Apartment Emergency · Leave Temporarily
How to leave the building when you have to.
Most apartment evacuation advice assumes a car in the driveway and a house with one front door. An apartment has stairwells instead of driveways, elevators that stop working during emergencies, and a go-bag that has to survive a walk down 12 flights. This is the evacuation plan that starts from the reality of apartment life.
Step one
Out of the building.
Before you can evacuate the area, you have to get out of the building. In an apartment, this part has complications that houses do not.
Know both stairwells
Walk every stairwell in your building at least once, including at night or in low light. NFPA recommends practicing escape routes in the dark because power failures are common during emergencies. Note which direction each stairwell exit faces, whether the ground-floor door opens to the street, the lobby, or a loading area, and whether the door locks behind you.
If you have small children, practice walking the stairs together. If you or a household member has limited mobility, work out the descent plan now, including which neighbors might help and whether the building has designated areas of rescue assistance in the stairwells.
Do not count on the elevator
During a fire, the elevator is recalled to the lobby and taken out of service automatically. During a power outage, it stops. During a seismic event, it may be damaged. For any evacuation where fire, structural damage, or power loss is involved, stairs are the only reliable way down.
For non-fire evacuations where the elevator is still operational, it may be faster, but it can stop working at any time. If you live above the tenth floor and have mobility concerns, talk to building management about the building's evacuation procedures for residents who cannot use stairs. Many newer buildings designate fire-rated stairwell landings as areas of rescue assistance where residents can wait for firefighter help.
How long does it actually take?
Time yourself walking down the stairs once. From a 10th-floor apartment with a go-bag, a typical adult takes 3 to 5 minutes at a normal pace, longer with children or heavy bags. During an actual evacuation with other residents in the stairwell, the time can double or triple.
This timing matters because it determines what you can realistically do before leaving. If your descent takes 8 minutes in a crowded stairwell, you may have 2 minutes to grab belongings and get to the stairwell door, not 10. Build your grab list and go-bag around the time you actually have, not the time you wish you had.
Step two
Away from the area.
Many apartment residents do not own a car. Even those who do may not be able to reach the garage, or the garage may be inaccessible during the emergency. Ready.gov advises that if you do not have a car, you should plan how you will leave before an emergency occurs.
Transportation options, ranked by reliability
- 1.A pre-arranged ride with someone you know. The most reliable option. Before an emergency happens, ask a friend, family member, coworker, or neighbor with a vehicle whether they would be willing to pick you up or take you along. Offer to do the same for them.
- 2.Public transit that runs during emergencies. Learn which bus and rail lines in your area continue operating during severe weather or regional evacuations. Some transit agencies run special evacuation service; others suspend service early. Know the difference before the emergency.
- 3.Walking or biking. If your evacuation destination is within a few miles, your feet may be more reliable than any vehicle during a large-scale evacuation when roads are jammed. A go-bag on your back and sturdy shoes on your feet can get you to a shelter, a friend's place, or a transit hub. A bike extends your range considerably if road conditions allow.
- 4.Regional evacuation buses. During mandatory evacuations, many jurisdictions stage buses at designated pickup points for residents without vehicles. Learn these locations through your city or county emergency management website before an event.
Why rideshare is not a plan
Rideshare apps fail in exactly the conditions that create evacuations. Surge pricing can multiply fares by 5x to 10x during regional emergencies. Driver availability drops because drivers are evacuating too. Cellular networks become congested or fail. The app itself requires data service that may not be available.
Rideshare can be a useful backup if it happens to work, but treating it as your primary evacuation transportation is planning to be stranded. Have a real plan first and keep rideshare as a bonus.
If you do have a car
Know whether you can get to the garage during a power outage (electronic gates, lighting, access doors). Keep your tank above half during hazard seasons. Ready.gov recommends maintaining a full tank and a portable disaster supply kit in the vehicle.
If the garage is underground or below grade, flooding can trap vehicles before the building itself is affected. During a flood warning, move the car to higher ground before water reaches the garage entrance.
Step three
Where to go when you get there.
Ready.gov advises identifying several destinations in different directions from your home so you have options regardless of where the hazard is. For apartment residents, this planning matters more because you may not be able to return to gather forgotten items.
Friend or family
The best evacuation destination is someone's home. Ask in advance. Know the address, the phone number, and how to get there by at least two routes. Choose contacts in different directions from your apartment.
If you have pets, confirm that the host can accommodate them. Most public shelters allow only service animals.
Hotel or motel
During regional evacuations, hotels fill quickly along evacuation corridors. If you have warning time, book early and book farther away than you think you need to. Keep a credit card with available balance for this purpose.
If your apartment is uninhabitable due to damage, your renter's insurance Additional Living Expenses (ALE) coverage typically pays for temporary housing, including hotel costs. File the claim first, then book.
Public shelter
During an active disaster, find open shelters through the FEMA App, by texting SHELTER and your ZIP code to 43362, or through the Red Cross shelter locator. Shelters provide basic safety, not comfort, so bring your go-bag with medications, phone charger, identification, and personal items.
Most public shelters allow only service animals. The PETS Act requires state and local emergency plans to address household pets, but individual shelter policies vary. If you have pets, identify pet-friendly shelters or boarding options before an emergency.
Meeting points
Ready.gov recommends establishing a familiar, easy-to-find meeting place for your household. For apartment residents, set up three:
- Right outside the building. A specific spot: a lamppost, a bench, a corner. Not "the parking lot," which is too vague in a crowd. This is for fire alarms and building evacuations where you may come out different exits.
- Outside the neighborhood. A library, a church, a park entrance, or a specific friend's house within a few miles. Walkable if necessary. This is for events that affect the surrounding area.
- Out of the region. A relative or friend in another city. This is for large-scale evacuations where the local area is uninhabitable.
Every household member should know all three from memory. Write them on a card in your go-bag as backup.
What to carry
The go-bag that fits a stairwell.
An apartment go-bag has to survive a walk down multiple flights of stairs and potentially miles on foot. It needs to be a backpack, not a rolling suitcase. It needs to be light enough to carry for an hour, not just to the car.
What goes in it
- Medications. A 3-day supply of every prescription medication, plus copies of prescriptions. This is the single most important item. Replace the supply on a rotating schedule so it stays current.
- Identification and documents. Photo ID, copies of your lease, renter's insurance policy number and claims phone number, emergency contacts. Sealed in a zip-lock bag.
- Cash. Small bills. ATMs and card readers fail during power outages. $100 to $200 covers a night at a motel, fuel, and food.
- Phone charger and power bank. A charged power bank extends your phone's life by a day or more. Your phone is your map, your communication, and your shelter finder.
- Water and food. One liter of water and high-calorie snacks (granola bars, trail mix, peanut butter packets). Enough to get you to your destination, not to sustain you for days.
- One change of clothes and sturdy shoes. You may leave in pajamas at 3 a.m. A pair of shoes by the door and a set of weather-appropriate clothes in the bag covers this.
- Flashlight. A small LED flashlight or headlamp. Stairwells lose emergency lighting after about 90 minutes.
Keep it simple
The go-bag should weigh under 15 pounds. If it weighs more, you will not carry it down 10 flights of stairs, and it defeats its purpose. Everything inside should answer one question: what do I need for the first 24 to 48 hours away from home?
Where to keep it: by the front door, in the hall closet, or on a hook near the exit. Not in the bedroom closet, not in the back of a storage area. You should be able to grab it in under 30 seconds on your way out the door.
Check it every three months: rotate medications, recharge the power bank, update the cash if you borrowed from it, and adjust for the season (swap the fleece for a rain layer, or vice versa).
For a deeper treatment of what goes in the bag and how to build one for under $50, see the Apartment Fire Grab Kit.
Before you need it
The communication plan that holds it together.
In an apartment, household members may leave through different stairwells, at different times, with no way to coordinate inside the building. The communication plan is what reconnects you afterward.
Out-of-area contact
Ready.gov recommends designating an out-of-area contact person everyone in the household can call. During a local disaster, phone networks may be jammed locally while long-distance calls or text messages get through. This person becomes the information relay: when one household member reaches them, they know where everyone else is.
Choose someone who is reliably reachable, give them your meeting point locations, and make sure every household member has their number memorized or written on a card in their go-bag.
Text before you call
Text messages use far less network capacity than voice calls and are more likely to get through when networks are congested. Send a short text with your location and status before trying to call. If voice service is unavailable, texts may still go through after a short delay.
Save your phone battery by limiting unnecessary calls, lowering screen brightness, and closing background apps. Your phone may need to last much longer than a normal day.
Alerts you should already have
Sign up for Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs) through your phone's settings. These are the loud tones that push evacuation orders, severe weather warnings, and AMBER alerts without requiring an app or data connection. Most modern smartphones receive them by default, but check your settings to confirm they are not turned off.
Download the FEMA App, which provides real-time weather alerts, open shelter locations, and disaster resources. Sign up for your county or city's local alert system as well, which typically sends more specific and localized information than the federal system. Ready.gov maintains links to state and local alert systems.
After the evacuation
What if you cannot go back?
An apartment evacuation can turn from temporary to extended without warning. A building declared uninhabitable, smoke damage that takes weeks to remediate, or a flood that disables the mechanical systems can keep you out long after the immediate danger passes.
Renter's insurance is the plan
This is why renter's insurance exists. The three coverages that matter during an extended displacement are personal property (replaces what was damaged or destroyed), Additional Living Expenses or ALE (pays for a hotel or temporary rental while your apartment is uninhabitable), and liability (protects you if your actions contributed to the problem).
File your claim within 24 hours. Document any damage to your unit with photos before moving or cleaning anything. The documentation you create in the first day determines how the next six months go.
If you do not have renter's insurance, get it now. Typical policies cost $15 to $30 per month and are one of the cheapest forms of financial protection available to a renter. The full guide to renter's insurance, including what it covers and what it costs, is in the Renter's Guide.
What to have ready now
- Digital copies of your lease in cloud storage, not just on your phone.
- Insurance policy number and claims phone number on a card in your go-bag and saved in your phone.
- A video inventory of your apartment stored in cloud storage. Walk through every room. Open drawers. Record serial numbers on electronics. This 10-minute video saves weeks with the adjuster.
- Pet records. Vaccination records, microchip number, and a photo of you with your pet to prove ownership. Boarding facilities and pet-friendly shelters may require vaccination proof.
- A spare key with a trusted person who can access the building. If you evacuated without your keys, you will need someone who can let you back in.
Sources
Primary sources cited on this page
- Ready.gov, Evacuation. Plan how you will leave if you do not have a car; identify several evacuation destinations in different directions; keep a full tank; take pets; download the FEMA App for shelter locations.
- Ready.gov, Make A Plan. Establish a familiar meeting place; designate an out-of-area contact; ensure every household member has emergency contacts saved.
- Ready.gov, Family Emergency Planning. Communication plan, meeting points, emergency supply kit.
- FEMA, Find Shelters and Disaster Recovery Centers Near You. FEMA App shelter locator; text SHELTER + ZIP to 43362.
- FEMA, Evacuation and Shelter-in-Place Planning Considerations. Shelter-in-Place Pictogram Guidance for 10 hazards and three building types.
- NFPA, NFPA 101: Life Safety Code. Stairwell egress requirements; areas of rescue assistance; fire door and exit enclosure standards.
- U.S. Congress, Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS) (2006). Requires state and local emergency plans to address household pets and service animals.
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