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Original poster

Earplugs? During a wildfire?

64 replies

AsYouSaid · 25/07/2026 22:26

I know the news story is about the devastating fires, but I couldn't get past one lady interviewed on BBC News.

You're alone in your holiday house with your children. There are wildfires nearby. You know there are alerts, and that the situation could change overnight.

So you put earplugs in... and go to sleep.

She seemed indignant because she slept through the evacuation order.

I'm genuinely struggling to understand her decision. In that situation I'd want every sense available – to hear sirens, neighbours, emergency services, or anything else that might mean it's time to get out. I’m not sure I would have gone to bed at all, or shut my eyes, never mind wear earplugs.

Thankfully, for now she and her children are safe, but stranded and cut off

Surely, choosing to block out the very warnings that could save your life, and your children's, seems an extraordinary lack of judgement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80ny93xlrvo?app-referrer=deep-link

Pedestrians look at a cloud of black smoke covering the sky nearby of an area evacuated due to a wildfire in Lege Cap-Ferret.

Fleeing a wall of flames: Tourists describe France wildfires escape

Families visiting France have told the BBC how their holidays have become evacuation missions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80ny93xlrvo?app-referrer=deep-link

OP posts:
basketsmash · 26/07/2026 11:58

I saw it and she said people would have knocked but she wouldn’t have heard, didn’t see any indignant behaviour. I just thought she’s alone with 3 dc & probably exhausted and wanted a good nights sleep hence the ear plugs but I’m not particularly judgy.

BlackRowan · 26/07/2026 11:25

AsYouSaid · 26/07/2026 11:14

Disgraceful if she is putting the safety of her children and emergency services at risk, just for publicity!

Show quote history

Well I don’t think it’s a conscious decision to get publicity but some people are just subconsciously creating drama

Original poster
AsYouSaid · 26/07/2026 11:14

BlackRowan · 26/07/2026 10:39

She also continues to report dramatically on Twitter and Facebook. Looks like she’s a writer so maybe she craves drama and material for her writing. I honestly don’t understand the line of thought otherwise.

Disgraceful if she is putting the safety of her children and emergency services at risk, just for publicity!

OP posts:
Loulou4022 · 26/07/2026 10:48

I read that article yesterday and thought wtf would you wear earplugs during an emergency like that! With kids! so not only your own safety hangs on you being a responsible adult but your children's as well!!

BlackRowan · 26/07/2026 10:39

She also continues to report dramatically on Twitter and Facebook. Looks like she’s a writer so maybe she craves drama and material for her writing. I honestly don’t understand the line of thought otherwise.

BlackRowan · 26/07/2026 10:33

Yes the fact that she’s outraged is the worst. She literally put herself and first responders at risk by her own actions and she’s outraged. What an entitled and stupid person.

Original poster
AsYouSaid · 26/07/2026 09:25

I’m not a great sleeper anyway but would definitely be up all night, in a chair, checking outside, looking out of windows.

I wonder if some people go into ‘it won’t happen to us’ mode. On the coast this summer, sadly there have been a number of deaths in the sea, yet these continue with people still taking risks in the sea.

A drowning I read about abroad, even had the red flag on the beach, yet people were in it, unsafe and drowned.

I hope this family have been taken to safety from their holiday house. Frightening that everyone else had gone. It does put emergency services at more risk though.

OP posts:
purpleme12 · 26/07/2026 00:50

@sittingonabeach I have once a while ago. I don't know maybe I would wake up. I just know I'm a deep sleeper

Mmhmmn · 26/07/2026 00:49

I think everyone is befuddled by this one. Lacking common sense AND survival instinct. Her poor kids. They must be terrified. I hope they all get out OK.

sittingonabeach · 26/07/2026 00:48

@purpleme12 have you not experienced the test alerts that they have done in this country? They are loud

sittingonabeach · 26/07/2026 00:47

And it’s the alert that many people have disabled on their phones in the UK, because ‘who needs them’ ‘it’s too much like Big Brother watching you’, don’t trust our Government. Muppets

purpleme12 · 26/07/2026 00:45

I'm still not sure I'd trust myself to wake up to it though. I guess I'd not go to sleep but hopefully won't come across it!

ByCosyHazelBiscuit · 26/07/2026 00:44

thetinsoldier · 25/07/2026 22:57

They just do. And it’s a loud alert, not just a text.

Show quote history

It goes to all phones in an area. I got one when in Devon and there was a storm; my phone is non-UK. Modern technology!

purpleme12 · 26/07/2026 00:44

@Moistcottonchafers thank you for explaining how it worked

Cloudsarefeelingbetter · 26/07/2026 00:44

There's no way I'd be sleeping at all! Ear plugs or not! I'd be straight out of there tbh, these wildfires are terrifying and how quickly they move.

sittingonabeach · 26/07/2026 00:36

purpleme12 · 25/07/2026 22:43

It is really scary

I wouldn't even hear a text while I was asleep anyway though

And how do they know to text you if you're there on holiday?

I assume it is similar to the alerts we have here when there have been storm alerts, so can be area specific

Moistcottonchafers · 26/07/2026 00:36

Everyone in the region can get an alert because it works on cell broadcast technology of every phone connected to a cell tower.

Four years ago I was staying in a hotel near Athens when wildfires were spreading rapidly in the region. The alerts went off during the night with evacuation instructions per town affected.

As previous posters suggested, I dozed in an armchair between alerts, translating each one from Greek as thry came in. I had a bath filled to the brim with water, and I had soaking wet towels rolled up against the bottom of each door in case I did doze too heavily.

itwasyourshowallalong · 26/07/2026 00:26

I think the part that stood out for me the most was her utter outrage that she hadn’t been informed

Complete dick move

WhereAreWeNow · 26/07/2026 00:22

Same. Heard her on radio earlier today and I was puzzled by the decision to put in ear plugs and go to sleep. She seemed to understand the seriousness of the situation. It sounded like she'd been worried about it all day so it was a bit odd that she decided to block out the world and get a good night's sleep with the kids!

JustGiveMeReason · 26/07/2026 00:18

I had the same thought when I saw her on the news.

What a strange thing to do and then admit to the world .

FilmsandBooks · 25/07/2026 23:43

EmeraldRoulette · 25/07/2026 23:33

This can’t be anything other than a practical joke

Mostly because there are no earplugs in the world that actually do much

Admittedly, I can hear if somebody sneezes in the next town. But still, I’d like to know what these earplugs are

Maybe she’s one of these people who can sleep through a circular saw cutting up payment?

I thought that and was wondering if they were actually sleep buds or something because every pair of earplugs I’ve ever worn have been useless!

Still, an incredibly stupid thing to do but it doesn’t surprise me. Many years ago there was an active rapist breaking into houses locally to me and at least a couple of my mum’s friends still refused to lock the doors because they just didn’t believe anything bad would or could ever possibly happen to them!

EmeraldRoulette · 25/07/2026 23:33

This can’t be anything other than a practical joke

Mostly because there are no earplugs in the world that actually do much

Admittedly, I can hear if somebody sneezes in the next town. But still, I’d like to know what these earplugs are

Maybe she’s one of these people who can sleep through a circular saw cutting up payment?

JuliettaCaeser · 25/07/2026 23:32

Not her finest parenting moment.

HelenaWilson · 25/07/2026 23:22

I saw that. I thought sleeping with earplugs in at any time when you're the sole adult with young children is a bit daft, but in those circumstances unbelievably stupid. And then to tell the BBC about it so the whole world knows how idiotic you were!

BlackRowan · 25/07/2026 23:16

I know. Crazy !!!