Can't sleep, had a house fire today, and am a jangly mess of nerves. Also can I take this opportunity to remind you

[InsideOfEmptiness]

to make sure that you have smoke alarms, fire blankets, and extinguishers. We had the first two, but the fire started at almost ceiling height, so my attempting to flap the fire blanket upwards at it was of course ineffectual. And I had to give up on that idea pretty much immediately, as the heat, flames, and acrid black smoke were intense, and the flaming, dripping, melted plastic would have probably left me with some fairly serious burns. Thankfully I managed to quash my instinct to fill a bucket of water and fling it upwards at the flames, as that wouldn't have been great with an electrical fire.

This happened in the space of a few minutes by the way. I left the house, put a bag of rubbish in the wheely bin, chatted with a neighbour and was back in house about three minutes after I left it. In that time a fire had not only started but reached a point where I couldn't possibly manage it safely myself, so had no choice but to call 999. Thankfully the Fire Service arrived very quickly and were absolutely amazing. But it was still a really bloody frightening experience.

So I know it goes without saying, but please, please check your fire alarms and make sure that you have fire blankets and extinguishers. We were lucky, one room was wrecked but it could have been worse. And while we do have smoke and heat detectors, the speed with which the fire took hold, and how toxic and acrid the smoke was, was genuinely terrifying.

What a frightening experience
Fire is terrifyingly fast.

Is your home safe now? Is there s horrible smell?

Are you able to make yourself a cup of something hot and sweet like cocoa?

What caused the fire though?

Wow, that sounds scary, I'm not surprised you can't sleep. I have insomnia so it probably wasn't a good idea to click on this thread, but here I am so may as well reply.

Thanks for the warning and reminder re safety equipment, that is useful.

Do you know what caused the fire? Will your home need rewiring?

So sorry to hear this, it sounds very traumatic

Thanks for the reminder, I will get DH to check our smoke alarms tomorrow (I can't reach them). I'm not sure what the current advice is regarding fire fighting equipment though - I thought extinguishers weren't recommended because they encourage people to fight a fire when it would be safer to evacuate and call 999?

Do you have any idea what caused the fire? Will the fire brigade be investigating? Are you able to stay in your house? Do seek counseling if you need it! >

Sorry, just realised most of my post is about fire fighting equipment. Please be kind to yourself, you've had a very scary experience and it's natural for you to be reeling from it. Do not go to work tomorrow and pamper yourself - only do the absolutely necessary bare minimum of admin, only things that can't wait. Sympathies!

Math, it was really, really alarming how quickly it happened. What was really frightening was how acrid the smoke was.

House is safe(ish) now. There's a horrible stench of smoke in that end of the house, luckily as I left I somehow thought to close all the doors behind me so the smoke didn't reach the rest of the house. Lovely neighbour brought me cups of tea, but I think I've had a bit of an adrenaline crash as am shivering like mad now. However power to the kitchen is still shut off so I'll have to make do with some chocolate.

Lemon, can't say for sure yet but it seems to have been old and faulty wiring.

Defenbaker, oh feck, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worsen your insomnia. I can relate, funnily enough the one thing that has kept me awake at night ever since I was a small child was the fear of a house fire. Yeah I think it's always worth reminding people to be sure that they have the right safety equipment. We've been talking about getting those rope ladders in boxes to go under each of the upstairs windows for ages now, at least this will finally prompt us to do so!

No, thank you, Theoverstretchedmultitasker, that's a very good point. I've actually had Fire Marshall training in past jobs and the training was always to never use an extinguisher if you weren't fully trained in using it, and never put yourself between the fire and your exit. So you could well be right and I'd absolutely rather that people get their advice from say their local fire station than me posting when I'm all stressed and upset. And the Fire Service did say today that I was absolutely right to abandon the fire blanket, that they'd prefer people get out and stay out, so presumably the same applies to fire extinguishers.

Sorry, I was doing so well being all brave and strong but now the adrenaline has worn off and I'm sitting on the sofa bawling my eyes out

Oh my, I'm not surprised you are. Are you on your own?

I think I'd be doing the same in your position, OP. Let it out. Have you got a few days to work on getting your head round this, and I echo the PP re are you on your own? If you are, I'd want someone there to help halve the worry

It sounds like the shock has hit you, now that you've had time to think about it all. Something sweet like chocolate might help. Are you able to make yourself a hot drink?

Don't worry about my insomnia, it was my choice to click on the thread. Anyway, I will be talking to DH about updating our alarms tomorrow, so thanks for flagging this issue by sharing your experience. I hope you get some sleep eventually.

Thanks so much. I'm not alone, DH is here, though I insisted he go to bed as he's up early and will be working at least a 16 hour day tomorrow. But I'm on the sofa with my cats and a duvet so I'm okay. Was tempted to crack open the bottle of gin in the cupboard but don't think that'd be the best idea .

Yeah there's never any harm in a reminder to check your alarms I think. We've always said that we'll do it every week but have often let it go much longer

Hope you're ok OP. I was in a house fire as a child (everyone ok but kitchen ruined and extensive smoke damage!) It really is terrifying. Take care of yourself

Oh you poor thing. I'm glad no-one was hurt and that the damage is as minimal as can be. Give them kitties a big squeeze.

I echo other posters, do the bare minimum tomorrow and take time for yourself. It's a nasty shock.

I'm another insomniac here so I'm here if you need me.

Thank you all. I ended up sleeping all day today, I think a bit of shock kicked in.

toadabode, feck, it was terrifying for me, as a child it must have been so very frightening for you.

PotterHead1985, I spent a lot of today dozing on the sofa with the kitties clutched close to me. It's very soothing