The short answer: a family emergency plan is a short written document with your contacts, your meeting places, your escape routes, and a kit. Ready.gov breaks it into a few steps: find out what can happen where you live, make a plan, build a kit, and practice. This checklist walks through it for dads who would rather act than read.
Step 1: Know what you are planning for
Start with your local risks. Fire is the one every home shares. Beyond that, it depends on where you live: severe storms, tornadoes, floods, winter weather, wildfire, hurricanes. Your county emergency management office and Ready.gov can tell you what is likely near you. Sign up for local alerts, and keep a battery or hand-crank radio with NOAA Weather Radio.
Step 2: Make a communication plan
Ready.gov's family communication plan follows three actions: collect, share, practice.
- Collect. Write down phone numbers for family, work, school, doctors, and the person you will check in with out of town. Keep a paper copy.
- Share. Everyone carries a copy: kids' backpacks, wallets, glove boxes. Ready.gov lets you fill one out online and print a wallet card.
- Practice. Go over it at a family meeting.
Pick an out-of-town contact. Local lines get jammed. Texts often get through when calls do not. Teach your kids to text an "I'm OK" and the contact's number.
Step 3: Pick meeting places
Ready.gov recommends meeting places in your home, in your neighborhood, and outside your town.
- Right outside the house. The mailbox, the big tree, the neighbor's driveway. For fire.
- In the neighborhood. A park, a church, or a friend's house, for when you cannot go home.
- Out of town. Somewhere familiar to the family if the whole area is closed off.
Say them out loud. Write them down. Make sure the kids can describe the route.
Step 4: Fire plan
Fire is the emergency that moves fastest. Ready.gov notes a fire can become life-threatening in two minutes. NFPA gives the steps:
- Two ways out of every room. Draw a floor plan and mark them.
- Working smoke alarms in every sleeping room, outside sleeping areas, and on every level. Test monthly. Replace any alarm over 10 years old.
- Meeting place outside. Everyone goes there. Count heads.
- Get out, stay out. Do not go back in for belongings or pets. Call 911 from outside.
- Crawl low under smoke and feel doors before opening them. If a door is hot, use another way.
- Practice twice a year, including in the dark.
Make sure windows open and that any security bars have a quick release.
Step 5: Severe storms and tornadoes
- Know your safe spot. The lowest floor, an interior room away from windows. A basement if you have one.
- Know the difference between a watch (conditions are right) and a warning (it is happening or close).
- Keep shoes, flashlights, and a radio at the shelter spot.
- Thunderstorms. When thunder roars, go indoors. Stay off corded phones and away from plumbing and windows.
- Practice the move to the safe spot with the kids, just like a fire drill.
Step 6: Power outages
Ready.gov guidance for outages:
- Flashlights for everyone. Keep them where you can find them in the dark.
- Keep fridge and freezer closed. A fridge holds cold about four hours. A full freezer holds about 48 hours.
- Discard food that has been above 40 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours or more.
- Generators go outside, at least 20 feet from windows, doors, and attached garages. Never run one in the garage. Never heat the house with the stove or oven. Carbon monoxide is silent.
- Install carbon monoxide detectors with battery backup on every level.
- Plan for medical needs, including refrigerated medicines and powered devices.
- Charge up phones and portable chargers ahead of a storm.
Step 7: Build the kit and the go-bag
Ready.gov's basic kit is a few days of supplies. Keep a bigger one at home, and a lighter one in the vehicle.
Home kit:
- Water: one gallon per person per day for several days
- Non-perishable food for several days, and a manual can opener
- Battery or hand-crank radio with NOAA Weather Radio
- Flashlight and extra batteries
- First aid kit
- Whistle
- Dust mask, plastic sheeting, duct tape
- Wrench or pliers for utilities
- Sanitation supplies
- Local maps
- Phone chargers and a backup battery
Go-bag (grab and leave):
- Copies of important papers (IDs, insurance, medical info)
- Extra keys, cash
- Water and snacks
- Medications and hygiene items
- Flashlight, radio, whistle
- Contact and meeting place info
- A change of clothes and a comfort item for each kid
Check expiration dates twice a year. A good trick: do it when you change your smoke alarm batteries.
Step 8: Kids, pets, and special needs
- Kids. Teach them how to call 911, their address, and your numbers. Make the drills feel like a game.
- Pets. Add food, water, a leash, and records to the kit. Many shelters do not take pets, so plan ahead.
- Anyone with a medical need. Keep a list of medications and a supply on hand.
Step 9: Protect the house
Emergencies and security overlap. A locked, lit, ready home does better in both. See our nightly lock-up routine and family home defense plan with kids. If you keep firearms, they stay locked and secure even during an emergency. Storage laws vary by state, and this is not legal advice.
Step 10: Practice
A plan nobody has practiced is a document. Ready.gov and NFPA both recommend drills.
- Sit down as a family and walk through the plan.
- Do a fire drill at night.
- Do a storm drill.
- Test the go-bag.
- Update everything twice a year.
Dads who work shifts should run the plan so that it works when they are not home. Who is in charge? Who calls whom? Write it down.
Gear for the dad who is ready
Preparedness is the unglamorous part of the Dad Code. Put it in front of you with the Dad Code poster, and wear the job with the First In. Last Out. Tee, $32 and made to order.
The bottom line
Know your risks. Write the contacts. Pick the meeting places. Plan for fire, storms, and outages. Build the kit and the go-bag. Practice twice a year. It takes an afternoon, and it is the best afternoon you will spend this month.
Questions
What should be in a family emergency plan?
Contacts, meeting places, escape routes, plans for local hazards, and a supply kit. Ready.gov suggests collecting, sharing, and practicing your family communication plan.
Where should my family meet in an emergency?
Ready.gov recommends meeting places in your home, in your neighborhood, and outside your town. For a fire, NFPA says to choose a meeting place outside, such as a tree or mailbox.
What goes in a go-bag?
Copies of important papers, extra keys, cash, water and snacks, a first aid kit, flashlight, whistle, radio, medications, hygiene items, and your contact and meeting place information.
How much water should we store?
Ready.gov recommends one gallon per person per day for several days, for drinking and sanitation.
How often should we practice our plan?
NFPA and Ready.gov recommend regular drills. Practice fire escape at least twice a year, including in the dark, and review the full plan on the same schedule.
How long does food stay safe in a power outage?
Per Ready.gov, a closed refrigerator keeps food cold about four hours and a full freezer about 48 hours. Discard food that has been at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or higher for two hours or more.
