Home emergency kit: what to buy, where to keep it, how often to check it

This goes with README Section 1, item 26 (keep a fire extinguisher, a fire blanket, an escape breathing mask and a first-aid kit). This list covers what a home should keep ready. Apart from the fire blanket, it does not explain how to use things. What to do on the spot in a fire escape, CPR, severe bleeding, a burn or carbon monoxide poisoning is all written in Section 13. How to choose and install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms is in Section 1, item 3. Gas hoses and stoves are in Section 1, item 4.

This section does the sums on fewer deaths and fewer injuries. It covers only injury caused by accidents, not disease. The evidence that buying the equipment helps much is not firm, and the reasons are in the last section. Read that part before you read on.

1. The official lists

The Ministry of Emergency Management has issued the "National Basic Edition Recommended List of Household Emergency Supplies" (《全国基础版家庭应急物资储备建议清单》), with 11 items in all. The table below follows the original notes.

Source: 应急管理部 (2020). 全国基础版家庭应急物资储备建议清单. https://www.mem.gov.cn/kp/shaq/202011/t20201129_372149.shtml

Local versions list more in detail. The Beijing Municipal Emergency Management Bureau's list for resident households has two tiers: a basic edition and an extended edition. The basic edition is divided into "3 categories: emergency articles, emergency tools and emergency medicines". The specific things are these: a hand-crank rechargeable flashlight that can receive broadcasts, a rescue whistle, towels, tissues or wet wipes, a breathing mask, multi-function combination scissors, an emergency escape rope, and a fire extinguisher or fire blanket. Medicines and medical materials are counted separately: anti-infection and anti-cold medicines, medical surgical masks, medical materials such as gauze bandages, and iodophor swabs. The extended edition is divided into "5 categories of emergency supplies: food, personal articles, escape and self-rescue tools, medical first-aid supplies, and important documents". The bureau also gave three suggestions. First, "choose emergency supplies provided by producers and sellers with lawful qualifications and a good reputation". Second, "give priority to storing the items of the basic edition". Third, "be familiar with the correct use of emergency supplies, check their condition regularly, and replace in time any that have passed their shelf life".

Sources: 北京市应急管理局 (2020). 北京市修订发布居民家庭应急物资储备建议清单. https://yjglj.beijing.gov.cn/art/2020/12/23/art_6058_664632.html ; 北京市西城区人民政府转载的品种明细. https://www.bjxch.gov.cn/zt/kpzc/xxxq/pnidpv858729.html

The national level was updated once more in 2024. The document is the "Guiding Opinions on Further Strengthening the Emergency Rescue and Disaster Relief Supplies Guarantee System and Capacity Building" (《关于进一步加强应急抢险救灾物资保障体系和能力建设的指导意见》, 国防减救办发〔2024〕13 号, 23 September 2024) of the Office of the National Committee for Disaster Prevention, Reduction and Relief. Its Annex 2 is called the "Guiding Catalog of Household Emergency Supplies Reserves" (《家庭应急物资储备指导目录》). This catalog has 5 categories: emergency food, daily-life articles, emergency tools, emergency medicines and medical supplies, and important documents. The basic edition has 16 items and the extended edition has 31 items.

The 16 items of the basic edition are divided among the 5 categories. Emergency food is drinking water and ready-to-eat food, both stored for 3 days per person, with at least 3 liters of water per person. Daily-life articles are personal hygiene and cleaning supplies, clothing, a small family tent and a moisture-proof mat. Emergency tools number 8: a multi-function flashlight, a rescue whistle, rain gear, life jackets and life rings, fire extinguishers and fire blankets, a breathing mask, a multi-function combination knife, and an emergency escape rope. Emergency medicines and medical supplies are commonly used medicines and medical materials. Important documents are a family emergency card and an emergency contact sheet.

The 31 items of the extended edition add 15 items to the basic edition. Food and daily-use items: vitamin supplements, food for special groups, shoes, hats and gloves, a multi-function waterproof backpack, articles for special groups, and disinfectant, bleach and mosquito repellent. Tools and protective items: a car window breaker and a demolition axe, reflective clothing, portable lighting, a portable water bottle and cup, and a safety helmet, insulating gloves and insulating boots. Medicines and documents: optional medicines, family member information, important financial documents, and other important personal items. In addition, the tent item adds a sleeping bag and a thermal blanket, and the escape rope item adds a rope escape ladder and a descent controller.

Source: 国家防灾减灾救灾委员会办公室 (2024). 关于进一步加强应急抢险救灾物资保障体系和能力建设的指导意见（国防减救办发〔2024〕13 号），附件 2《家庭应急物资储备指导目录》：「保障每人3天基本饮水需求，至少3升/人」「保障每人3天基本食物需求」. https://www.mem.gov.cn/gk/zfxxgkpt/fdzdgknr/202410/W020241023541981997653.wps

2. The three fire items

Fire extinguisher. A portable fire extinguisher is a product under mandatory national certification. A qualified one has the CCC mark printed on the cylinder. The standard it follows is GB 4351—2023 "Portable fire extinguishers" (《手提式灭火器》). The kind that is pre-charged with pressure (except carbon dioxide extinguishers) has a pressure gauge on the cylinder. The needle of the gauge must stay in the green zone. If the needle points to the red or yellow zone, the cylinder can no longer be used. The number of years before scrapping follows the standard XF 95: 6 years for water-based, 10 years for dry powder, 12 years for carbon dioxide. The years are counted from the day it left the factory. The date of manufacture can be found stamped on the cylinder. For the home, people generally buy ABC dry powder. Put one at the kitchen door and one in the entrance hall. Do not tuck it into the cupboard right above the stove. When a fire really starts, you cannot reach it there.

Fire blanket. In the official list, it is written in the same item as the fire extinguisher. It has two uses: to cover a small fire that has just started, or to drape over the body while running out. One in the kitchen drawer is enough. It takes no space and does not expire.

To use it, grab the two black pull tabs on the blanket with both hands and pull down, take the blanket out, shake it open and hold it in front of you like a shield. Then lay it over the fire, from the side near you outward. Do not pull it toward you from the fire's side, because when the blanket presses down, the fire will rush toward you. Once it is covered tightly, do not lift it off at once. When you drape it over yourself to escape, also put on the escape mask, because the blanket can stop flame, but it cannot stop smoke.

Most fire blankets are woven of glass fiber. The fibers are very fine and break when folded or rubbed, and the broken bits stick into the skin, itchy and painful. So hold only the pull tabs, do not touch the surface of the blanket with bare hands, and do not let children play with it. In 2026, a news outlet reported that a boy in Guangdong fiddled with a fire blanket at home and got glass fibers stuck all over his face, neck and legs.

For a fire in an oil pan, turn off the heat first, then cover with a lid of a suitable size. Do not pour water on it, and do not sprinkle flour. Covering an oil pan with a fire blanket is disputed. Fire services in China treat the oil pan fire as the main use of the fire blanket. But in 2014 the Dutch product safety regulator tested 22 brands on the market. Used as an ordinary person would use them, not one brand put out an oil pan fire reliably. Some blankets caught fire themselves, and in some, the oil caught fire again after the blanket was covered for 17 minutes and then lifted. Those were blankets made to European standards. No similar test was found for blankets made to XF 1205 in China. The lid is already at the side of the stove, so use it first when the oil pan is on fire.

Escape breathing mask. Its official name is the fire-fighting filter-type self-rescue respirator. The standard it follows is GB 21976.7—2012 "Fire escape and refuge appliances for buildings, Part 7: Filter-type fire self-rescue respirators" (《建筑火灾逃生避难器材 第 7 部分：过滤式消防自救呼吸器》). This is a mandatory national standard that is currently in force. It came into effect on 1 June 2013, and the conclusion of the 2023 review was that it remains valid. When you buy, look for this standard number, and also for the CCC mark. Buy one for every person in the home. Keep it where you can reach it from the head of the bed in the bedroom, and do not lock it in a storeroom. It uses the filter canister inside to absorb the poisonous gas in the smoke. It is scrapped after one use, and it can last only for the stated time, so once you put it on, you should be heading out. This standard covers only places where the oxygen concentration in the air during a fire is not below 17%. Where the oxygen is lower than that, it cannot help you. The rated protection time comes in four grades, 15, 20, 25 and 30 minutes, and the number in the model is the minutes, for example TZL15 is 15 minutes. The package must be printed with "this product is for one-time escape use only and cannot be used for work protection". The product's validity period is generally 3 years, and after that, replace it with a new one.

In a fire, the most deadly thing is smoke. How to escape (crawl low, feel the door before opening it, take the stairs and not the lift) is in Section 13, item 24. Smoke alarms are in Section 1, item 3. These two things should be done before the three items above.

Sources: 贵州省消防救援总队 (2025). 居家必备灭火毯 功能用法全攻略（转载北京消防）. https://gz.119.gov.cn/xfkp/xfcs/202503/t20250313_87157898.html ; 大兴安岭地区市场监督管理局 (2024). 灭火毯消费提示. https://dxal.gov.cn/dxal/c100095/202404/c13_280495.shtml ; 北京市门头沟区人民政府问答知识库 (2022). 油锅起火千万别用水来灭. https://www.bjmtg.gov.cn/bjmtg/c102899/202211/1a0b00ff4b3b47b0b5400a5e3883dd51.shtml ; NVWA (2014). Blusdekens oktober 2014 (inspection report of the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority; the original page has been taken down, and the link is a web archive copy of 20 October 2021). https://web.archive.org/web/20211020154732/https://www.nvwa.nl/binaries/nvwa/documenten/consument/consumentenartikelen/non-food/overige-non-food/blusdekens-oktober-2014/Factsheet+Blusdekens+Oktober+2014.pdf ; NVWA. Jaarverslag 2014: Vlam in de pan – blusdeken niet veilig (the original page has been taken down, and the link is a web archive copy of 16 July 2019). https://web.archive.org/web/20190716185137/https://www.nvwa.nl/over-de-nvwa/organisatie/jaarverslagen-en-jaarplannen-nvwa/jaarverslag-2014/vlam-in-de-pan-blusdeken-niet-veilig ; 马涛 (2026). 一摸满手刺 灭火毯这么“渣”？消防员：你搞错了！宁波晚报，中国宁波网. http://news.cnnb.com.cn/system/2026/04/04/030760706.shtml (archive https://web.archive.org/web/20261007024155/http://news.cnnb.com.cn/system/2026/04/04/030760706.shtml; this event rests on a media report only, with no original official notice); 国家质量监督检验检疫总局、国家标准化管理委员会 (2012). GB 21976.7—2012 建筑火灾逃生避难器材 第 7 部分：过滤式消防自救呼吸器, Chapter 1 "This part applies to disposable filter-type fire self-rescue respirators worn by people to escape, in places where the oxygen concentration in the air during a fire is not below 17%", 4.1 "By the rated protection time of the respirator, they are divided into: 15 min, 20 min, 25 min and 30 min", 4.2 "Example: TZL15 means a storage-type filter-type fire self-rescue respirator with a rated protection time of 15 min", 8.1.1 "This product is for one-time escape use only and cannot be used for work protection", 8.5 "The validity period of the product is generally 3 years". https://openstd.samr.gov.cn/bzgk/gb/newGbInfo?hcno=965321827BB11757B7B5E63EA91E47E7 (National Standards Full-Text Public Disclosure System)

3. What goes in the first-aid kit

On this item, the official list says only one phrase: "medicines for external use: hemostatic powder, hemostatic patches, gauze bandages and the like, for treating wounds". Section 13 has already verified what actions to take on the spot. Following those actions, it is reasonable for a home first-aid kit to hold the things below.

• Stopping bleeding: one windlass tourniquet, which is the kind with a rod that can be twisted tight. Also sterile gauze and bandages, a triangular bandage and medical tape. How to use the tourniquet, when it must not be used, and why "do not loosen it to let it bleed", see Section 13, item 12
• Wound cleaning (getting the wound clean): iodophor swabs, normal saline, adhesive plasters, sterile dressings, disposable gloves, scissors and tweezers
• Burns and scalds: use no ointment of any kind. On the spot do only one thing: rinse with cool tap water for 20 minutes, see Section 13, item 14 (after a scald, rinse with cool running water for 20 minutes)
• Records: prepare a card. Write on it the family members' allergy history, chronic diseases and the medicines they usually take. When the emergency staff arrive, hand the card straight to them

If someone at home already knows that they have severe allergies, prepare an adrenaline auto-injector pen separately. It is a prescription drug, so get it from a doctor, see Section 13, item 15 (how to recognize anaphylaxis and how to inject).

This first-aid kit list is grade C evidence. Grade C means it was written from experience and consensus, with no direct literature behind it. This is because on this item the official document gives only the four characters for "medicines for external use". What exactly to buy was worked backwards from the first-aid actions this book has already verified.

4. Lighting, communication and calling for help

Buy the flashlight waterproof and explosion-proof, as in the official note. Charge it from time to time, or change the batteries. The rescue whistle is for sending a signal continuously when you are trapped. Blowing a whistle takes less effort than shouting, and the sound carries more easily through a noisy environment. The radio is for receiving emergency broadcasts. The Beijing list also names an emergency escape rope and multi-function combination scissors. The best value in this category is a phone power bank, and most households already have one.

5. Check once a year, ten minutes

• Fire extinguisher: see whether the gauge needle is still in the green zone. Then look at the date of manufacture on the cylinder and work out whether it has reached the scrapping age
• Smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms: press the test button. Change the batteries once a year, see Section 1, item 3 (install smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms)
• Breathing mask: see whether the package is torn, and whether it is past the stated shelf life
• First-aid kit: see whether the medicines and dressings are past their date, and whether the tourniquet's buckle still locks
• Flashlight and power bank: see whether they still have charge

The original words of the Beijing Municipal Emergency Management Bureau are "check the condition of emergency supplies regularly, and replace in time any that have passed their shelf life". You can fix this for the day each year when you change the batteries of the alarms, and look at everything together.

6. What you do not need to buy

• A home AED (automated external defibrillator). One costs over ten thousand yuan. And there is no evidence to support a household buying one. When the heart stops, what to do is press at once, have someone call 120, and at the same time fetch the AED from the nearest public place, see Section 13, item 1
• "Fire masks" or "gas masks" without the CCC mark. Article 24 of the Fire Protection Law provides that fire protection products within the scope of mandatory product certification may be "produced, sold and used only after a certification body with legal qualifications has certified them as meeting the mandatory requirements of national and industry standards". That is, products that have not passed certification may not be sold or used. In addition, industrial filter canisters protect against the toxic substances in a workshop, which is not the same as the smoke of a fire
• Ready-made "emergency gift packs". Such packs are mostly filled out with a cheap flashlight and masks. It is cheaper to buy the fire extinguisher, fire blanket, mask and first-aid kit separately, and it is also easier to check the certification of each piece
• Stocking more than three days of food and water. The official list counts 3 days per person. The part stored beyond that mostly ends up thrown away after it expires, see Section 5, item 24 (do not stock up for big sales)

Source: 全国人大常委会 (2021). 中华人民共和国消防法（2021 修正，第二十四条）. https://www.beijing.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengcefagui/qtwj/202307/t20230726_3207767.html

7. How much these supplies actually help

The evidence in this section is weaker than for the other items in Section 1 of this book.

One Cochrane systematic review pooled and analyzed data from 98 studies and 2,605,044 people. It assessed whether giving households safety education and safety equipment really helps. The result was that such measures may lower the rate of injury somewhat, IRR 0.89 (95% CI 0.78 to 1.01), about one tenth lower. But the upper limit of this confidence range crosses 1 (1 means no difference), so there may be no difference at all. Among them, those done through home visits did a little better, IRR 0.75 (95% CI 0.62 to 0.91), about 25% lower. Those that only taught and gave out nothing had IRR 0.78 (95% CI 0.66 to 0.92), about one fifth lower. What seems to work is teaching and modifying in the home by visits, not the act of handing things out. The review has one more conclusion: there is no evidence that such measures reduced burns, scalds and poisoning.

In the same review, such measures did make people's safety habits better. More households had a working smoke alarm installed, OR 1.81 (95% CI 1.30 to 2.52), a proportion about 80% higher. More had thought out an escape plan beforehand, OR 2.01 (1.45 to 2.77), about double. More stored medicines properly, OR 1.53 (1.27 to 1.84), about 50% higher. More had fitted a safety gate at the stairs, OR 1.61 (1.19 to 2.17), about 60% higher.

Source: Kendrick D et al. (2012). Home safety education and provision of safety equipment for injury prevention. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD005014.pub3

So buying everything in one go from the official list costs little and is a reasonable preparation. But do not think that having it all makes you safe. What research has shown to work, again and again, is three things: install smoke alarms, think out beforehand how to run out, and move away the things in the home that easily hurt people. These three things are either not on a shopping list at all, or take up only a very small part of it.