to ask if you would survive this..

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Imagine that in this instant your power fails, its pitch black, and the house immediately fills with choking smoke.

Would you and your family get out? Would your smoke alarms warn you first? Can you find a key in the dark? do your children know where to go? Is there an alternative exit if the route to your front door is on fire? How about a phone (not electric?) a torch? could you put your hands on them instantly without wasting time feeling around?

We do have a plan. There is an emergency key taped to the bottom of a cabinet near the front door, which could be found my touch. My children know to leave mediately and meet at a tree near the front of the house. If they can't get out down the stairs, they know where the fire escape is, and that cupboard has emergency lighting. They know to leave the animals to me ( in practice I would leave the animals, most likely, but wouldn't ever tell DC that in advance, in case they try to reach them)

It isn't perfect, and still things could go wrong, but it is the best and simplist plan I can come up with. DC have known this escape plan since they sere preschool.

Are you a firefighter by profession?

No, just the thread I contributed to on leaving tributes whre someone has died made me sad all over again about a couple of children on our estate who died in a house fire. It was about 5 years ago now, they should still be running round playing footy with my DC, but mine are growing up, and they are not.

You can't be entirely saf from fire, of course, and you can worry too much about it too, and make your children anxious. its just a balance though. You need to be prepared to some extent, I think?

I have smoke alarms.

My front door key is kept in the same place, near to the front door but not visible from there.

Likewise, there is a key kept near the back door.

If we couldn't get downstairs, we would climb out of the front window (DD's room) onto the porch roof and to the ground. DD is only a toddler and in a cot so doesn't need to know the escape plan just yet.

Yes, we had the fire brigade come to our house to discuss this after an open day at the fire station.

They showed us how to escape if we were upstairs and couldn't get down.

Explained about extension leads and plug in air freshener being dangerous if not used correctly.

Thats what I try and be, Chronicallyhungry, a sensible and realistic plan.

Do the fire brigade offer this for everyone?

My mum used to wake us up in the evening and make us practise fire drills every couple of months. She said our front door locks worked weirdly and we had to be able to do it half asleep and bewildered. A girl I was friends with and three of her sisters died in a fire, not sure my mum ever got over it.

We have smoke alarms and a back up exit. When the kids are old enough, we'll do evening fire drills too.

I've been particularly nervous since DSs phone unexpectedly went up in smoke while charging last week - the phone shop were not even surprised "recognised fault" they said!

Yes you can email, phone or call into your local fire station and they will arrange a visit to come to your house.

They fit 2 new smoke alarms because ours were mains fitted and the batteries only last 10 years and they were due to expire.

The visit was really good and discussed things you wouldn't think about.

I'll definitely be giving them a ring Wineandchoccy

I have no idea how we would get out in a fire!

The smoke alarm by the kitchen works but not sure about the one on the landing. The stairs lead right to the front door and you have to go past it to get to the back door. The window at the front of the house has a restrictor on it so only opens a couple of inches. The trampoline is right next to DD1s window at the back of the house so I could possibly get the DDs out that way.

I saw a leaflet yesterday that offers free checks if you meet certain criteria for example are over 25, single parent with DC under 5, have learning difficulties and live in rented accommodation. I think there were a few more as well.

We have mains smoke alarms. All rooms have access to a half roof and we have climbing rope in one that doesn't. Old phone is by bed as useful for power cuts. I can find the front door key with my eyes closed. Torch maybe harder as ds keeps stealing it.

I had a panic when our oldest was tiny!

By chance, 20 something years ago, I saw a TV advert about making a plan of escape from fire. I used it the next day and have been neurotic about fire ever since. We would most likely have died from smoke inhalation had I not seen the advert, as I would have led us downstairs to the nearest downstairs door. Seeing the ad had made me think more carefully and we climbed onto a flat roof to safety instead.

My neurosis has had a knock on effect on my tenants' safety - I have provided escape ladders which slide under beds and can be hooked onto windowsills in seconds, just in case anything happens. I couldn't have it on my conscience if anything easily preventable happened to anybody in one of my properties.

Smoke alarms, carbon monoxide monitors and other safety equipment is so inexpensive that there is no excuse not to have them.

We have three escape routes on the ground floor and two upstairs (out of windows on to flat roof).

One fire extinguisher, one fire blanket.

All windows and doors have key on the inside of the frame, hanging from a nail.

Three smoke alarms.

What we need to work on: getting children to practise getting out from different parts of the house.

DH and I both (separately) went on Fire Safety courses when we were teenagers as part of our D of E.

The one I went on was for a whole weekend. It was really good and I still remember a lot of what we learned.

Do courses like that still exist?

Our flat is very straightforward to get out of so could crawl to the door and get out (no key needed). If the fire was in the corridor and we were trapped in our room though, we'd be buggered as we live on the 3rd floor and couldn't jump without causing some serious injuries. We'd close the door and seal it as best we could, and hope the fire brigade arrived in time to avoid the decision between jump/burn.

We had a home visit from fire safety officers. They said the biggest risks these days is still cigarettes, but then followed by electrical fires. So golden rules are to never, ever leave anything charging overnight, to switch things off at the plug if you can, and most importantly - close all internal doors every night - this will help slow the spread of fire and smoke. Additionally, decide in advance which parent goes for which child.

Tell me about this fire escape thing you have.....our master is downstairs, and it worries me that the DC would be upstairs and I couldn't get to them. How old are your DC?

I have talked to them only about not hiding, and staying put, calling out to us and we will get them. Not sure if that would be realistic though.

I would just grab DD run out the backdoor. If there was a fire at the door, I'd cover DD with a blanket run fast and hope for the best. Or we'd just break a window and crawl out that way. Only our front door requires a key to open, but it'd be a longer trek across the house to get to the front door than back door. So back door that has a twist lock would be used every time.

I survived a house fire, trust me when your bedroom is surrounded by smoke and you are a child ( as I was) all the planning in the world don't prepare you for the fear and being so scared you hide under your bed.

My children know what to do, we practise it regular.

Every time my DC touch a lighter or matches I play Francis the firefly on youtube

Thanks for latching on to my biggest fear with not so much as a warning.

Smoke alarms warn me when I am cooking tea, so no doubt they will warn when IF there was a real fire.

Children do know where to go.

There are phones not connected to the electric. There are alernative routes out.

All this came about when my neighbours new tumble dryer burst in to flames when she was drying her DCs uniforms on a Sunday night.

She left the kitchen, got her DC out and brought them to me, having phoned the Fire Brigade.

I went in her house after and because she had closed the door after her, there was not damage to the rest of the house. The UPC back door in her kitchen had melted.

My tumble dryer, if on in the evening when hell freezes over now would come between me and my DC when they are in bed!

The Fire Brigade came round and assessed my home after this fire and it is pretty good. This is when we worked out exit plans.

Icanseethesun. Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. It would be good to hear of any advice you could give us mums about preparation and plans, as you have been through it yourself.

We're single story. We have 5 exit points and a letter box at the end of a very long drive. My dc (5 & 3) know to "get down, keep low, get out" and meet us by the letterbox at end of drive.

Although we have just moved to this house and although very similar to last house we could go through it all again just in case.

There is always a charges phone kept next to the keys in easy reach. And the smoke alarms get checked regularly.

Out of interest and for those in the know, what do you do if you can't get downstairs and there are no porches or flat roofs to climb out on to? We have smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarm and I could also get out of front door but not sure what I'd do if trapped upstairs?