Home Fire: What to Do Before, During and After

By Seung Hyoun Kim · Reviewed 15 October 2026 · All action guides

Most of what decides how a house fire ends happens before it starts. In the year to March 2026, fire and rescue services in England attended 26,180 dwelling fires, and cooking appliances were the largest single source of ignition in the accidental ones, at 42% (GOV.UK, August 2026). The steps below are the ones with the most behind them, in the order you would need them.

This page is the practical companion to our analysis, The Leading Cause of House Fires Is a Pan Nobody Is Watching. That article explains the numbers. This one tells you what to do with them.

Every step carries a label for how strong the evidence is: Measured outcome data exists; Official advice a public body recommends it but its effect is rarely measured; Untested sensible, but we found no study. Hover or tap a label for the definition.

Before: what to set up while nothing is wrong

If you only do one thing on this page, make it the first one. A meta-analysis of four studies found the death rate in households with working smoke alarms was about half that of households without them (Rohde et al., 2016). The word that matters is working.

  1. Working smoke alarms on every level, and inside and outside each sleeping area. Measured Test them monthly with the button. Replace the whole unit every ten years; the date is printed on the back. USFA
  2. Choose alarms you will not be tempted to disable. Measured In fires where an alarm failed to sound, more than four in ten had their batteries removed or disconnected, often after cooking set them off. A sealed ten-year battery and a hush button remove that temptation. In one Baltimore programme that fitted exactly those alarms, 81% of homes still had working alarms on every level six months later, and extra safety education on top made no measurable difference (Gielen et al., 2014).
  3. Stay in the kitchen while anything is on the hob. Measured Unattended cooking equipment is the leading contributing factor in home cooking fires, which is why our analysis is titled the way it is.
  4. Know two ways out of every room, and agree an outside meeting place. Official advice Walk the routes with everyone who lives there. Check that windows you are counting on actually open. USFA
A pointillist illustration: a frying pan with its lid on, sitting on a hob against a pale tiled wall.
Lid on, heat off.

If it happens: the first minute

Fire spreads faster than most people expect, and the instinct to investigate or fight it is strong. Official advice everywhere is the same: get out first and let the fire service deal with the fire.

  1. Shout, wake people, and leave by the nearest safe route. Official advice Do not stop to collect things or to find the cause. GOV.UK
  2. Feel a door before you open it. Official advice If it is warm, keep it closed: the fire is on the other side. Use your second way out. GOV.UK
  3. If there is smoke, keep low. Official advice The air near the floor is clearer. GOV.UK
  4. If you are trapped, seal the gap under the door and signal from a window. Official advice Put bedding along the bottom of the door, open the window, and call for help. GOV.UK
  5. A small pan fire you can reach safely: lid on, heat off, leave it. Official advice Slide a lid or baking tray over the pan, turn off the heat, and do not move the pan. If the flames are higher than the pan or spreading, leave and call.
  6. Call from outside, then stay outside. Official advice Tell the crew if anyone is still inside and where they were last.

Afterwards: the first week

The days after a fire are about paperwork as much as damage. Insurers handle these claims every day; most of the friction comes from things thrown away too early or not written down.

  1. Do not go back in until the fire service says the building is safe. Official advice Structures, wiring and hidden embers can stay dangerous after the flames are out. GOV.UK
  2. Call your insurer, or your landlord if you rent, as early as you can. Untested Ask what they need before you clear anything, and whether the policy pays for somewhere to stay while the home is repaired. Policies and terms differ widely.
  3. Photograph everything before it is moved, and keep every receipt. Untested Hotel nights, meals, clothes and travel are often claimable but only with receipts. A simple running list on your phone is enough.
  4. Ask the fire service for the incident reference. Untested Insurers and landlords usually ask for it.
  5. Replace the alarms that were there, and fit the ones that were missing. Untested Smoke and heat can damage sensors even if the units look fine.
A pointillist illustration: a street lamp at dusk beside a low garden gate.
Somewhere outside to meet.

What not to do

  1. Do not pull the battery when the alarm goes off while you cook. Measured Open a window, use the hush button, or move the alarm a little further from the kitchen. When alarms failed, over 43% had batteries removed or disconnected.
  2. Do not throw water on a pan fire, or carry the pan outside. Official advice Water on burning oil throws the fire upwards and outwards. see our analysis
  3. Do not go back in, even for a pet. Official advice Tell the fire crew instead. They have breathing apparatus; you do not.

Checklist

Five minutes, once a month. Print it and stick it inside a cupboard door.

  • Pressed the test button on every smoke alarm
  • Checked the date on each alarm (replace at ten years)
  • Every level has an alarm; every sleeping area has one inside and outside
  • Two ways out of every room, and the windows on those routes open
  • Everyone knows the outside meeting place
  • Keys for locked doors and windows are kept near them
  • Nothing left on the hob when the kitchen is empty

Where you live

United StatesUnited KingdomAustralia
Fire emergency911999000 (112 from a mobile)
Official home fire adviceU.S. Fire AdministrationGOV.UK fire safetyYour state fire and rescue service

Emergency numbers checked against CPSC, GOV.UK and ACMA on 14 October 2026.

How strong is the evidence?

The case for working smoke alarms is the strongest on this page, and still has edges. The same meta-analysis that found deaths halved found no significant link between alarms and injury rates (Rohde et al., 2016). A later US estimate went further on fires and casualties overall, but noticed something odd: casualties per reported fire were lower in homes without alarms. One explanation the author offers is that with an alarm, small fires tend to be put out before anyone calls, so the fires that do get reported are the worse ones (Gilbert, 2021). Neither finding weakens the advice. Both are reminders that these are observational numbers, not trials.

Escape planning is the weakest link in the chain. It is recommended everywhere, but the research is mostly about whether people do it, not whether it saves lives. Only about 16% of households with alarms had both made and practised a plan (Thompson et al., 2004). We label it official advice, not measured, for that reason.

Read next

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This guide is general information, not a substitute for the instructions of your local fire service or the fire plan for your building. If a fire is happening, stop reading and call your emergency number.

Sources