Do you have a fire plan.

[CornishTiger]

Thinking about the absolutely awful news that has happened over the last few days it’s lead me to think about what we’d do in a fire.

We had discussed it when children were younger so we knew which of us would go to which bedroom and had a plan in mind.

We’ve moved since. Children have got older. We have just discussed it. Will make sure the children know what to do in event of a fire. Shout Fire rather than help. Keep low to ground etc.

Our smoke alarms actually sounded a couple of days ago and none of them had moved from rooms. Headphones on too! Activated I think by steam from bathroom.

It’s a scary thought but one we do need to consider. And check your smoke alarms. And any carbon monoxide detectors.

We have cats.
Not an option.

I have never slept with closed doors and do not plan to start now.

We also have a fire ladder, and when the kids were small we had a plan about who would get which child, and options for escape.

Depressingly enough, when we lived in a council flat, they sent round the Fire Service and their conclusion was if we were in one of the bedrooms, I'd have to break the opening restricted window, throw the children out of it and hope that social services would place them with a nice family (if there was somebody there to catch them before they hit the concrete).

For the other rooms, the assessment was (considering that the roofspace was shared and there was an open vent to the roofspace in the hallway) unless we could get to the front door and the fire hadn't spread to the bit above the stairwell, we were fucked.

Current plan is alarms go off, leave by the front door or the front bedroom window (which does actually open enough for an adult to get out through). It's only slightly higher a drop onto solid bricks rather than concrete, so should get away with just a couple of broken legs.

DH has just reminded me we have wheelie bins stored out the front which could be used to access the flat roof outside DDs bedroom if one couldn't jump up (but he thinks even I could - the ground is high there). Also plenty of loose bricks (but will order a window smashing device just in case).

So just need to order an escape ladder for our room (though could jump from window and probably not break anything as it's not a true first floor and would chuck loads of clothes, duvet etc onto gravel first). Also talk to DD about checking if the door handle is hot, blocking the gap, shouting fire, not hiding and staying low.

I think from becoming aware of an issue I could be outside her window in less than 2 minutes.

Makes me feel sick to think about it and have been thinking about the poor victims all afternoon since I saw the news headline.

Sensible ideas here which I was going to post. So sad to read about all the recent house fires so I hope this thread makes people think.

Yes we do. We also have fire extinguishers upstairs and downstairs.

That's shocking and definitely no advice I have ever given. What area was that?
We always use protect in place unless the fire is in your room. That must have been worst case scenario....

Years and years ago we had a fire safety visit from the local fire service. He asked me what I would do if I woke in the night and smoke was everywhere. I said get down on the ground and crawl away from the fire. He told me that is only what happens in films. In reality you are quickly overcome by smoke. His advice was get into one room/stay in the room, shut the door and put a towel or blanket along the bottom of the door. Call the fire brigade and await rescue. This was when I was living in London and the average response time was something like 7 mins. The gist from him seemed to be done attempt to escapee if there is black smoke everywhere, you won’t make it. Retreat, shut the door and wait for help. I’d be interested if the advice has changed.

I heard that children are more likely to wake up to a spoken voice rather than an alarm, in the night. We have an alarm that says " this is a fire alarm"

No change as far as I know, if its more dangerous to leave then you protect in place till we get to you.
Bit political, but i would be interested to see if there have been any loss of fire engines in these areas as there has been across all services.
I sincerely hope not.

Duplicate post

In a two storey house
you get OUT
even if it means breaking a limb

The whole stay in place stuff
is for taller buildings

Not if your exit is blocked by fire or smoke....

My house is “ upside down “ people think it’s weird but I find it weirdly reassuring.

all bedrooms apart from the spare room are downstairs.
we have side extinguishers and a domestic sprinkler system.
all doors are shut at bed time as have monitors in kids rooms.

Thank you for this post. At the moment the main exit route (assuming the stairs are a no go) is via the kids room window, which opens onto a flat roof and then doable to get down into the back garden. Back up is via our bedroom at the front which isn’t great but we could get onto the car roof between us and pass the kids. But DD is due to go up into the attic in the new year (she’s needing her own space now, and the only other spare room is 6ftx6ft). There’s a gable so we could get her but we would need her to know that she has to open the window to be ready for us to get her. We will have this conversation with her before she moves into her new room. I too felt sick when I saw today’s news.

YANBU. My dm used to rehearse us escaping if there was a fire and the staircase was impassable.

I've done the same with my ds17. The only issue is he sleeps like the dead, so the chance a smoke alarm will wake him up is tiny. I'll have to go and drag him out.

If you are in an upstairs bedroom
and can smash a window to get into the garden / drveway
you are away from the fire.

Staying in the building that is burning CANNOT be the better option

Advice is don’t tackle the fire, just get everyone out.

Similarly staying in hotels - I always have a plan of routes I will go.
I do feel more vulnerable in hotels if there are smokers potentially putting others at risk.
(Had to evacuate from Premier Inn Gatwick North, at speed down 20 flights of steps from the 10th floor / me with metal knee / partner with a defibrilator pacemaker and angina). We suspect that was a smoker.

At home - nothing charging overnight or when I’m not in the room to monitor.
Dishwasher the same
No tumble dryer for the same reason.

And always plan to evacuate to an upwind safe position.

I would hope the fire service would be there quick enough with a ladder to save you jumping. But in this day and age.... we cant rely on that sadly
Closing doors and putting a break below the door can buy time
I worked in the control room for 10 years before being a firefighter, luckily we didnt have many people having to jump with fire survival guidance to keep them safe.
Being on the end of that phone was the worst calls of my life! At least as a firefighter you were actially there and able to do something.

I had a fire drill for my children when they were younger.
I always check out fire escape routes when staying or visiting anywhere else.
Today I took granddaughter to the ballet and we were right at the back of the theatre squeezed in back row.
I made a mental escape strategy before the performance started!

That’s brilliant. I would definitely want the children involved so they knew what to do in case I was unconscious or similar.

Obviously this thread isn’t to speculate other what has happened in the two house fires this week but children have died in both.

Its shaken me up tbh. Just an average family home.

I think no more charging of devices overnight downstairs. I never leave tumble drier or dishwasher on overnight.

Going to talk to DH about kicking the cat out of lounge at night and have that door shut. The rest needs to be open because of the litter box. The children sleep with doors shut. We don’t because of that cat!

London. The block was a 1940s one where protect in place would not have worked, due to the shared roof with vents (and probably the chimneys, airing cupboards directly above one another and the gas pipes for all flats running straight up into the meter cupboards that backed directly onto the only spot possible for a cooker). A problem with the electrical supply might have been OK, as long as it didn't mean the single exit was blocked by the cupboard being on fire, as that was right beside it.

I was vaguely impressed with seeing protect in place working on a more modern block (prior to cladding being added to it) down the road, as everybody else had been fine whilst one flat was gutted.

I think the fire enforcement team would have liked a look at that! There are so many
policies about fire safety in residential properties!