Apartment Emergency · Leave Temporarily
Should you leave or stay?
In a house, the leave-or-stay decision is mostly about the hazard outside. In an apartment, it is also about the building. An earthquake that did not crack your walls may have damaged the sprinkler system. A winter storm that did not break your windows may have killed the building's heat. This page gives you a framework for making the decision before stress makes it for you.
No decision needed
When the answer is always leave.
Some situations are not judgment calls. Ready.gov is direct: when an official government source advises you to evacuate, do so immediately.
Mandatory evacuation order
Issued by local officials when staying puts lives at risk. This is not a suggestion. Leave. Follow the designated routes. If you do not have transportation, contact your building management or use the designated pickup points published by your county emergency management office.
Fire alarm or visible fire
When the building fire alarm sounds, leave the building using the stairs. Do not wait to investigate. Do not use the elevator. Close your apartment door behind you. If the hallway is filled with smoke, stay in your apartment, seal the gap under the door with wet towels, and call 911 to report your location.
Gas leak or gas smell
If you smell natural gas (the added odorant smells like rotten eggs), leave immediately. Do not flip light switches, use your phone inside the unit, or do anything that could create a spark. Once outside, call 911 and your gas utility's emergency number.
Carbon monoxide alarm
If your CO alarm sounds, move to fresh air immediately and call 911. Carbon monoxide is invisible and odorless. Symptoms like headache, dizziness, and nausea can indicate dangerous exposure. Do not re-enter the building until emergency responders confirm it is safe.
Shelter in place
When the building is the protection.
FEMA's Shelter-in-Place Pictogram Guidance covers ten hazards across three building types, including multi-story apartments. For several of the most common hazards, the safest place is inside your building, not outside it.
Stay inside for these hazards
- Tornado. Go to an interior room on the lowest floor you can reach. Stay away from windows. In a high-rise, FEMA guidance says to move to the lowest level and to an interior room or hallway. Cover your body with a mattress, sleeping bag, or thick blankets to protect against debris.
- Earthquake. Drop, cover, and hold on. Get under a sturdy desk or table. If nothing is available, move against an interior wall and cover your head. Do not run outside during the shaking. Do not stand in a doorway. After the shaking stops, check for damage before deciding whether to stay or leave.
- Chemical or hazardous material release. Go to an interior room with no exterior walls. Close all windows and doors. If directed by authorities, seal the room temporarily with plastic sheeting and duct tape over vents, doors, and windows. FEMA guidance says this is a short-duration measure, not something to maintain for hours.
- Severe thunderstorm. Stay inside, away from windows. Lightning, large hail, and straight-line winds are all more dangerous to people caught outside than to people inside a multi-story building.
- Nuclear or radiological event. Get inside, stay inside, stay tuned. Ready.gov advises moving toward the center of a substantial building and putting as many walls between you and the outside as possible. Multi-story concrete and brick buildings provide significantly better shielding than lighter structures.
The apartment advantage
For many shelter-in-place hazards, an apartment in a concrete or steel-frame building is actually a better shelter than a typical house. The mass and multiple walls of a multi-story structure provide more wind resistance, debris protection, and radiation shielding than a wood-frame single-family home.
The key phrase in all FEMA shelter-in-place guidance is the same: stay inside until authorities indicate it is safe to leave. Do not go outside to check conditions. Do not open windows to "see what it sounds like." Stay tuned to a battery-powered radio, your phone alerts, or the FEMA App.
One critical exception: FEMA guidance is clear that mobile homes and manufactured housing should always be evacuated for tornadoes and hurricanes, regardless of other factors. If your apartment building is a manufactured structure rather than site-built construction, follow evacuation guidance.
What homeowners do not face
When the building itself becomes the problem.
This is where the apartment leave-or-stay decision is genuinely different. A homeowner whose furnace fails can buy a space heater. A renter whose building loses central heat may have no way to restore it. A homeowner whose pipes freeze can call a plumber. A renter whose building's sprinkler system bursts on the fourth floor watches water come through the ceiling and waits for management.
Loss of heat in cold weather
When the building's central heat fails during a winter storm, indoor temperatures can drop below safe levels within hours. If the temperature inside your apartment falls below 50 degrees F and is still falling, your threshold for leaving has arrived. Hypothermia risk increases sharply for older adults, young children, and people with chronic conditions. See Staying Warm Without Central Heat.
Loss of cooling in extreme heat
Upper-floor apartments in buildings without AC or with failed central cooling can reach dangerous temperatures during heat waves. Ready.gov advises seeking another cooling option when home air conditioning is not available. If the indoor temperature reaches 95 degrees F or above, leave for a cooling center, library, or any air-conditioned space. See Staying Cool Without AC.
Loss of water
Upper-floor apartments may lose water pressure when building pumps fail during a power outage. Without running water, you cannot flush toilets, wash hands, or drink from the tap. If you have stored water, you can manage for a day or two. Without stored water and without a timeline for restoration, leaving becomes the practical choice.
Loss of elevator access
For residents who rely on elevators due to mobility limitations, medical equipment, or very young children, an extended elevator outage can make the apartment unreachable rather than unsafe. If you cannot safely use the stairs and the outage has no clear end, leaving while you still can is better than being trapped above.
Medical needs that require power
CPAP machines, powered wheelchairs, refrigerated medications, home dialysis equipment, and oxygen concentrators all require electricity. If the power is out and your backup battery is draining, leaving for a powered location is not optional. This decision should have a specific trigger point planned in advance, not made under pressure at 2 a.m.
Structural concern
After an earthquake, explosion, or severe storm, visible cracks in structural walls, doors that no longer close properly, or floors that feel uneven may indicate structural damage. If the building feels wrong, leave first and ask questions from outside. Do not wait for management to inspect. Do not assume the building is fine because your unit looks undamaged.
The framework
Five questions to ask right now.
When the situation is ambiguous, answer these five questions in order. If any answer is "no" and you cannot change it, that is your leave trigger.
Is the building structurally safe?
No cracks in load-bearing walls. Doors and windows still operate normally. Floors are level. No unusual sounds from the structure. If you are uncertain after a seismic event or explosion, leave. Uncertainty about structural safety is itself a reason to go.
Can you breathe safely?
No smoke, no CO alarm, no strong chemical odor, no wildfire smoke making the air hazardous. If air quality inside the building is compromised and you cannot improve it (because you do not control the building's ventilation), the building is not protecting you.
Can you maintain a safe temperature?
In extreme cold: is the indoor temperature above 50 degrees F and stable or rising? In extreme heat: is the indoor temperature below 95 degrees F or can you get to a cooler space in the building? If the temperature is moving in the wrong direction and you have no way to change it, leave while conditions are manageable.
Do you have water and sanitation?
Running water or stored water sufficient for drinking, hand washing, and flushing. If you have no water and no clear timeline for restoration, the apartment becomes unsanitary within a day and unlivable within two.
Can everyone in your household safely get out if conditions worsen?
If a household member cannot use the stairs and the elevator is already out, you are trapped, not sheltering. If the stairwells are dark and you have limited lighting, the exit path is degrading. If conditions will be worse in four hours than they are now, leaving now while you can is better than leaving later when you have to.
The hardest part
When staying becomes leaving.
The most dangerous apartment evacuations happen not during the initial event but hours or days later, when conditions have gradually deteriorated past the point of comfort and are approaching the point of danger. The people who fare worst are almost always the ones who waited too long.
Set your thresholds before the event
A threshold is a specific, measurable condition that triggers your departure. It is not a feeling. It is a number.
- "If the indoor temperature drops below 50 degrees, we leave."
- "If the CPAP battery drops below 40%, we leave."
- "If we have no running water by tomorrow morning, we leave."
- "If there is no timeline for restoring power by 6 p.m., we leave."
Write these down. Share them with your household. When the threshold is hit, execute the plan. Do not renegotiate under stress.
Why leaving early is almost always better
When you leave early, you leave with your go-bag. You have transportation options. You can lock the apartment behind you. You choose where to go.
When you leave late, you leave because you have to. The stairwell may be dark. Transportation may be gone. You may leave without your bag, your documents, your medications. You may not be able to secure the apartment.
The instinct to "wait it out a little longer" is strong, especially when leaving means giving up the comfort of home. But in an apartment, your ability to leave depends on building systems (elevators, lights, access doors) that degrade over time during an extended emergency. The window for a safe, orderly departure closes before the window for survival does. Leave during the first window, not the second.
Sources
Primary sources cited on this page
- Ready.gov, Evacuation. "Depending on your circumstances and the nature of the hazard, the first important decision is whether you stay put or evacuate." Mandatory evacuation compliance; planning guidance.
- Ready.gov, Shelter. Three shelter types: stay-at-home, mass care shelter, shelter in place. Room sealing as temporary measure. Pet limitations in public shelters.
- FEMA, Shelter-in-Place Pictogram Guidance. Protective actions for 10 hazards across three building types (including multi-story apartments). Interior room guidance, duration, additional actions by hazard.
- OSHA, Evacuation Plans and Procedures: Shelter-in-Place. Decision framework: use common sense and available information to assess immediate danger; follow official instructions.
- DisasterAssistance.gov, Evacuate or Stay Put. "If an official government source advises you to evacuate, do so immediately."
- Ready.gov, Extreme Heat. Seek another cooling option when home air conditioning is not available.
- Ready.gov, Nuclear Explosion. Multi-story concrete and brick buildings provide useful shielding; move to interior, put walls between you and outside.
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