The current hazard instruction and local emergency order decide whether your household should shelter or leave. Follow an evacuation order, move away from a home that is damaged or threatened, and leave for fire, floodwater, a gas leak, dangerous smoke, carbon monoxide, or another immediate danger. Shelter in place only when the event-specific instruction says to do so and the home remains suitable for the people and animals inside. Prepare both plans before an event, then change them when the hazard, official message, home condition, transportation, or household needs change.
Start with the instruction that applies now
Keep a short list of the authorities that issue warnings for your area. Depending on the event, that may include local emergency management, fire and law enforcement agencies, public health officials, the utility, or the National Weather Service. Use alerts, local broadcasts, official websites, and a paper contact list so that a phone or internet outage does not leave you without a way to receive instructions.
Ready.gov separates evacuation from sheltering in place because different hazards create different risks. Its evacuation guidance says to follow local officials, use the routes they provide, and take the supplies needed by your household. Its shelter guidance explains that a shelter-in-place action can involve staying indoors, closing windows and doors, turning off ventilation, or moving to a particular room. The required action depends on the hazard. A general home plan does not replace a current order.
If an authority directs you to leave, do not wait to reach a personal threshold based on how calm the house feels. Read the message for the stated route, destination, timing, road restrictions, and any direction about utilities. If the message is unclear, contact the listed authority or ask emergency personnel when you are already moving to safety. Call 911 for an immediate threat, serious injury, fire, or a person who needs urgent medical help.
Know when staying home is no longer an option
An evacuation order is enough to change the plan. You also need to leave when the building is damaged or threatened, fire or heavy smoke is present, floodwater is entering or blocking a safe exit, you smell gas, a carbon monoxide alarm sounds, or officials identify a hazardous-material release. Do not remain indoors to collect more supplies or finish a household task. Move people and animals to a safe location and follow emergency instructions.
Carbon monoxide has no warning smell. If an alarm sounds or someone has headache, dizziness, weakness, nausea, chest pain, confusion, or trouble breathing after possible exposure, get everyone into fresh air and call 911. Do not reenter until emergency personnel say it is safe. Do not use a generator, charcoal grill, camp stove, gas range, or oven indoors or in a garage for heat or cooking. The CDC power-outage guidance describes carbon monoxide and fire hazards that can arise when an outage changes the way a household uses equipment.
Smoke can make a home unsuitable even when flames are not visible. Fire, smoke, a damaged electrical system, or a blocked exit calls for an early move and help from emergency services. Floodwater also creates hazards that are difficult to judge from inside the home. Do not walk or drive through it, and do not assume familiar roads or a short distance make the trip safe. Follow the route and crossing instructions from local authorities.
Understand what shelter in place means for the event
Sheltering in place is an active response, not a promise that the home will stay safe for the whole event. One instruction may tell you to stay inside with doors and windows closed. Another may require a particular room, temporary ventilation changes, or a move away from an exterior wall. Follow the exact message for the hazard and keep receiving updates. Do not open doors or leave for a nonessential errand while an order says to stay put.
A home can also stop being an appropriate shelter after the initial instruction. Watch for damage, smoke, gas, carbon monoxide, rising water, unsafe heat or cold, loss of required medical equipment, or a person or animal who can no longer remain safely inside. If the conditions change, seek the next instruction and leave when directed or when an immediate danger requires it. If you must make an essential trip during a shelter-in-place order, read An essential trip during a shelter-in-place emergency and follow the current event rules rather than relying on a routine.
Keep ordinary supplies within reach while the household is sheltered. Store water, food that does not require unsafe cooking, medicines, flashlights, a battery-powered way to receive alerts, chargers, and basic sanitation items where you can reach them without entering a damaged area. Keep doors, halls, and exits clear. A well-stocked room cannot compensate for a toxic atmosphere, fire, structural damage, or a direct evacuation order.
Check the people and animals in the household
The decision may change sooner for one person than for another. List who may need extra time, assistance, transport, communication support, temperature control, electricity, or refrigerated medicine. Include infants, older adults, pregnant people, people with disabilities, people with chronic conditions, and anyone who cannot easily recognize a warning or explain a need. Do not invent a medical threshold. Ask the person, caregiver, prescriber, or equipment provider what support the plan must account for.
Accessibility includes more than an accessible destination. Check whether each person can reach an exit, use stairs or an elevator when available, transfer into the planned vehicle, carry needed equipment, and communicate with responders. Keep mobility aids, communication devices, medication lists, and chargers ready. FEMA's functional-needs support guidance can help a household think about communication, transportation, supervision, and medical support without assuming that every person has the same need.
Pets and service animals need their own departure plan. Record food, water, medicines, leashes, carriers, identification, and service-animal equipment. Confirm whether a possible destination accepts pets, service animals, and the equipment a person uses. Animal rules and shelter capacity can change by location and incident. If an animal cannot be moved safely by the household, ask emergency personnel or the local animal-response authority for help. Do not leave an animal behind because a general shelter list does not mention its policy.
Transportation can be the limiting factor even when the household has a destination. Decide who can drive, who can provide an accessible ride, how a person will travel without a private vehicle, and what happens if roads or public transit close. Keep a paper list of helpers and a way to contact them. The household support map can help assign transport, check-in, and caregiving roles before a disruption.
Prepare a shelter plan and a departure plan
The shelter plan should name the safest usable areas of the home for likely hazards, the way you will receive alerts, and the supplies that can be reached without crossing a dangerous space. Note which utilities or ventilation systems the official instruction may address. Keep the plan short enough for another person to understand, and explain where the household should regroup if members are in different rooms.
The departure plan should name more than one possible destination, a primary and alternate route, transportation options, and the people who can help. Confirm the destination when an event begins. Ask whether it is open, reachable, accessible, able to accept children or older adults, and able to accept pets, service animals, medical equipment, or other support needs. A destination that worked during a past event may not be open or suitable now.
Write down the items that must move with the household: medicines and medical devices, identification and key documents, food and water, chargers and communication devices, glasses, mobility equipment, and supplies for pets or service animals. Keep these items together where they can be picked up safely. Do not delay an urgent departure while trying to pack every household possession.
Use the two-route evacuation note to work through alternate departures without treating either route as fixed. Check current road conditions, closures, and official route changes before leaving. Never take a shortcut through floodwater, fire, a blocked road, or an area that officials have closed.
Keep communication and destination details current
Choose one out-of-area contact or shared point of contact who can hold updates from household members. Decide what a check-in message should include, such as the person's location, destination, transportation status, and immediate need. Use text messages when voice calls are congested, but do not rely on one service or one charged phone. The Ready.gov family emergency communication plan provides a way to record contacts, meeting places, and household information on paper.
Tell a trusted person when you leave and where you intend to go. If the route or destination changes, update that person when it is safe. Keep identification and important documents protected but accessible. If a person uses a communication device, interpreter, service animal, or other support, include the information needed for responders and the destination staff to help without exposing more personal detail than necessary.
Why a universal decision tree cannot decide this for you
The same household may shelter during one event and leave during another. A smoke event, flood, chemical release, wildfire, winter storm, heat emergency, and power outage can require different actions. The controlling authority may change, and the home may shift from usable to unsafe as conditions develop. A fixed yes-or-no chart cannot know the local order, the building condition, the open route, or which household member needs help first.
Use a decision sequence instead of a universal answer. First, read the current hazard instruction. Next, check for an evacuation order or immediate danger in or around the home. Then confirm whether each person and animal can remain safely in the current place. If not, use the departure plan and seek the current route, destination, and transport support. Repeat the check when an alert changes, the building is damaged, utilities fail, symptoms appear, or a person, animal, route, or destination can no longer meet the plan.
Make the next check before the next warning
Write down which authority controls each likely hazard in your area. Mark the household members and animals who may need an earlier move, the equipment or medicines that need power or controlled storage, the transportation available, and two possible destinations. Place the paper list with your alert information and essential items. Review it when a household member's needs, a pet's care, a vehicle, or a local shelter option changes.
During an event, act on the current order, an unsafe home condition, or a household need that changes the answer. Shelter only while the event instruction and conditions support it. Leave sooner when an order applies or the home cannot protect the people and animals inside. That check gives you a practical way to identify the controlling authority, prepare both plans, and move without improvising when the decision changes.
Questions households often ask
Should an evacuation order override my household's shelter plan?
Yes. Follow the order, stated route, and destination instructions, even if the home still has supplies and appears calm. If the message is unclear, contact the authority named in the alert or ask emergency personnel for help.
Can I shelter in place during every hazard?
No. Shelter-in-place actions are hazard-specific, and an order can require different rooms, closed openings, or ventilation steps. Fire, floodwater, gas, carbon monoxide, dangerous smoke, structural damage, and an evacuation order can require leaving instead.
What should I confirm before going to a shelter or another destination?
Confirm that it is open, reachable by the current route, and able to support the household's access, transportation, medical, child, and animal needs. Conditions and capacity can change during an incident, so use current official information.
What if someone in the household cannot evacuate quickly?
Identify that need before an event, arrange accessible transportation or a helper, and keep mobility, communication, medication, and charging supplies ready. Tell emergency personnel what support is needed, and use Leaving with children or older adults for planning around extra time and assistance.