Would You Be Able to Get Out of Your Basement in the Event of a Fire?

Basement fires are among the most dangerous. Here are four ways to protect yourself

David Arv Bragi and Marianne Wait (@MarianneWait)Home(March 8, 2016)

Your basement’s a great place for the kids to make noise and for you to store all the stuff that doesn’t fit in your house or garage. But it has a dark side. On TV, creepy basements are the scenes of choice for murders and mayhem. But the real basement hazard for homeowners, not to mention firefighters, is fire.

Basement fires are extremely dangerous, for both firefighters and residents, according to UL, a global independent safety science company. In fact, a large majority of firefighter deaths and injuries occur while fighting basement fires, according to Fire Engineering, an industry magazine. So what is it about basements that makes them such a fire hazard?

Since the 1990’s, more and more wood-frame homes use engineered wood products, such as plywood, in basement ceilings. Lighter in weight and less likely to warp than the solid wood beams used in older homes, engineered wood is popular with homebuilders, according to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).

Unfortunately, it burns faster, according to NIOSH. As a result, ceilings tend to collapse more quickly during a fire — and firefighters working on the first floor can fall through the floor and into the fire below.

For residents of the home, the big danger is being in the basement when a fire breaks out. If the stairway or door leading to the first floor is blocked or on fire, that’s a problem, according to John Drengenberg, consumer safety director at UL. “Many basements have just one stairway and the windows are too small for access,” he says. “How would you get out?”

Related: Quiz: Are You Prepared for a House Fire?

Protect yourself in case of a basement fire

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