How do people not get out when there is a fire?

[rickman]

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If the fire's on the stairs, or bloking a door, then it would be very hard to get out.

Before we moved, we lived in a new house with 3 florrs. The windows only opened at the top, and I really did worry that if there was a fire, and we were upstairs, then we wouldn't stand a chance.

I have heard that if there is a fire at night, the house fills with smoke and even if you have lived in your house for years, people can become disorientated. Horrible thought isn't it?

I have an irrational fear about this and keep wondering whether to buy one of those collapsible ladders that you hang out of the upstairs windows .

I'd imagine most housefires start downstairs anyway, so by the time people realised what was going on it would be hard to get down and out. Heat and smoke rises so upstairs would be pretty intolerable before it starts to burn. I think smoke inhalation would knock you out pdq.

Sorry, not the most cheerful of comments.

I saw this on the news too The neighbours were urging the mother to jump (which she eventually did) and she was screaming that her baby was inside

I always wonder this too - wouldn't a smoke alarm go off pretty quick? Ours goes off if we use the bloomin' toaster!!

I always imagine if I was in the bedroom I'd just jump out of the window with the kids and take my chances. I can't imagine leaving them...but then I've no idea what it's like to be overcome with smoke so I guess there is no telling what you'd do. You just got to have at least one smoke alarm and check it regularly.

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here is the story if any one is interested

puff, I would say get that ladder, I wouldn't be even slightly embarassed about it. I've been on a few fire training courses, the toughest one when I was working as a physiotherapy aide, and by the end of it I was buying smoke alarms in job lots.

Yes, if you've got one....... but people don't, or they forget to check the batteries, or like my MIL have it sitting in the packet for 6 mths until they get around to putting it up. It's the plus side of council housing that we've got a mains operated fire alarm.

It doesn't take long though. Me and DH were staying round BFs flat a few years back (very much pre kids) and we were woken by her fire alarm. It's very disorientating, for a good while we thought it was a car alarm outside. It was only when we woke up fully (and BF came running out of her room saying Oh F**k it's a fre!) that we noticed the thick black smoke and flickering orange light. We were lucky the fire wasn't that big, an extension lead in the back room had caught fire. Her DP beat it out with a large teddy bear called George and then went back to bed whilst we sat around drinking brandy and freaked out But even that short exposure meant we were coughing up black stuff for a few weeks, and me and BF were constantly on our inhalers. It really doesn't take long.

good old george!

Many people never test their smoke alarms so the batteries run out, or don't get around to fitting them. Also the fire brigage has a campaign to get people to think about what would happen if there was a fire, and plan how to get out. As a kid I had a bedroom on the 5th floor, and I remember being drilled on what to do (wet towel around your head, and climb out of the window, along the balcony to the neighbours). Also how to ring the fire brigade, and what my address was etc. I don't remember it being scary. I think it is useful to check which windows you can break (ours were all glued up when we moved in), what you can climb down etc. Also who would get which child if they are in different rooms. Just like a fire dril at work really.

lots of people lock their doors at night and leave the key somewhere else, or pile the hall up with mountain bikes etc. If your windows don't open and your furniture is not fire safe you don't have much chance.

I went on a fire training course with work a few years ago where we had to find our way out of a smoke filled room. It is so disorientating. I think that these courses should be on the national curriculum.

So scary!
We don't have fire alarms but i am definitely going out to get some. There seems to be so much in the news lately about fires and people not getting out in time

Drilling what to do into children at a young age is a brilliant idea. Defo worthwhile

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That article has just sent shivers down my spine

Dh is a firefighter. In the main people who don't get out, don't have a smoke alarm or don't have batteries in them. The smoke will kill you before the fire.

Other things to remember are have the keys to your windows in places you can easily find them - not all in a drawer in the kitchen. And make a mental plan of what you would do in a fire especially at night when you are likely to be much less aware and less able to find your way around your home.

Rickman - if you are really worried call at your local station and they'll come round and give you some tips, and check that your smoke alarms are in the right position.

Smoke inhalation is the biggest killer.

We live in a 2nd floor flat w/no balcony so we'd be screwed.

Another thing - if you only have a cordless phone in the house beware - if the electricity goes during a fire you won't be able to use it.

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lol - serenity provided us with that lovely extra detail rickman. " Her DP beat it out with a large teddy bear called George "

My smoke alarms have batteries which emit a continuous warning noise when the battery needs changing.

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And you can be so disorientated at night anyway, without the smoke. When ds was a few weeks old and we were horribly sleep deprived, the upstairs landing smoke alarm went off in the night. Dh rushed out and hit it to make it stop. We stood on the landing waiting with baited breath. Neither child woke up. We heaved a sigh of relief and went back to bed. In the morning, we realised that neither of us had actually checked to see if there was a reason why the alarm had gone off - we were both so desperate that nothing should wake the baby up!

I have 4 smoke detecters(+2 carbon monoxide) and when I got new windows I was advised to have at least 1 tilt and turn, so dd2s room has one (with a key hung high out of her reach) which opens sort of above the extension roof.
DD1 was obsessed for a wnile about it so has been drilled.