On the TV show we had a special report on the subject of getting your house and your family ready to survive a fire. Here are a couple of the important details.
Most important is to have operational smoke alarm outside of each sleeping area. On an average you only have 90 seconds from the time the alarm sounds until you need to be out of the house to not succumb to smoke.
Second, every family should have fire drills -- THE GREAT ESCAPE --, to know exactly where to go and what to do. Have a gathering point safely outside the house to count heads. Too many deaths have occurred when a parent went back into a burning home to save a kid that was already safe, but he didn't know it.
Your local fire department has lots of specific information to help, it might be worth a family visit to your local fire station.
Our show guest was: Bob Ferguson of the Mississauga Fire Department with support from the National Fire Safety Association in the US.