Get a Smoke Alarm!!!!

[Andy-No-Knee]

Some of you may know, I'm an officer in the London Fire Brigade.

 

(Still on duty at the moment...) Last night I had two jobs, both house/flat fires. With one slight difference.

 

Fire 1.

They had a smoke alarm (hard wired to a burgelar alarm but otherwise the same as you can get in B&Q) and they had an electrical fire under their stairs. The alarm woke them up and apart from pi$$ing themselves in fear (and I really do mean that....) they all got out safe and sound before we arrived. When we did and I was in charge of the first arriving machine the fire was punching out of the front door and melting the downstairs windows. They lost everything they owned in the house through eifther fire or smoke damage but they were alive!

 

Fire 2.

On the 7th floor of a block of flats, no smoke alarm.

It gutted the entire flat, one adult male escaped with smoke inhilation, one female dead of smoke inhilation.

 

I'm glad I'm not the one going to the hospital and telling him about his wife/partner.

 

 

People please......GET A SMOKE ALARM!!!!!

[marcAB10]

I'm shocked that there are still people without one tbh.

[tbourner]

I've got 2, but really do need to get a new battery for the downstairs one!

[stevie_b]

As marc said. What are they these days, £10? £20?

 

One thing I should do more is test it with a smoke source (match maybe?). The downstairs one used to be set off fairly regularly by my cooking so I knew that worked. It hasn't happened for a while so either I've got better at cooking or there's something faulty with it. People tend to test them by pressing the Test button: that tests that the battery and siren both work, but if the detector circuit doesn't work you may as well hang a banana from your ceiling.

[JustGav]

They cost peanuts at B&Q, so I put one in each room...

[TubbyTwo]

got 4 in my house, all hardwired into the mains, tested every week. recent got a couple of Carbon monoxide ones for good measure.

 

for the small amount they cost its not worth the risk to my family to be without!

[Dnk]

Just put a new battery in mine and also tested it by burning my toast

[Thorin]

Particularly important this time of year with all the dodgy Christmas lights!

 

Must check ours again tonight.

[The-Plethora]

They do need one with a snooze function, fry up friendly so to speak.

[Animal]

The fire alarm went off in the building Lucy has a flat in. Best thing was, it went off at the exact moment she hit snooze on her alarm - scared the bejesus out of her. No fire, luckily, but it was funny as hell.

[davej705]

Our local fire fighters will even come and fit them free if you can't afford one so no excuses really

[shima60]

I'm so bad i even have one in my room. Mainly due to the ammount of wiring i have in my room haha. in total though i only have 2. 1 on the stairs and 1 in my room. Luckily if i am woken and there is fire in the hall my climbing rope is in my room so out the window i go haha.

[Havard]

Great thread. Especially this time of year with Christmas lights and overloaded sockets etc. We seem to have extension sockets everywhere at the moment.

 

We have two alarms, one in the hall one at the top of the stairs. We have a escape plan too.

 

H.

[Charlotte]

Good thread.

 

It's one of those 'I'll do it another day' jobs for a lot of people - great to raise awareness on these things.

[Andy-No-Knee]

Smoke alarms....

 

Your local fire station will supply and fit as many alarms as you need free of charge!!!!

 

Please please please just call them on the free phone number (google will get you that for your area) and book it in!

 

As for the testing... once a week is fine, but you also need to hoover the front once a month otherwise dust can clog the entry hole to the sensor stopping smoke from getting in and setting it off.

 

If you accidentally set one off by cooking press the test button of n the front, they usually also ack as a 'standby mode' button that will put it in stand by mode for 15 mins, it will then beep at you every 30 seconds or maybe every minute to remind you it isnt working. Then it automatically reverts back to normal operating.

 

Have a good and fire free Christmas and New Year everyone!!! Much as I love you all, I dont wanna have to come round and see ya!!!!

[marbleapple]

A flat without a firealarm? I presume it was not a new build.

 

With regard to fire alarms, I think that the Fire Service would also suggest that you have an escape plan that you know backward.... fire alarm might wake you up but if you don't know how to get out (or don't know where you left the keys) being awake won't make much difference.

 

I like how the "one slight difference" is the fire alarm, not the fact that one was 7 stories up and 1 was a standard house - Note this is attempted humour not criticism of OPs very valid point.

[CraigGilchrist]

I only just got back into my flat after the ground floor flat had a fire back at the start of October - dodgy electric blanket, no smoke alarms. Fortunately once the fire was properly raging it was so bad it set of everyone else's alarms in the building.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Residents-flee-flats-as-faulty.6565534.jp

[Charlotte]

With regard to fire alarms, I think that the Fire Service would also suggest that you have an escape plan that you know backward.... fire alarm might wake you up but if you don't know how to get out (or don't know where you left the keys) being awake won't make much difference.

 

This is the thing I worry about. My brother has just moved into a student house in Manchester. He's on the top floor because it had a slightly bigger room and it was a bit more peaceful.

 

The only way down is via a very narrow steep set of steps. The window in his room is actually barred shut because it's right next to the door at an angle and I presume they didn't want students falling out of it.

 

I think I'm going to get him something to take the bars off and a rope ladder in case something awful happens. /worriedsister

[marbleapple]

This is the thing I worry about. My brother has just moved into a student house in Manchester. He's on the top floor because it had a slightly bigger room and it was a bit more peaceful.

 

The only way down is via a very narrow steep set of steps. The window in his room is actually barred shut because it's right next to the door at an angle and I presume they didn't want students falling out of it.

 

I think I'm going to get him something to take the bars off and a rope ladder in case something awful happens. /worriedsister

 

Sure there are probably regulations in relation to landlord responsibilities and escape routes. Failing that just be a brave sister and hope he is ok. (If |I were you I would be more worried about falling down the stairs drunk and snapping his neck - In my student days my friend went to the loo for a number 2 whilst drunk, tripped and fell down the stairs with his pants around his ankles... he didn't break his neck but it wasn't pretty seeing his naked ass ).

 

I had an apartment over 3 garages for a very short period. Only one door in and out and the windows didn't open outwards except at the top of the frame (which would be fine it a was a midget). I always wondered what would happen if there was a fire by the entrance (i.e. petrol through the letter box etc)

[Charlotte]

Sure there are probably regulations in relation to landlord responsibilities and escape routes.

 

There are regulations but whether they are being followed in this instance I don't know. I'm not about to challenge it because it's not really my responsibility.

 

By the sounds of it the landlord is pretty scarce and still hasn't collected a couple of damp mould filled mattresses from the basement.

[adnanshah247]

call up your insurance companies! they'll send you good ones for free. we got them as a renewal present after being with our company for like 5 years plus and they told us majority of companies dish them out free.

[tbourner]

Our bedroom window and the bathroom window are 'emergency escape' windows, so they can be opened extra wide, then it's a short drop onto the grass. That's assuming our alarm works and we actually wake up though!!

 

Also, the dogs are trapped between gates downstairs, and both keys for the front door are hidden downstairs, so we wouldn't be able to get in to save them. I know you're not supposed to but I would have to try, couldn't be stuck outside hearing them in the fire.

[Aero-M]

I have an alarm in every room, Always been worried about a fire so thought 7 should be enough to wake us up!

[marbleapple]

I have an alarm in every room, Always been worried about a fire so thought 7 should be enough to wake us up!

 

All you need to do now is put batteries in them

[Branners]

My wife kindly tests our smoke alarms every time she cooks bacon so I know ours work!! We have 2 on mains and 1 on battery just to make sure. Also worth thinking of escape routes from the upstairs if the downstairs is on fire. Make sure you can fit through the window openings.