WAKE COUNTY, N.C. — A father on Friday said his daughter's insistence on having a fire escape plan probably saved their lives.

In the early morning hours of September 27, Michael Hughey and his wife were awakened by their 4-year-old daughter's screaming on the baby monitor. The couple ran upstairs and found her bedroom engulfed in thick smoke.

A few weeks earlier, Hughey said his daughter, Emily, came home from her preschool and asked about the family's fire escape plan. She had learned about escape plans that day. The Hugheys hadn't discussed one until then but told Emily if there was ever a fire in her room, she should stand on her bed and yell for them. When fire broke out just after 3 o'clock that morning, she did exactly that.

“We knew where her bed was, we went through the smoke and grabbed her out of her bed, walked back down the stairs and took her outside,” Michael Hughey said.

While his wife called 911, Hughey went back upstairs, grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the fire out. He said it was a tricky call, but he felt he could still put it out if he moved quickly. It worked, but if he had waited much longer, the fire would have gotten out of control. Although firefighters arrived within five minutes, he said the fire likely could have consumed much of the second floor by then.

“This fire probably went from very small to that whole wall probably within 15 to 20 seconds,” he said.

This week marks Fire Prevention Week. First proclaimed by President Calvin Coolidge in 1925, the dates coincide with the anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

According to the National Fire Prevention Association, half of all home fires are cooking-related. Electrical appliances account for nearly half of the fires that cause property damage. In all, more than 354,000 homes caught fire each year between 2013 and 2017, killing more than 2,600 people.

That appears to be the case with the fire in the Hugheys' home. Hughey said he and firefighters believe the fire started in a humidifier in his daughter's room. The device was only about five years old. He said investigators didn't find any issues with the wall socket, so it probably was a short somewhere in the humidifier itself.

Emily Hughey's room still smells of smoke, and soot still covers the walls. The carpet and a section of drywall will have to be replaced. Hughey said almost everything else survived. He said once firefighters arrived, they did a great job of tending to his family and finishing off the fire.

“They told [Emily] how proud they were of her and having a fire plan and everything,” he said.

Hughey said he hopes other families can learn the importance of a fire escape plan from his own experience.

The state fire marshal's office said only about 46 percent of families report having developed and practiced a fire escape plan. Experts recommend having at least two escape routes out of each room in your home. You should practice at least twice a year to make sure you're familiar with it.