Know the exit before there is smoke
Use an alternative exit if a door is hot or smoke is coming through. After exiting, leave belongings behind rather than going back in.
Plan an escape route; during a fire, stay below smoke and avoid opening a hot or smoky door.
An escape plan gives you an alternative when smoke or a hot door blocks the route.
Why consider it?
Ready.gov provides practical home-fire escape guidance, including staying low beneath smoke and using an alternative route when a door is hot or smoky. It is not an outcome study quantifying the benefit of this specific checklist. Chinese towel-folding instructions are omitted; no cloth is presented as protection from toxic smoke.
Read the sources
Source grade B is reproduced from the original work. It does not establish suitability for everyone.
Original item: chapter 13, item 24 ↗Adaptation: Rewritten in English from the locked Chinese original; retained evidence grade and study limits. Effect sizes quoted from the cited source: no quantified effect of the proposed action is claimed; numbers, where present, are descriptive findings, study procedures or guidance parameters.
Make space for a practical habit.
Add this idea to your local checklist.