To expect neighbours to tell us their adjoining house is on fire?

[TrumanCapote]

Had to stop lurking and join up for this one. Woke up early hours Monday coughing and hearing a screaming child; our house was full of a peculiar dirty smoke smell that I have never smelt before, and there was a fire engine outside and a distraught child all alone saying their kitchen was on fire and it's been put out.

Aibu to think that given how quickly fire can spread that we should have been warned? If they had to call the fire brigade and get their children out then they surely should have knocked? My dogs were sleeping in the adjoining room and my kids were upstairs ffs.

DH thinks iabu and shouldn't say anything to them as they would have been preoccupied savingthemselves and also because they are really rough and he doesn't want the hassle.

The house is rented it's semi detached, the landlord is invisible and the house is an absolute state think broken windows rubbish everywhere, stinks of weed, copious amounts of cats. They don't work and rents in the close are higher than HB. The landlord gives the address as his address on the land registry. Their children are practically feral and often wreak havoc. They didn't even have a fuvking smoke alarm!

bet you're glad you joined mn? yanbu op. There are 2 different kinds of smoke alarms-heat triggered and smoke triggered. Prob can get the 2 combined? If the fire was caused by pot growing , the fire dept will inform the police. Hopefully the fire will force the landlord to renovate and he will need higher rents to recoup his cost. Sorry for the upset cc- maybe inform ss about all of this.

Alas, the OP showed herself in a poor light by telling us that the neighbours are tenants, untidy, unemployed and have feral children, and even cats, as if this was in some way relevant.

I don't know if the OP had "a fuvking smoke alarm!" and, if so, why it didn't wake her if her house was "full of a peculiar dirty smoke smell"

Perhaps unemployed people have smoke that smells dirtier than the smoke of employed people.

@ PigletJohn

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Winter - Thank you very much, can I ask if it is policy to search the whole house as standard or only when there are suspicious circumstances?

The houses are identical and I think I have a good idea where the illegal activity takes place but it isn't in the area where the fire was.

They definitely didn't seem to be worried about saving the cats- i don't think they are allowed in the house as they seem to live on/under our cars. The screaming child was on the drive alone, I don't know where the other children were.

Piglet you can trot off on your high horse now (and hope they don't move in next to you), I have already explained and apologised in my replies. For the record I am in no way demeaning the unemployed, tenants or HB recipients. I would have the exact same views of my neighbours regardless of where their money comes from as my problem is with their behaviour - it just so happens that the only way they can afford to live in this house is because of their illegal activity, which is also a fire risk - if it makes me UR to take umbrage with this than so be it.

Furthermore, as I said in my replies, I should not have made it personal and should have kept my other problems with the neighbours separate from the fire discussion. However, untidy is an understatement and the amount of cats is a nuisance given they have taken up home around our cars and mess/cry at my door. The children's behaviour has caused untold problems and expense for most people in our close, although I am grateful though that it was not my child that the neighbours child held at knife point! I blame the parents not the child who is still very young (under 10).

I don't know why my smoke alarm didn't go off, other than the possibility that I didn't put it back together properly after setting it off on Sunday. DH swapped it for a new one yesterday and we are going to look into getting them mains fitted instead of battery operated. Thanks to this thread I will be far more concious about it, and thanks Winter I will make sure we have one on every storey as I was ignorantly unaware of this.

thank you, Truman, but I find it hard to get on a horse.

Obviously you don't know what sort of people live next to me now, or have done in the past.

If there was a significant fire the house would be searched in terms of hotspots behind walls, up chimney brests etc. Could even be stripped out. if we found anything untoward we wouldnt necessarily search further. one incidence of something report worthy would be enough.