Fire!!

[BlackeyedSusan]

Just had to evacuate as another flat left a pan on the stove to catch fire.

We have coats by the door to grab to stand outside in. And lots of keep warm stuff in the car and garage.

What would you prepare in case of fire to get out quick?

Keep warm stuff in the car is a great idea. I should put some drinking water in the car too.

I keep the first aid kit by the front door in case we are running in or out past it.

Are you back inside yet?

Yes, back inside only out for about 15 minutes.

We may not have remembered to socially distance though. Oops.

Practise needed I think because some things just go straight out of your head.

I am contemplating where to keep the car keys. Usually by the door. There is a spare garage key with a neighbour. May install a safebox in the garage for the spare car key. Difficult to know what is best. Spare kids photos already at mums house. E-mailed other important ones. Wondering what to do about spare documents.

This happened to us once and because of this I always keep a bag next to my bed now with spare stuff for the small children depending on the season. Some bottles of water. Some snacks like cereal bars. Small first aid kit. Money. Bank cards. Keys. Wipes. Tissues. Little flash drive thing with copies of important documents saved on it. Charged power bank with cable.

The night it happened to us it was 3am. My dad was in hospital so we couldn't go to his house, and we had nowhere to go but sit in the car outside, in our pyjamas, with nothing because we literally woke up to the very strong smell of burning, got up to see what it was saw blue flashing lights, looked out saw two big fire engines stop outside then the next thing a fireman was at the door telling us to get out of the building. It all happened so fast we didn't have time to do anything. Our smallest child was just a baby and I remember her crying for milk as well. From that moment on I thought why didn't you have a bag ready to go. So that's what I did after that, and have kept it ever since, just update it according to season and age of children, change the water over and food after a while.

This is kind of the bag I grab to take anywhere now if I'm going with my children which 99% of the time I am! But it always comes in handy, there's always something in it that I need or use.

flash drive, doh. that's what i need to do. I have one with the computer stuff on, so need to photograph the bank account details and put them on it as well.

definitely going to keep a bag near by now.

onto amazon first thing in the morning.

one thing, all the neighbours worked together.

Flash drive is another great idea. I have written down all the details of my DD’s medication and details of her medical team and my finances should anything happen to me. I can photograph this on to a flash drive too.

I have keys, coat, handbag and shoes by the door. Very disorganised with all paperwork, so no easy to grab documents, but my handbag would have driving licence.

I worry more about being trapped in than what we would need if leaving. Each window ledge has the window key, so we can escape that way. Kids are little and we still all sleep in the same room. There is a 5 litre bottle of water in the bedroom to damp down cloth to put around the door to reduce smoke coming in. The sheets etc are in a bedroom cupboard to tie together of we needed to lower down the kids or climb ourselves. Heavy bed to tie them to. Always lower yourself out of a window instead of jumping as it lessens the impact.

We bought a fire escape ladder that goes out the window - though to be honest, I'd imagine if it were the middle of the night and we were panicking, it'd be hard to use. We can't practice as there's a risk it would break windows in the flat beneath us (which wouldn't be a concern in the real deal).

Still, might be worth looking into rather than trying to rope sheets together?

This is a good thread as something most people don’t think about but is a very likely threat. Remember to test smoke detectors (and carbon monoxide detectors) on a regular basis. Fire blanket for kitchen. If you need to escape out of an 1st floor window, don’t jump. Lower yourself down by holding onto the window edge to get as close to the ground as possible. Throw out mattresses/bedding if you are in a bedroom tO cushion landing. Don’t have double glassed windows that do not open. These are now illegal to install but some older properties may still have them. Any one else got any ideas.

If you do have double glazed windows that don't open, you need to keep a glass breaking kit to hand. apparently you need something like a nail and hammer as hitting the windows with a large heavy object does not always break them.

we are on the second and third floors, hence we all bailed out the flats for a pan.