This week is national Fire Prevention Safety Week – and their message couldn’t hit closer to home.

Every year, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) holds their Fire Prevention Safety Week – with a special message to help people protect themselves and their families from fire.

This year, the message is one we feel particularly passionate about: “Have 2 Ways Out.”

They write:

It is important to have a home fire escape plan that prepares your family to think fast and get out quickly when the smoke alarm sounds. What if your first escape route is blocked by smoke or flames? That’s why having two ways out is such a key part of your plan. This year’s theme,“Have 2 Ways Out!”, focuses on the importance of fire escape planning and practice. 

The reason egress basement windows are an essential part of national building code is because they offer one or more of those “2 ways out” – potentially life-saving means of escape for people trapped in a basement during a fire.

Before these windows were mandatory, it was becoming increasingly common for firefighters to have to rescue people trapped in basement apartments. This was incredibly dangerous – not just because of the choking smoke and fumes that accumulate in an unventilated basement, but also because the entire building might collapse on top of the basement at any time.

And egress windows don’t just offer a way out for families in the event of a fire, but also a means for fire fighters to enter a building when doors or windows elsewhere become inaccessible.

Every week, people are saved thanks to emergency exists in basements; and that’s why they’re so important to have installed.

Check out the website of the National Fire Protection Agency for more information about Fire Prevention Week.