To ask if you’ve checked your smoke alarm?

[1wokeuplikethis]

Heartbreaking story in the news this week has made me feel extra cautious about house fires.

I’ve just tested our upstairs smoke alarm and discovered the battery is flat. I don’t know how long it’s been like that.

Do you have a family fire plan? If you woke in the night to heavy black smoke and fire could you confidently evacuate the home? It can take 5 minutes for a house to be engulfed.

Tell your kids not to hide in wardrobes and not to hide from firemen. No matter how little they are, practice your escape plan and let them know what it is.

If we couldn’t get out of the front door, our escape is via a front or back bedroom, onto a low roof and then to the ground but I imagine this would cause bone breakages from the fall (not nice but preferable to the alternative).

Don’t leave your Xmas lights on at night or when you go out. If you have a real tree make sure it’s watered. Keep decs and ribbons, tinsel, cards away from lit candles.

Check your smoke alarm. If a fire started at night when you are deeply asleep and you don’t have a working alarm the fumes will suffocate you before the flames get close.

Sorry if anything is really obvious, I just wanted to say.

Getting this on my list so I can bump during the day tomorrow, I haven't tested them for ages but cant do it now

Our alarms are mains wired and I regularly check the carbon monoxide alarm. It scares me a little knowing that the shrill tone of a smoke alarm doesn't disturb sleeping children under a certain age though (15 or 16 maybe?). In a test they discovered that they simply don't hear it. At all. Discovering this, a new type has been designed that you record mum or dad's voice on to. Unfortunately it's not in our price range.
We have escape plans and we're in a downstairs (ground floor) flat with huge windows, so providing me or hubby can get out, we can get to all the children from outside if not inside. Sadly the cat would be on her own though if the fire is in the kitchen or living room.

We have fire doors throughout and only bedroom doors are left open at night (less likely to have bedroom starting fires) The rest are firmly closed.

And we're insured to the eyeballs. We may not have much but to replace everything would be a lot more than you'd expect. From toothbrushes to photo frames, beds to egg cups you wouldn't believe how much it would cost to replace. I won't let my insurance lapse for even a single day.

WE also have our smoke alarms wire done to the mains. We check them regularly —by burning dinner/toast—

If we couldn’t get down the stairs escape would either be via daughters window to the patio or our window to the drive. Bones likely to break, but they would fix. Probably biggest problem would be getting out DH with dodgy knees.

Checked yesterday with burnt toast.

However, we don’t have a fire plan.

So that is now on the list of things to sort.

We have smoke alarms in every room and replace batteries frequently. I just had a conversation with my dd and her boyfriend, he leaves guitars, amps etc plugged in and on in his bedroom ( with no alarm) but she insists on everything unplugged when she stays. If we can’t get out the front door we get out my bedroom window onto a sloped roof and jump, we’d live.

We had the fire brigade round a few weeks ago. Apparently there was a fire locally and they went door to door to check everyones smoke alarms. Had no idea they did this.

We check ours once a month. My husband has it in his calendar l and takes less than 5 minutes. I know I have to die someday but I'll be damned if I die in a fire in my own home. How horrific.

We have Fire Angels (fitted by the fire brigade) and a fire plan.

We did on Saturday when we put the tree up. They're mains powered.
We do have a fire extinguisher upstairs and downstairs and a plan for exiting at night.
I do have anxiety since you ask

I know the story you are referring to. Great post OP. Water those real trees 🌲 ❤️

Both my husband and I work in emergency services. We change or smoke detector batteries every six months. We definitely have a fire plan, and have practiced it. Our daughter is too young to really understand, but we can confidently get her out in less than 2 minutes by either front door or fire escape. We also have the cat carrier accessible for an emergency. And have practiced getting them out as well.

We have had smoke conditions in our building before. It always good to be prepared.

Make sure your smoke/carbon monoxide detectors are not only working, but that you have the proper amount of them and in the right places. Too many families think just one for the entire home is enough and it’s not.

Also-if you live in a flat, please please please make sure you close the door behind you when you evacuate, especially if it is your flat that is on fire. Last year I responded to a building fire that started on the first floor. Family left the the door to their flat open and the staircase acted as a chimney, engulfing all 5 floors in less than 10 minutes. 12 people perished in that fire, including 8 children. One of the worst jobs in my career.

I was actually part of the 'experiment' for testing voices on fire alarms. Can't remember how I got involved but basically I had to set off a dummy alarm( a sound that was pre recorded and sent to me) a certain distance from DC sleeping in their beds.

Neither child stirred in the slightest -very worryingly.
A few nights later I had to do the same thing, but with a pre recorded female voice. It did make the children stir but I was shocked how little effect it had.
Our fire alarms are all hard wired and very sensitive. Thankfully

Absolutely test your smoke alarms weekly. Good idea to vacuum them too.

Do you all have a time change in spring/fall? We do here, I'm not sure about you. But anyway, a good guideline is to change the batteries when the time changes.

I check them every week, having a fire in the home has always terrified me.

It's not just about testing the alarms to ensure the batteries are still functioning either.
Many battery powered smoke alarms only have a lifespan of 8 - 10 years then the whole unit needs replaced.
Pushing the test button, just tells you that the battery is still working but won't tell you that the sensor inside the unit is no longer active.

We have interconnected smoke and CO2 alarms that link to the fire brigade and police. I live in the US and know far too many people who have lost their homes to fire (seeing as they’re made out of little more than cardboard) so we absolutely have a full and well practiced fire plan.

I thought the smoke detectors beep until you replace the battery. I just replaced a beeping one in my guest house (where I have tenants). And as others have said. You need to replace the whole unit every 8-10 years.

Mine are checked but I do need to go over a fire safety plan with my DC so thanks for the reminder.

Though my big worry is that neither my DH or either DS hears the alarm. It’s gone off a few times (think dust got into it or something) and I was the only one to wake. I was up and across the room before I’d properly woken while they all snored on.

Bump

we are all adults on here.We don't need nannying, OP

My (usually crap) housing association has just installed a combination heat and smoke alarm system in my place. I live in a converted property with a downstairs neighbour, and it's all wired up and connected so if there is a fire in one of the flats, then all the alarms go off. I'm quite impressed by it! We are alarmed up to the hilt now as they have put detectors in every room. We also have an escape plan. I think I know the story you're talking about, very sad. As a pp said, insurance is a must too. It's so affordable and I struggle to understand why anyone doesn't have it. Even when I was a struggling single mum I still prioritised paying that few pounds a month for the peace of mind.