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Fire safety at home

Get out, call 911, and do not open a door whose handle is hot. The rest of this page is the Quezon City guide: eleven habits that help stop a fire, and nine steps for when one starts.

By Hamza Rivera, updated

Short answer: In a fire, the Quezon City disaster office guide says to stay calm and get out, sound the alarm, call for help, and call 911. Feel a door handle before opening it, and leave the door shut if it is hot. The page also lists eleven habits that help prevent a fire, such as keeping the LPG tank somewhere well ventilated and not overloading sockets.

Written for the Philippines. In an emergency here, the number is 911.

Eleven of the twenty steps on this page are about preventing a fire, the same split as the Quezon City guide. That guide says a fire needs immediate action to prevent injury, loss of life and damage.

How to avoid a fire

Eleven habits from the Quezon City list.

  1. Keep flammable items away from anything that could set them off.
  2. Store flammable liquids outside the house. Gas, cleaning agents and anything similar.
  3. Check the LPG tank for leaks, and keep it somewhere well ventilated. This stops gas vapour from building up.
  4. Keep candles, lighters and matches out of reach of children.
  5. Never leave the house with a candle lit.
  6. Never leave the stove while you are cooking.
  7. Unplug electronics when they are not in use.
  8. Inspect sockets and cables at home regularly.
  9. Do not smoke indoors. If that is not possible, make sure the cigarette is out before it goes in the bin.
  10. Do not overload sockets and extension cords.
  11. Agree a fire escape plan and walk the family through it.

Source: Quezon City Government, QCitizen Guide: Fire Safety Tips (references the Quezon City Fire District) (last updated 13 May 2026). Read 20 September 2026. A city-government guide. The household steps apply anywhere in the country; the 122 helpline is Quezon City’s own, so use 911 or your own LGU number elsewhere.

Source: GMA News, on the BFP, Fire prevention tips from BFP, 3 March 2025. Read 9 October 2026. The BFP's own lines include unplugging appliances when not in use, especially if no one is home, and staying focused while cooking.

If a fire starts

The Quezon City guide says a fire needs immediate action.

  1. Stay calm and get out immediately.
  2. Sound the alarm and call for help.
  3. In a building, take the stairs. Never the lift.
  4. Feel the handle before you open a door. If it is hot, leave it shut. The room behind it may already be alight.
  5. In smoke, get down low and cover your mouth and nose with a damp cloth.
  6. If your clothes catch fire: stop, drop and roll. Stop running, drop to the floor, and roll to put the flames out.
  7. If smoke, heat or flames block your way out, stay in the room with the door closed. Move close to a window and wave something bright, a flashlight or a brightly coloured cloth, to signal for help.
  8. Once you are out, stay out. Do not go back in until the authorities say the building is safe.
  9. Get yourself checked for injuries.

The trapped and stay-out steps are the Philippine Red Cross's. The other steps are the Quezon City fire district's.

Source: Quezon City Government, QCitizen Guide: Fire Safety Tips (references the Quezon City Fire District) (last updated 13 May 2026). Read 20 September 2026. A city-government guide. The household steps apply anywhere in the country; the 122 helpline is Quezon City’s own, so use 911 or your own LGU number elsewhere.

Source: Inquirer, on the Philippine Red Cross, Red Cross chief to public: Beware of hazards this Fire Prevention Month, 1 March 2017. Read 9 October 2026.

The first four moves, in order

The first four entries of the list below, drawn rather than written again, because the order is the part that has to be known before it matters. Each one is the Quezon City disaster office wording, shortened only where the full sentence is on the page already.

1 Get out 2 Call 3 The door 4 The smoke
1 Get out
Stay calm and get out immediately.
2 Call
Sound the alarm and call emergency hotlines for help.
3 The door
Feel the handle before you open a door. If it is hot, leave it shut: the room behind it may already be alight.
4 The smoke
In smoke, get down low and cover your mouth and nose with a damp cloth.

Source: Quezon City Government, QCitizen Guide: Fire Safety Tips (references the Quezon City Fire District) (last updated 13 May 2026). Read 20 September 2026. A city-government guide. The household steps apply anywhere in the country; the 122 helpline is Quezon City’s own, so use 911 or your own LGU number elsewhere.

Who to call

Call 911. It reaches fire response anywhere in the country, and it is the number to use when the house is the thing that is burning.

The government hotline directory also lists two numbers for the Bureau of Fire Protection, (02) 8426-0219 and (02) 8426-0246.

The full number directory

Source: PH Emergency Hotlines, the Philippine government hotline directory. Read 8 October 2026.

Source: DILG, One Number for All Emergencies: Unified 911 to Launch Nationwide (DILG Region IV-A). Read 8 October 2026.

Whose fire safety list is this

Search fire safety tips from the Philippines and read who answers. On 25 September 2026 the results were the fire bureau of Portland, Oregon; the American Red Cross; the fire division of Edison Township, New Jersey; two more American safety organisations; a commercial site; and an American insurer. One Philippine source appeared, Quezon City's own guide, seventh.

That guide is the one this page is built from, and it is named and linked under every list above. The difference is worth stating plainly rather than leaving a reader to find it.

The American lists open with smoke alarms, space heaters, chimneys and portable air conditioners. The Quezon City list names none of those. It opens with keeping flammable items away from anything that could set them off, then flammable liquids stored outside the house and the LPG tank checked for leaks, and it closes with overloaded sockets and a family fire escape plan. Smoke alarms still apply here: the Fire Code says "Each living unit or sleeping room shall be installed with single-station smoke or heat detectors" (Section 10.2.14.6 E, page 116).

This is a comparison of two documents, which anybody can check by opening them. It is not a claim about which risks are commoner in a Philippine home, because neither document says that.

Source: Quezon City Government, QCitizen Guide: Fire Safety Tips (references the Quezon City Fire District) (last updated 13 May 2026). Read 20 September 2026. A city-government guide. The household steps apply anywhere in the country; the 122 helpline is Quezon City’s own, so use 911 or your own LGU number elsewhere.

Source: Bureau of Fire Protection, Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of RA 9514, the Fire Code of the Philippines, revised 2019. Read 8 October 2026. Read from the BFP file RA9514-RIRR-rev-2019.pdf. bfp.gov.ph blocks automated readers, so the page may ask a person to pass a check. Page numbers are the ones printed at the foot of each page.

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