You don't have much time to get out of a burning building

People waking up to the sound of smoke alarms and the smell of smoke may be disoriented and have extreme anxiety as to what is happening and what they must do to save their lives.

Whether the home has home fire sprinklers, or not, the single most important thing remains smoke alarms. A sobering statistic - Three of every five home fire deaths resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms (38%) or no working smoke alarms (21%). (Source: NFPA 2009-2013 survey) READ MORE

Getting out of a burning home requires planning. The family should develope, and practice, their escape plan. READ MORE

A number of things have come together, you might call it a "perfect storm", that has decreased the chance of surviving a fire:
.. Newer homes tend to have larger open spaces which makes more air (and oxygen) available for a fire. More oxygen makes for bigger fires.
.. lightweight construction techniques using engineered wood construction assemblies produce houses that are stronger and cheaper to build, but when lightweight construction meets fire it burns quicker and fails faster than their dimensional lumber counterparts.
.. Newer homes often contain modern furnishings made of mainly synthetic materials that, under fire, can create a highly toxic environment, greater fuel load, and faster fire propagation.
.. People live longer. The number of elderly choosing to live at home is increasing, and the very young and the elderly comprise the largest segment of home fire fatalities.
.. Newer homes are rarely one story (the traditional "ranch"). This means that occupants must go up, or down stairs to quicky leave the burning structure. This adds another degree of difficuly to the elderly, the largest category of fatalities.

The result is a drastic reduction in how much time you have get out of a burning building.