Fire Safety: To tell parents of small children to keep a duvet cover in the bedroom

[WorldLeaderPretend]

When my kids were small, I kept a spare duvet cover under the bed in each bedroom. Before I had children, a house 3 doors down lost 2 of their 3 children in a house fire. Parent got into the room but couldn't get the kids out. This haunted me and I decided I could lower a baby or toddler out of a first floor window inside an empty duvet cover. Even if it didn't go right to the ground, it would hugely reduce the distance they would be falling from. I kept one in every child's room until the youngest was 5 or so. Even today we have an agreed escape plan for a fire (and ladders stored on the side of the house for easy access).

Other top tips include using a towel on the pillow for a vomiting child - you just change the towel rather than having to keep changing sheets and pillowcases.

Oh and after a bad dream, you shake the nasty dream off the pillow onto the floor and turn it over to the nice dream on the other side of the pillow. I still do this now I am in my 50s!

For safety or ease, what do you do? Any brilliant ideas?

Crikey I really couldn’t be doing with planning for extreme and v unlikely situations like a house fire. That’s what smoke alarms are for! I’d find that kind of planning stressful.

But a v good tip I do have is take talc to the beach. Wait til the sand dries on the kid’s legs, cover in talc and it brushes right off! No fannying on with those annoying taps that are pointless because the kids just stick their feet back in the washed off sand. I go back to the car and make them sit with their legs sticking out and do it.

Not a bad idea but you'd be better off just popping the baby in the duvet cover that's on the bed...as hopefully the padding of the duvet would offer some protection from hitting the ground?

Op would you belive this played on my mind last week about how i need to have a fire escape plan.
I need to change our DSs window as its one that only opens at the top.
I have just bought little fire extinguishers for the bedrooms as well. So thanks for the tip.

I know you mean well but considering most people die of smoke inhalation rather than an inability to get out, it’s a really quite offensive. You clearly haven’t lowered a child down in a duvet cover when you’re in a panic; and most parents wouldn’t. They’d either freeze in panic or try to throw their kids out of windows like my neighbour did.

@RunLolaRun102 you find it offensive?!
dear me. Why don’t you share your tips to help minimise dangers of smoke inhalation? That would be more helpful then getting offended because someone doesn’t understand the risks of a fire accurately

It’s not something I would do or use. I imagine if they couldn’t get the kids out it was more to do with the window not opening properly etc.
I think reducing the risks would be better, not smoking, hard wired alarm etc.

It makes sense to have a fire plan when you have young children in the home.. Windows that open outwards and will fit a person through. No garden implements underneath a window you may need to jump from. Who is responsible for each child. Photos stored by the front door. That kind of thing. It doesn't need to be miserable. Just sensible.

Posts like this trigger my anxiety so badly. I honestly thought it was going to be a funny thread about not sharing your duvet when they climb into your bed at 3am

Its very sad that your neighbours died and I actually think it’s a good idea to have a plan. We have a bay window on the ground floor only at the front and a conservatory at the back so can actually climb out of a window and get down a floor both sides of the house.

I always have an emergency bag ready to go with toiletries and several pairs of cheap leggings, tshirts and under wear and some cash.

When I was pregnant with DD I had an emergency hospital stay and didn't have anyone to get these things for me so now I keep one packed ready to grab.

Separately, I have a locked cash box that DD knows where it is with passports, and other important docs that is to be grabbed if possible to safely do so in case of emergency.

We used to do fire drills when I was a child. My Dad was in the Army and was really hot on this, also perfecting bedding corners and bulling our school Mary Janes.
We used route A (out the landing window onto the garage flat roof and drop to ground hanging from fingertips) or route B crawl across the landing and slide down the stairs. This was early 70s, mad times.

I think it’s good to think about things and try to formulate a plan. It helps people deal with anxiety. A friend had a fat fire when she was cooking dinner and sprayed it with a fire extinguisher, which was not a good thing to do as the hot fat exploded all over her and she was left with terrible burns. People just don’t think when they panic. Of course, she should have wet a tea towel, wrung it out and placed it over the pan.

I live in a country that has a lot of earthquakes, so I have extra supplies for in case we lose power, water, etc. I have secured the furniture to the walls. The kids get earthquake training at school. It might not be perfect, but at least it’s something.

You rush in and bundle a young child or baby into a spare duvet cover which I imagine would take a few mi utes especially if the slumbering child was heavy or a dead weight if sleepy.

You then are overcome with smoke inhalation and pass out.

Firemen rush in and drag you out but don’t spot kid hidden in the duvet.

I don’t think it’s a good idea at all.

Studies have found that children don't tend to wake up to smoke alarms. So if the fire is near their rooms it could be well and truly going by the time it gets to an adult's room.

The Fire service recommended having an escape plan for your home https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety/the-home/escape-plan/escape-plan-houses-and-converted-flats/
Yes of course the main protection is fire precautions like taking care with candles etc and having working smoke alarms. But you should still have a plan for what to do if a fire still happens. House fires do happen.

I can remember reading an article that children wake to their mothers voice rather than a high pitched alarm. You can buy alarms and record your message on them.

Agreed. There are enough things to be anxious about without being made to worry about house fires too

To be fair though @CallieQ everyone should have an escape plan, so it does no harm to remind people of that or to remind them to review it every now and then.

You are more likely to suffer from flooding than a house fire

A smoke and CO2 detector should be in the kitchen, living room, and each bedroom. These will detect hazardous conditions early. Keep CO2 and Halcon extinguishers in the house, and make sure everyone knows how to use them properly.

Meaning what?

That no-one should have a fire escape plan?

It'll be a damned sight more stressful if your smoke alarm goes off at 2:00 a.m. and you have absolutely no idea what to do because you've never given it a second's thought.

Everyone should have a household fire escape plan. Plan A in case the fire starts in the kitchen and Plan B/C/whatever in the unlikely event that a fire starts somewhere else. We have fire extinguishers on all three floors of our house, as well as folded ladders that could get us out of the upstairs bedrooms.

And you need to practice! It's a horrible thought but you all need to know the plan so it kicks in automatically. No one is thinking straight when they're risen from sleep in such a manner - it has to be autopilot.

It doesn't matter how unlikely a fire is. Everyone should have an escape plan. People can argue about the likelihood of things all they want but, in the end, we all have house insurance for these unlikely situations. What's the point in having the money side of things covered, but not giving a single thought to the human life side of it?

Our local fire station has a regular information slot at my son's primary school where they emphasise the importance of this and send the children home with loads of tips and advice. Personally, I take it very seriously. It should actually help with anxiety rather than exacerbate it. I suffer from anxiety myself.