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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

More specifically, could you get everyone out of the house, blindfolded, in under a minute?

176 replies

Nimbostratus100 · 01/03/2023 07:17

Following on from the emergency thread... (yes I have let the police in without the washing up being done in the past - no - no one cared...)

If your house was filled with smoke, and you couldn't see or breathe in - could you get out?

This mostly means, can you put your hand on the door or window key right now, with your eyes closed, and does everyone know where to meet up?

( lives have been lost when everyone is safely out, but someone is missing and a relative returns to a burning building to look for them, not knowing they were already safe)

I think this is important - if you have to get out of the house blind, before you next breathe in - do you have an emergency key in a fixed place you can put your hand straight on now without thinking?

OP posts:
Hobbesmanc · 01/03/2023 08:23

We have internal locks on the two doors that open off the hallway. So if we're broken into downstairs anyone trying to get upstairs would be really slowed down. Also would hopefully give us time to get out although I worry about smoke. We never lock the mortise on the front door when we're in so it's just the Yale and chain to navigate

I fret about the cats though. The spare bedroom doors are always closed to stop them sleeping on the guest beds. So I hope they'd follow us out of the front door

Worse case scenario our house is a period cottage so the drop from the bedroom window to the garden isn't too daunting for human or feline.

PuttingDownRoots · 01/03/2023 08:26

My Cubs had a visit from the Fire Service last night.

Their instructions for the children.

  • stay on their room with door shut
  • sit on the floor in clear sight of door
  • shout "mum/dad, fire, help"

Parents to then retrieve the children and take them outside by quickest route.

Leave pets... dogs and cats will naturally make their own way out. Firefighters will retrieve small animals if safe.

GaslitlikeaVictorianparlour · 01/03/2023 08:27

DDad was a fireman so yes I can. I have 3 escape routes and me and the DC can do them with our eyes shut.
DDad's top tips:
Don't evacuate across a room, always make your way round the outside with your hand on the wall so you don't get lost.
Use the back of your hand/fingers to touch anything.
Count the doors and stairs on your route and memorise them so you know where you are and how much further you have to go.

Maybebabyno2 · 01/03/2023 08:29

I could get everyone out however, me and dp would have to get everyone as they are all too little. Which does mean going upstairs and then back down. I reckon we could do that, blindfolded, in under a minute but there is a higher risk I guess.

MintJulia · 01/03/2023 08:30

Yes.

My dm always used to rehearse with us, when we were little, what to do if there was ever smoke or fire in the house.

I've done the same with DS since he was about 4.

The6thQueen · 01/03/2023 08:31

@Holdmypint it will depend on the Force and how busy they are (cutbacks haven’t helped!). They’re called safe and well checks, West Midlands Fire Service do them.
If you contact your local community fire station they will be able to tell you.

RufustheSpeculatingreindeer · 01/03/2023 08:31

All the keys are left in locks apart from the front door

there are two external doors upstairs with a one storey drop if it was night and the floors are an issue

my children are adults and i have told them but i will remind them

The6thQueen · 01/03/2023 08:32

Also, with regard to keys, they don’t have to be fully inserted into the lock. We leave ours in the door, but pull them back about half way, can still open from the outside, but easy to open from inside in an emergency

Wallywobbles · 01/03/2023 08:34

Had quite a big row with DH about leaving the key in the door.

Arthurflecksfacepaint · 01/03/2023 08:34

Does anyone know if the fire service still do home safety visits - I am sure they used to.

Yes they do.

We had them round when we moved into our house last year and they fitted two smoke alarms for us as the ones that were already here were old.

TickledCrimson · 01/03/2023 08:35

Probably as we had a house fire when I was a kid. I’m more worried about the car falling into water and not being able to get out tbh. For that reason, we carry two hammers and two seatbelt cutters in the car at all times to break the window and cut our seatbelts in an emergency. Only about £8 from Amazon but gives me great peace of mind as being trapped in a sinking car gives me the heebie jeebies 😬 😬

Wallywobbles · 01/03/2023 08:35

Ive had 2 big fires. The cats always got themselves out.

Arthurflecksfacepaint · 01/03/2023 08:35

We are west midland too - Info about the fire saftey visits is on the website.

TickledCrimson · 01/03/2023 08:37

Ludo19 · 01/03/2023 07:27

Well I'll just burn because I'm not leaving my cats.

Well that’s just plain stupid.

maddening · 01/03/2023 08:37

We have keys in back door locks but the front door doesn't need a key from the inside.

Upstairs window locks don't need keys.

Ds bedroom window is over a bay window so he can go out that way.

I could get to ds room blindfolded.

I could get to front door blindfolded.

1DoesNotSimplyWalkIntoMordor · 01/03/2023 08:39

We leave a key in the front door (no letterbox) but it is not pushed all the way into the lock so the door can be unlocked from the outside. Everyone knows what to do if necessary according to where they are in the house at the time.

I worked in a fire brigade many years ago and remember conversations about some of the shouts that the crews attended. Some were horrific.

As a civvy I still had to attend all the relevant fire training sessions and the videos remain etched in my memory particularly the ones about the flashover point of a fire and the one about chip pan fires.
We have fire blankets and extinguishers (must remember to get the extinguishers checked)

KilljoysMakeSomeNoise · 01/03/2023 08:41

There are keys in both the front and back doors. One bedroom is also over the porch roof, though I'm not sure how much weight it can take, but it's a risk I'd be willing to take.

As much as I love my cat I would never ever put myself at risk to save him. He'd probably run out as soon as a door is opened, it's what he normally does anyway.

Arthurflecksfacepaint · 01/03/2023 08:42

We also have flat roofs below the two main bedroom windows that make me feel a lot safer. Easy to get out the widow onto one and fairy east to drop down from.

Adult ds is on the ground floor with big window to the front and the back door just outside his bedroom door.

RufustheSpeculatingreindeer · 01/03/2023 08:43

All the children have locks on their bedroom doors

ds2 who still lives here definitely doesn’t lock his at night, I don’t think the others do when they stay here but I’ll check with them

excellent thread, even though ive always had fire ‘escapes’ planned its reminding me to keep everyone else reminded

GoodChat · 01/03/2023 08:47

TickledCrimson · 01/03/2023 08:35

Probably as we had a house fire when I was a kid. I’m more worried about the car falling into water and not being able to get out tbh. For that reason, we carry two hammers and two seatbelt cutters in the car at all times to break the window and cut our seatbelts in an emergency. Only about £8 from Amazon but gives me great peace of mind as being trapped in a sinking car gives me the heebie jeebies 😬 😬

The spikes in your headrest will smash your windows. More sensible than driving around with hammers in your car.

McAvennie · 01/03/2023 08:50

Is it naive then to think that the smoke alarms would wake us up and give us time to get out before we were blinded by thick smoke?

Think I need to work on a plan with DC.

YourUserNameMustBeAtLeast3Characters · 01/03/2023 08:51

I remember when the DC were babies agreeing with DH who’d grab which one. Now they’re older it’s easier. Don’t need a key to open any of the doors.

I love my cats dearly but I’m sorry I’d leave them, they’re in the kitchen at night which is the most likely place for a fire to start. We watched the Bradford football fire in our work fire training, 4 minutes I think it was.

my glasses and my kids, that’s all.

tabulahrasa · 01/03/2023 08:51

What happens after the minute? Am I dead?

I couldn’t get out of my house in a minute without a blindfold on 😐

SproutingAbout · 01/03/2023 08:55

We're in a third floor flat with no fire escape. I could get to our own front door blindfolded but if there was a fire in any of the other flats it wouldn't be much help. It's a 30ft drop into concrete out of our windows even if they opened wide enough to be able to get out of them, which they don't.

It scares the shit out of me if I'm honest.