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.

So the bedroom door is open, you plan to search for pets, you think you’ll have 20 seconds and the ability to assemble a ladder and get out. All after you’ve finally woken up in smoke and learned there is a fire?

Completely unrealistic. People need to stop faffing with ropes and ladders and go check their smoke alarms and unplug things overnight.

Completely unrealistic. People need to stop faffing with ropes and ladders and go check their smoke alarms and unplug things overnight.

Exactly this. I’ve done fire training in the fire service ‘smoke house’. It really hit home that you won’t necessarily be able to see a thing. Also, as part of the exercise, they put teddies under the beds for us to find - as often, that’s where children will hide in a fire.

Brutally, if a fire was so hot that it could melt metal, you're not going to be around to worry about it by that point.

We have a plan. DD's bedroom is on the ground floor so if she can't go out of her room to go out the front door she climbs out of her window. Upstairs we have a fire ladder on the wall outside DS's bedroom window so if we are upstairs then we go to DS's room across the hall, and then we all go out his window and down the ladder.

We have fire extinguishers on every floor plus fire blanket in the kitchen. We live in a wooden house and have to do a fire safety check every year for the fire service and sometimes we get an inspection. Fire extinguishers are on the required list.

We had a plan when DS was little as we both worked in and around the fire service and so were worried about the risks. Particularly with DS not getting out without the cats (if he was alone) as he was incredibly attached to them. But we did a lot of work to reassure him that cats are resourceful and will get out of you leave the front door ajar.

I’ve also listened to a fire control call during a house fire and it was awful (despite me knowing it had a happy ending). Credit to fire control for being able to do that - it’s not something I could do as a job.

On attendance times though - I think a pp said 6 minutes. West Mids fire is the fastest in England at an average 5 minutes - but they have a small densely populated area. Even I London the fire attendance times are I think 8 mins for the first appliance and 10 for the second. And in rural areas it could be 20 minutes. So definitely worth thinking about your escape plan.

Another consideration for those planning on jumping out the window onto a flat roof - this is incredibly dangerous if you don't know where the fire is. If the fire is in the room below the flat roof then the structure could be compromised and won't take your weight.

As said earlier by firefighters, if you can't get out then phone 999 and tell them what room you are in and the location of that room in your house. They will give you fire survival guidance and direct the oncoming firefighters to your location.

Quite, could literally be jumping into the fire.

The best thing anyone can do is get decent alarms and plenty of them, unplug chargers etc, don’t use appliances overnight, don’t smoke, don’t use the hob as a surface, close doors, be aware of open fires, log burners, storing logs close to said burners and not cluttering the area around fires with books, toys etc.

While it's absolutely sensible to have fire precautions like alarms and a plan, I think it's also important to put it into context.

In 2024 178 people a year died in house fires in the UK. 1,633 people died in road accidents in 2024.

The most common cause of fires overall is cooking appliances (44pc) and the most common time for fires is between 6pm and 8pm, with peaks in June and December. Gas hobs are highest risk (obviously there is a flame)

63pc of fires are caused by human factors (mostly cooking, but also things like bonfires out of control, unsafe storage of combustible materials)

The most common cause of death from fires (as opposed to non fatal fires) is cigarettes.

Electrical faults are counted as a non-human factor. About 28 deaths a year from fire are caused by this compared to 78 from smoking

UK house fire statistics | How many house fires per year? https://www.morganclark.co.uk/about-us/blog/uk-house-fire-statistics/

1.Have alarms and test they work.
2.Don't smoke or let people smoke in your house.
3.Have an escape plan.

1. Don't get distracted when cooking especially on gas hobs. Consider switch to electric hob next time you renovate.
2. Worry more about how you escape a car that might be on fire since that is a higher risk (window hammer and seatbelt cutter)

Honestly I needed to read this, because I am worrying about it. And yes I did need perspective.

I have realised though that I dont have enough smoke heat/ alarms ( curently only one smoke alarm on upstairs landing ceiling) and this thread has prompted me to sort that out. It has also prompted me to show the children what to do in a fire ( I doubt my 4 year old would manage though)

Obviously it is good to get perspective and the risks are generally low but people like myself often dont give this kind of thing much if any thought and nobody would trade places with that poor man. So this thread is good in that it has highlighted for some people ( like me!) what they could do to do better.

Wow despite having a Firesafe check done for my elderly parent I’ve learned a lot on here too & if am honest have thought that bcos my home is relatively small it will be a no brainer what to do & get out of!!Obvs got all the basics etc alarms, detectors etc. No safety windows however in the main bedroom & all new fire safe windows are at the back - had thought this would be the route out & onto flat roof. But they’re all above the kitchen & so any flat roof structure could be compromised by a fire if that’s the most likely place for one to happen in.

So thought window hammers would be my next best option for front bedrooms - but a quick look at them online all seem to be designed mainly for car windows - are these even double glazed?? I’ve looked for demo videos of how to use for domestic double glazed sealed units & coming up with nothing. Don’t want to put faith in something that’s not going to work.

PP’s saying can retrofit wide opening fire safe windows into existing pvcu ones?? Is this the case? Mine open out but are restricted & can only open so far so cldnt get out at present.

I see that you’re supposed to smash any windows in the corners as the weakest point etc but looking online this seems to be true for car windows but not so much double glazed domestic ones??

@Firefightress1any advice or suggestions on this?

Also thanks to @CornishTigerfor starting this thread. Think it’s been really helpful - as so easy to forget about all of this - esp when our most likely focus is preventing pple from getting in & making our houses impossible to break into!

Such awful tragedies recently.

Our house has 3 floors. We have smoke alarms installed and linked in every room in the house. When it detects fire, it will sound the alarm and also tell you which room the fire is in.

I never leave tumble driers, dishwashers etc on overnight and personally do not charge anything either, but persuading my teen children and DH to be as safety conscious is not easy…

THIS

I have a woodburner, not an open fire.
I have an induction hob.
Nobody smokes indoors.
All doors are open at night but there are smoke detectors on the landing and hall.
My front door is old so can always be opened from the inside.
Every upstairs room has a fully opening window.

Cars are much more risky than houses.

Thank you for this. I started reading this morning, and had the conversation with my dc earlier. As dc do, they asked questions about why we were talking about it. I did tell them but got quite upset as they asked who had died(we were in the car so they didnt realise)

I had a HUGE fear of housefires as a child and feel reading this thread had brought it back.

That said, i am pleased i have read it, and have a plan in place. I will get more alarms

.my house is old and has old wooden doors that wouldnt last 2 minutes. Also, my bedroom window is definitely not escapable so will get a window hammer.

Some fire services you contact via their website or main switchboard, in my county the stations don’t have individual phone numbers. If you have children then you can get a free fire home safety visit (as well as vulnerable, elderly, disabled etc). Make sure you have a fire plan depending on where you are in the house - if you’re upstairs and the fire was downstairs for example and you can’t get down.
dont use fake chargers eg off amazon/ eBay. Don’t charge things right by the stairs or front door eg electric scooter. Make sure kids aren’t upstairs with headphones on and not hearing the smoke alarm!!!!!
there will be lots of info on your county fire service website.

Deaths may be low, but there are 34,000 house fires a year, one every 15 mins!!! So chances of dying are low, but smoke damage, water damage and smoke inhalation can be extremely distressing.

Some fires are arson. People pour accelerant through the letter box.

Just keep your stairs clear, doors shut, unplug chargers, don't daisy chain extension leads and have masses of smoke alarms and you should be fine.

This is a good point. Luckily I have two windows into my kitchen (flat roof below DDs bedroom) with only light privacy blinds, so would be able to see if that's where the fire is? However this thread has made me think seriously about relocating her bedroom to one of the spare rooms because it's presently above the kitchen, which seems to be the most dangerous location. However the other spare rooms are much more difficult to escape from. Difficult.

Have just bought some glass hammers - can they be used on double glazing? I’m guessing they would work, not v easy to test out myself 😂 but thanks again for this thread, has made so many of us think!

Dhs best friend is a fireman so my Dc since very young have had many a chat with him about what they would do, and he's explicitly told them exactly what they should do and crawled about the rooms showing them . He actually managed to convince one of my dds to jump out the upstairs window to him down below to prove a point that she would be OK.

They worry about the pets, I'm always told them not to worry, just get out and I'll sort that, in reality, I'm not sure I could but we live in a small town and quite a few of the firemen have been in our house so would know where to go, who's rooms who's, where the dogs bed, or the lizards tank (dhs pal looks after her when we're on holiday so knows we're she usually likes to hide, he would find her if on duty) or where the cat is likely to be.

You’re assuming the local firefighters (there’s women too) would be the ones attending. It could be a crew from the next town. The fire service is like the police- affected by cuts.

I have thought a lot about this poor family and about our own safety at home.

I hadn't thought about the risk with a flat roof so thank you to the PP who mentioned that.

We also have safety catches on the upstairs windows but now I'm worried they could potentially do more harm than good as in event of a fire the DC wouldn't be able to get window open enough to climb out so I'm thinking maybe they should go?

This is the question I’m asking - everything online suggests only for car windows not double glazed sealed units??

Lol you're assuming I don't know where I live? It's our men and Sophie (I take your point on that) the only female firefighter or fuck all here.

How old are your children? Because I think you need to balance risks - the safety catches are for a different risk than fire. A quick google tells me that 4,000 children a year in the UK are injured falling from windows. Thankfully almost none die, but almost no children die in house fires.

We always have a plan. As children my dad used to do fire drills in the house and we all had to show how we planned our safe escape from wherever we were at the time. I didn’t know any other kids who did this at home though!