Have you got smoke detectors fitted in your home?

[feelingold]

If not then please get some asap.

My dh is a firefighter and he has been out yet again in the middle of the night to a house which was on fire and they did not have smoke detectors fitted!! Luckily for them someone was on their way home from the pub (at 3.30am?) and spotted the smoke and flames and alerted the couple who were fast asleep in bed although the fire was in the roof just above their bedroom. If this bloke had not seen this they could have died.

Luckily most of the fires they go to, they do have detectors fitted and they all get out ok, but there are still a lot of people who have not (or they do not have batteries in them).
PLEASE, PLEASE make sure you have them and they work.

Eeeek !

Yes, we do have them, in a modern house where they're linked up to the mains so we'll never forget to replace the batteries.

They're so cheap to buy now, there's just no excuse.

Wow, they were lucky.

We now have smoke dectetors fitted with the burgler alarm but in our old house we didn't have them until I had dd.

The HV said that the fire service would come out and fit them for free and they did.
A lovely young fireman came round one afternoon and put a couple in for us.

That was a good day

Scary stuff! yes we have 2, one in th hall and one on the landing upstairs. I deliberately don't clean my cooker so whenever I cook sausages the one downstairs goes off and I know it's still working!!

Yes we do cos I insisted. Must check the batteries tho tonight. thanks for the reminder.

If you do not have them and would struggle to put some up, then yes a nice firefighter will come and put some up for free.

Glad everyone so far has them, we can sleep easy in our beds,but it's just as important to make sure the batteries still work.

By the way, cos i sleep in the nude i always keep my dressing gown next to the bed just in case they go off in night, wouldn't want dh's collegues to see me naked

We do have smoke alarms - 2 in the apartment. They are linked up to the mains. And I do try and remember to check they are working every so often too. Apartment complex also has smoke/heat detectors in the hall ways and stair wells too.

feelingold- my dh is a firefighter too . Whenever we go away the first thing he does is check the escape route. And we had to use it once at about 3 in the morning, midwinter and after far too much booze!! Luckily it was a false alarm.

Get your smoke alarms fitted and if they run on batteries - check them!

Yes. This is a rental flat licensed as HMO (houses in mulitiple occupancy) so has 2 fire detectors (they work!) and fire doors on both kitchen and living room as well as metal front door.

excellent thread!
so pleased this latest instance turned out ok.

I have always had the battery ones, but recently got an security system with fire detector fitted (so even if a fire starts when I'm hundreds of miles away, the emergencies services will be called asap.

In the last week I've been to 2 friends houses (one elderly) and fitted a detector up for them - I didn't ask them I just told them I was doing it! lol - I'm so bossy

Can I ask a question?

What about escape ladders/harnesses? I always worry about how we'd all get out if there was a fire but don't know if the fire-brigade reccomend them.

(we have fire alarms, yes, including the oh so annoying fire angel)

i cant sleep without checking my smoke alarms everynight. and i dont sleep anywhere that hasnt got them either. probably over paranoid but cant help it iykwim

merglemergle - fire angel is that the light socket one? Ours are those and I set the landing one off at least 4 times a day!

yes, I have a smoke detector in the flat...and it's so oversensitive that it goes off if you leave the oven door open for more than 5 seconds. It will even go off if I have a pot boiling on the stove for any length of time. It is a complete pain, and I have seriously considered disconnecting it, but have refrained as I know it's there for a very good reason.

Isn't it true that some insurance companies will dispute a fire related claim if there are no smoke detectors, or if they've been disconnected?

yes
our local fireservice came round and fitted them for free they also gave lots of good advice too-eg-if you need to break a window dont hit it in middle ,break it at the bottom corner so the glass falls down and then cover broken glass with sheet/rug. very useful lifesaving info...prob not something youd realize during an emergency

Yes - and the damn things go off very time we open the oven door, so we do know that they're still working!

Although when someone broke into and set fire to our garage (attached to the house) last year it wasn't the smoke alarms which went off, but the power lost warning on the burglar alarm system when the main fuse box went into meltdown. Fortunately it was August so not too cold as we did have to do the out in the street in the middle of the night in dressing gowns thing.

merglemergle - if you contact your local fire station and ask for the fire safety officer they will give you advice about working out a fire plan and once you have done this go through it with your kids once they are old enough eg what to do if they hear the smoke alarm go off in the night, what to do if they can not use the stairs to exit etc. My kids know exactly what to do and they can often be heard briefing adults on what to do in such emergencies.

Good point, If there is a fire in your home it would be very scary, smoke can be very disorientating, so if everyone including toddlers have some idea of what to do or where to be it can only help.It's a good idea to let little ones have a practice run now and again, set off your smoke alarm and practice your emergency plan, that way you will know exactly what to do.

Lunarsea - ditto! Ours drives us mad! Especially when it goes off and the kids are in bed!