained from there.
	Assembly Point: A rendezvous where all your fellow people should gather before proceeding toward the safe passage for evacuation.		Fire Emergency Telephone: Not all telephone lines might work when the fire cracks out. However, this symbol tells that there is a working telephone that can be used to call someone, typically for information or help.
	First Aid: This symbol shows where all the tools and medicines could be found, should a person be hurt and needs elementary treatment.		Fire Exit: Finally, a safe exit. When you see this symbol, you can be sure that you could be near a door or passage for a safe fire evacuation.

In EdrawMax, you will find all these symbols readily available for you to use and access.

5. Tips for Making Fire Escape Plans

Once you decide to create your fire escape plan, there are a couple of generic tips that you should follow:

A fire escape plan should be as simple as possible.
You should include all the relevant symbols and information in the fire escape plan.
The fire escape plan should be updated if there are any changes in the building's architecture.
The fire escape floor plan should have the important details of the local or concerned authorities.
Always inspect all the possible exits and escape routes -- then only decide which exit route is the best for your building.
When you cross-check your fire escape plan, ensure the escape routes are clear and that everyone in the family can easily open doors and windows.

6. How to Make a Fire Escape Plan in General

Like any other building plan, you have two options to create a fire escape plan. The first one is an old-age traditional method where you make a fire escape plan using general methods. The second (and easy) method is to create a fire escape plan using EdrawMax. The tool comes with free templates and symbols that reduce your efforts and ensure you get a professional-looking fire escape floor plan. However, before we dive into the easiest way of creating a fire escape plan, let us help you understand the generic steps that you have to follow if you decide to make this emergency plan without the help of any software.

Step 1: Creating an outline

The first thing you need to do here is creating the outline. If you are making the fire escape plan for one entire floor, you should create the outline keeping the apartment/office doors in mind. But if you are making a home escape plan, you should consider taking the help of floor plans or building plans to create the entire outline to include all the routes in the fire escape plan properly.

Step 2: Understand the need

Like every building plan is different, every fire escape plan differs from building to building or demographic to demographic. For instance, if you intend to create the fire escape plan for a resort, you will have to include different areas that surround the property, and if you are creating the fire escape floor plan for a school, you will have to be more rigorous and outline all the important areas and elements.

Step 3: Learn the routes

Before marking the exit routes in the fire escape plan, you should be well aware of all the routes yourself. You can visit these routes and find the best way of the building and correctly mark them on the paper.

Step 4: Update the tools

Every fire escape plan includes multiple fire averting or fire-reducing tools, like alarm sensors, fire extinguishers, motion sensor devices, smoke detectors, and other alarms. When creating the fire emergency plan, add the details of such a tool, including the brand, date of last update, their respective placement, and more.

Step 5: Revision & Feedback

If this is your first time making the fire escape plan, you should check it out with some experts who can provide you with valuable feedback. If you have worked on several fire escape floor plans in the past, share the design with the building's maintenance engineer to get their feedback. It is always better to have two sets of eyes on such emergency plans.

7. How to Make a Fire Escape Plan in EdrawMax

Now that you have learned about the general way of creating the fire escape plan let us show you the easiest way in which you can create the same. The amazing feature of EdrawMax is that it lets you create the home escape plan or any other diagram from scratch by providing you with some free templates that come in handy if this is your first time starting out.

Instead of wasting time drawing a fire escape plan on paper, you should look for a way to design a fire escape plan easily. EdrawMax is well equipped to design a fire escape plan. There are only a couple of steps that you need to follow in order to easily create it, like:

Step1 Open EdrawMax & Login

The first step here is downloading the fire escape software and installing it in your system. EdrawMax has different versions for macOS, Windows, and Linux. So, choose the version as per your operating system. If this is your first time using EdrawMax, you can register yourself using your personal or professional email address.