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If you woke up in the night and your house was on fire what's your plan?
Some family of ours recently had this situation and it got us thinking about our plan. One toddler and soon to be a new baby would need saving, as well as our dog in a crate downstairs. Got smoke alarms that we check regularly but they probably give a false sense of security if you don't have a plan for what to do if it actually goes off!
Do you have extinguishers? Rope ladders for getting out of bedroom windows? A fire drill?
Plan, get out, get in car, drive to hotel.
There is a FBU strike tomorrow night and NYE as well.
[s]Towels in room to stuff under door gap(s), fire extinguisher near landing, keys always in front door and hanging next to rear door.
Hang out the window furthest away from fire and wait. Worse case jump- its 12foot.[/s]
We have very sensitive (proper) fire detectors on both floors.
Out the back bedroom window and onto utility room roof.
If fires blocking that path then the smoke alarms havnt worked at all and ill take my chances jumping out the front window.
Got 2 smoke alarms on the mains - one up and one down and a heat sensor in the kitchen all linked + battery smoke alarms in the attic spaces ( free from firebrigade!)
Smoke detectors in every room, ground floor flat so can just climb out the windows.
We have very sensitive (proper) fire detectors on both floors.
What does that even mean hora.
I suspect that he means mains powered ones rather than battery powered ones.
We have very sensitive (proper) fire detectors on both floors.
Same here, and they get tested whenever I cook 🙂 Fires can progress pretty bloody quickly though.
Blimey, hadn't even thought about attic smoke detectors.
Was staying at my folks' a couple of christmases back and they had an electrical fire from an old electric blaney- pure luck I found it early so it was easy enough to deal (though I think as firefighting apparatus goes, "a blanket which is also on fire" ranks poorly). Smoke and furniture damage but nothing structural, very lucky.
But afterwards, realised the smoke alarms never went off- both dead. No extinguishers or anything in the house... Funnily enough the whole family ended up down the shops after christmas buying kit.
They are very sensitive. If you even grill bacon (WITHOUT) burning it- in the upstairs room away you'll trigger an alarm.
Reminds me of the heroine in London a few years ago. Fire takes hold in house, family beaten back from rescuing a trapped child. Woman stops car outside of house, runs in, upstairs, back down and hands child to people outside. Goes to hospital with them to look over child who suffered bad burns.
She leaves without saying her name. I think the Sun tried tracking her down to no avail.
What a ****ing hero that woman was.
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P155 on it??
P155 on it??
With the volume of my usual middle of the night pee that may actually be a feasible option!
Jesus what the oh ffff Jesus Jesus Jesus okay okay hold the oh my god what the ffffffffuuuuu mother
fire detecters fitted up and downstairs.
windows open fully to enable us to climb out
dog dies if fire is downstairs...... 😥
Ah found: http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/9119488.LEYTON__Heroic_woman_rescues_baby_from_burning_house/
More balls than most of us put together.
Hands up it was our friendly forum firefighter who both gave me the attic alarms and told me to stick them there ....
You want to be fitting mains linked alarms as a minimum these days.
And ideally you want combined ionizing and optical sensor type ( detects different types of smokes from different burning materials) as well as a heat sensor in your kitchen.
Optical smoke detectors are more sensitive (& expensive) than the more common ionisation type. We have both types and a detector in every room.
We regularly test our smoke detectors by accidently setting fire to the sheet of paper we hold over the fire trying to get it going.....
Ours are fairly new and mains linked. I think they are good ones.
Tricky getting out of our upstairs windows as it's quite a drop (if it was just me it'd be ok, but wife and kids would be tricky.) Thinking rope ladder of some sort. Maybe throw a mattress out the window!
Jesus what the oh ffff Jesus Jesus Jesus okay okay hold the oh my god what the ffffffffuuuuu mother
^^^ my current plan!
I've delegated this sort of stuff to the cat to sort out.
It's told me it's on top of the situation.
Having set myself and the house on fire in recent months, I can confirm my standard reaction is PANIC!
Never really thought about it. I guess I'd grab an arm full of records and jump out of the window on to the hedge 🙂
I know my smoke alarm works because it's been fitted about a yard from the cooker so it goes off every time I cook a steak.
Rescue bikes grab beer on way out watch the place burn with said beer.
we advise people to close doors at night and have a phone in their bedroom. a closed door can keep a fire at bay for half hour or so. once the alarms have sounded you [i]should[/i] have enough time to ring the fire service if youre trapped and tell them where you are in the house. they should be there within a few minutes.
jumping out of windows shouldnt be necessary, but if it is, then chuck pillows and bedding (mattress if possible) onto the ground, then hang from the window to minimise the drop.
jumping out of windows shouldnt be necessary, but if it is, then chuck pillows and bedding (mattress if possible) onto the ground, then hang from the window to minimise the drop.
Ah ok. I was going to go with let partner/son go first then cushion impact.
Id advice against hanging from your window if its a dormer , sliding down tiles and clipping the guttering with your balls and chin will hurt.
If it's anything like the last time it happened I expect I'll get woken up by the alarm, begrudgingly stumble out of bed with an epic hangover, get dressed, wander into the kitchen, stand at the sink drinking a pint of water, notice the smoke pouring out of the roof of the restaurant below. RUN LIKE ****! Then spend the night sat on the benches of the grotty Camden pub opposite and watch 5 fire engine loads of blokes smash the crap out of the restaurant in an attempt to put the fire out before it took down the whole building. Thankfully they did.
I live in a ground floor flat now.
Your house is on fire... what's your plan?
Get out quick ...
Do you have extinguishers?
Yes, a small one but in this building we have one every corner. We have smoke and heat detectors all over the flat.
Rope ladders for getting out of bedroom windows? A fire drill?
On the ground floor so just jump out from the windows. Yes, we do drill.
Rope ladders for getting out of bedroom windows? A fire drill?
Nope ... on the ground flood. Nope.
I'm hoping that a combination of primal instinct and logic will kick in; I'll collect the dog and send it and the missus downstairs and out the front door, while I dither over whether it's advisable to wait for the NAS to power down before bringing it out, and whether I can fit my amp, PC and 2 bikes under my arms on the way out.
I suspect it doesn't work quite like that though, and so running around yelling "fire fire fire!" before jumping across to next door's flat roof will be the plan.
Multiple exit points in our house. One upstairs onto the utility room roof or from our bedroom onto the conservatory.
Otherwise I reckon I could jump from a front window. Not sure if the wife could. Still, she's had a good innings.
Got 2 smoke alarms on the mains - one up and one down and a heat sensor in the kitchen all linked + battery smoke alarms in the attic spaces ( free from firebrigade!)
Free from me
Buy blinds get smoke alarms free 😉
Otherwise I reckon I could jump from a front window. Not sure if the wife could. Still, she's had a good innings.
😀
Kids spread across 3 floors, have taught and drilled them into how to get out of the windows (there are safe escape routes for all that way). Only problem is they seemed right keen to try it out ...
Warning re: free alarms from the fire service...best fit them yourself / don't let them fit them using the strong adhesive (smeared adhesive on alarm and push alarm to ceiling with plunger to set so no ladders needed)...the non replaceable battery doesn't last anything like the claimed 5 years and so you have to replace the whole alarm...and also replace the plaster it rips from the ceiling when removed (Good adhesive though).
Traditional screws in this service
ground floor so jump out of window (or more realistically walk out the front door), but would take my bike off the wall first. and maybe my stash. and the GF.
Anybody else have important documents in a fire/water safe?
Get out and call for help.
Anybody else have important documents in a fire/water safe?
Yep, mainly so if some scroute breaks in he can't run off with all the bank statements / passports etc.
Assuming we're unable to walk out of the front door then our climbing gear is stored under the bed. Clove hitch to the bed frame, rope out the window and abseil down to the ground, walk to other side of the road and use phone to check insurance is up to date.
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I was thinking of this when we moved into our new place, partly because the doors need the keys in to unlock them so at night we need to make sure the keys are in a known place. Although it is a bungalow with nice big windows so they are easy exists too.
Once we know each other are okay out attention would turn to the animals and then probably by laptop if I could get to it.
We have a mains alarm system in my flat and the bungalow with backup battery smoke/CO alarm in the living room of the flat.
Shut all doors, and get out,ring fire brigade.
and wait.
Where is the CO alarm positioned, on the ceiling?
We hace a mains powered fire system with heat detector in kitchen etc.
it also has a carbon monoxide detector wired into the same system.
As for escape, both bedrooms have windows we can climb out of onto the extension roof, and we can jump off onto the lawn.
Ae thats the perfect place for a co alarm isnt it bruneep ? So once its going off telling you there is high co its too late .
Ae thats the perfect place for a co2 alarm isnt it bruneep ? So once its going off telling you there is high co2 its too late .
🙄
CO2, carbon dioxide alarm?
or
CO, Carbon Monoxide alarm?
did you really get a degree? 😉
You misquoting me again 😉
Mines on the bottom of the book case anyway
Open the window and let this rain put it out
You misquoting me again
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Mines on the bottom of the book case anyway, still in the box
First plan anyone should have is never smoke in the house and never cook after coming in from the pub. That should eliminate most risks of setting your house on fire. Basically avoid mixing hot things and alcohol.
Over 100 years of combined service in the fire brigade in my family so fairly familiar with the ways people manage to set their houses on fire.
Bathroom window on to garage roof for us.
Bathroom window on to garage roof for us.
So what if the fire is in the bathroom?
😉
There's some really useful information on various Community Resilience websites, including preparing a [url= http://www.cheshireresilience.org.uk/how_to_prepare/preparing_a_grab_bag.aspx ]Grab Bag[/url]
and where do I keep this bag?
Tins of meat............ bugger that I'll be looking for a hotel.
Plan?
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As long as Mrs B's home I don't need a plan 8)
hav'nt read all the threads so may have missed the answer.with the mains alarms what happens in a power cut or the fire is an electrical fire and cuts the electric off.do they also have a battery as backup
mains powered. detection system with heat and smoke where applicable which we have on contract for testing, also extinguishers in the kitchen, garage and main bedroom. our route out is through our bedroom onto the extension roof which is an easy jump/ catch. boiler is in the garage sealed against the house with it's own detection. having had fires at work a couple of times it kind of makes you realize how quick things can go tits up. oh and yes its in pyro cable with batt backup.
Tell the wife the house is on fire again and leave as normal.
On the bright side, the garage is detached so I won't lose the bikes.
Don't forget your credit cards and kids
We do have fire extinguishers on the landing and also
keep all important files in two fire proof briefcases
Hands up it was our friendly forum firefighter who both gave me the attic alarms and told me to stick them there
Got free ones from the fire service while missus was pregnant. FireAngel ones (combined detector).
Mounted (by them) with a mounting plate screwed to the ceiling.
Just replaced one (v easy) after the "ten year" battery gave up after four years. 😕
Packaging claims they are used by something like 95% of fire services.
You want to be fitting mains linked alarms as a minimum these days.
Is mains considered safer? I take it they must have a battery backup or something (in case an electrical fire trips the mains before they detect it)
Its. Not the mains that makes em safer its the linked part. But yes they do have battery back up.
Fire downstairs - all your alarms go off... Upstairs downstairs and anywhere else you have a linked alarm.
Unless you fitted it in your house your self/specified pyro ill be surprised if its wired in on pyro cable - unless you live in a nuclear reactor or oil rig.
Fairly sure building regs calls for normal 4 core cable to wire em together - but its been a while since i needed to know that.
battery ones we fit now can connect by wifi [url= http://www.fireangel.co.uk/Wi-Safe.aspx ]http://www.fireangel.co.uk/Wi-Safe.aspx[/url]
Don't you people have sprinklers fitted then ?
samuri - Member
Multiple exit points in our house. One upstairs onto the utility room roof or from our bedroom onto the conservatory.Otherwise I reckon I could jump from a front window. Not sure if the wife could. Still, she's had a good innings.
Do the decent thing and knock her out first, don't want her to suffer needlessly 🙂
Kids out.
Cats out.
Bikes out.
See if wife is awake...
i had the alarm in the loft going off in the middle of the night a few weeks back.
woke up and had a huge and immediate rush of adrenaline and ran around naked from the waist down, check list instinctively went; dogs, bikes lodger (who had heard it before me but was 'waiting to see if he really needed to get out of bed'). false alarm thank god
a mate had a fire next door a few days ago and when he asked the fireman how it started, he was told "it started small then got bigger" which made me chuckle
Kids out
Wife and me out .
The dog will follow me everywhere.
Smoke alarms fitted.
No extinguishers I'm not fighting a fire.
No window ladders it's not that high that I can't drop without hurting myself and kids can be lowered down.
Ring for the plastic heeds.
Fire downstairs - all your alarms go off... Upstairs downstairs and anywhere else you have a linked alarm.
Ah right. Don't think my house is quite big enough to worry too much about that. 😕
Like the idea of linking them to wifi. I can see them combining units in the future: e.g. Combined smoke, CO2, burglar alarm, wifi repeater, AirPlay speaker? Maybe not 😀
No extinguishers I'm not fighting a fire.
I have a small powder extinguisher in the kitchen just to allow the option of dealing with anything silly from the cooker before it becomes more serious.
I have a small powder extinguisher in the kitchen just to allow the option of dealing with anything silly from the cooker before it becomes more serious.
I've only set fire to tea towels so far in the kitchen and just lobbed them in the sink.
well if itsa anything like the time the junkies on the ground floor torched their place while i was showering...
1) hear flatmate banging on door screaming there is a fire we need to leave.
2) get out of shower
3) proclaim loudly there was heehaw chance i was going outside in nowt but a towel
4) Grab a pair of trackie bottoms get very very tangled in them (have your tried putting trackies on with soaking legs)
5) Open close door tell the flatmate he is an idiot for even considering the black smoke engulfed stairwell with 2 floors between us and escape.
6) go to the living room and drink cups of tea while firemen are smashing windows and carrying babies to safety.
7) hear the guys knock on the door
8) dive to the door so they don't actually kick it down.
9) phone parents and tell them whats going on
10) drink more tea.
11) ask the firemen if we can come down because the gas is off and I quite fancy a chippy.
12) decide its probably a good idea to get some contents cover
Back to the OP - the dog wouldn't even get a look in - get the kids, get out. End of.