One per upstairs bedroom

Portable Fire Escape Ladder

Kidde / First Alert / Various Canada & United States $ · Sized by storey height, not by house

A chain or steel-rung ladder that hooks over a window sill and unrolls to the ground. The second way out of an upstairs bedroom when the first way out is full of smoke.

Why we like it

The only practical second exit from an upper-storey bedroom
Cheap, compact, stores under a bed
Deploys in seconds once someone has done it before

Watch out for

Genuinely difficult for small children, older adults and anyone with limited mobility
Almost nobody practises, and an unpractised ladder in the dark is close to useless

Best for

Every bedroom above ground level.

Read the full market guide — costs, install effort and alternatives ↓

Market guide

The whole commitment, end to end

What this actually is, what the market looks like, what it really costs, and how much of your time it wants — before you spend anything.

Buying it Trivial

Installing it Trivial

Living with it Trivial

Up front

CAD $45-$140 per ladder, one per upstairs bedroom.

Lead time

Days

Time to install

Minutes to store; 20 minutes to practise once

How it works

A hook assembly sits over the window sill and the ladder rolls down the outside wall. Standoffs hold the rungs away from the siding so there is room for feet and hands. Everything depends on the hook matching your sill and the ladder reaching the ground.

What the market looks like

A small commodity market — Kidde, First Alert and a long tail of imports — at CAD $45-$140 depending on length. Two, three and four-storey lengths are sold; the numbers refer to how far the ladder reaches, not how many people can use it. Permanent mounted versions in a wall box cost more and deploy faster, and are worth considering for a bedroom used by someone who would struggle with the roll-out type.

Features that actually matter

Length: Must reach the ground from that specific window. Measure; do not assume a 'two-storey' ladder suits your two-storey house, because storey heights vary.
Hook fitment: Hooks are designed for a range of sill depths and types. Casement, awning and some vinyl-framed windows can be awkward. Check before buying.
Standoffs: Hold the rungs off the wall so hands and feet fit. Ladders without them are considerably harder to climb, especially in socks at night.
Weight rating: Stated per ladder and usually assumes one person at a time. That matters if an adult needs to carry a child.
Single use or reusable: Cheaper models are rated single use. A reusable model is what you want if you intend to practise, and you should intend to practise.

What it really costs

Up front: CAD $45-$140 per ladder, one per upstairs bedroom.
Consumables: None.
What else you'll need: Nothing.
Over five years: Nil, unless you buy a single-use model and practise with it.

Figures are typical street prices in Canadian and US dollars as of September 2026, gathered from public retail listings. They move with the season and with the exchange rate — treat them as a planning band, not a quote.

How it differs from the alternatives

Versus a permanently mounted escape ladder: A wall-box unit deploys faster and needs less strength, at two to three times the cost. Reasonable for a room used by a child or an older adult.
Versus planning to use the stairs: The stairs are the first route and usually the right one. The ladder exists for the case where the stairwell is the fire, which is exactly the case that kills people.
The practice problem: This is where the category fails. Almost nobody deploys the ladder until the night they need it, and finding out then that the hooks do not fit your sill, or that it stops a metre short, is the worst possible time. Buy a reusable model and use it once in daylight.
Who cannot use one: Be honest about this when planning. Small children, anyone frail and anyone with mobility or balance limits may not be able to use a chain ladder at all. That changes the plan — it may mean a ground-floor bedroom rather than a ladder.

Buying it

Effort Trivial

Where: Hardware and big-box stores, Amazon in both countries.

Lead time: Days

Measure sill-to-ground for each window, and check the hook suits your window type. Buy one per bedroom, not one for the house — you cannot pass it between rooms in a fire.

Installing it

Effort Trivial

Time: Minutes to store; 20 minutes to practise once

You'll need: Nothing

Store it in the room it serves, where the person sleeping there can reach it without standing on anything. Then deploy it once, in daylight, with an adult on the ground, and find out what you did not know.

Living with it

Effort Trivial

Check annually that it is still in the room it belongs to and that nothing has been stacked in front of the window. Re-brief anyone new to the house.

If not this, then what

A permanently mounted escape ladderFaster and easier, more expensive, worth it for a vulnerable occupant.
A ground-floor bedroomThe right answer for someone who genuinely cannot use a ladder.

Our verdict

Buy one for each bedroom above ground level, buy a reusable model, and deploy it once on a Saturday. The purchase is easy; the practice is the part that makes it worth anything.

We don't take payment for placement and we don't sell these products. If you think we've got something wrong here, tell us — we'll correct it.