Smoke alarms - who has them?

[TigerMoth1]

The recent smoke alarm ads on TV have really got to me.

After 8 years of having children in the house we still havn't got a working smoke alarm. I lie, we have bought one, but we have not put it up.

For years I have been assuming my husband will put one up, but I bet I could do it myself - I just havn't got round to it.

Am I alone in this? How many of us have working smoke alarms in our homes? Go on, make me feel guilty.

How about contacting the Fire Brigade and see what they suggest? I know their safety officers visit schools for talks - they must have some good ideas.

It is important children know what to do, but like you say, you don't want to give them nightmares!

We were at a fire demonstration at some companies open day and they had a little portacabin idea which we had to sit in and they filled it with artificial smoke.Myself and ds watched as the smoke fell behind furniture and ds could see how there was no smoke on the floor so it would be easier to see and be safer away from the smoke on the floor.This was done by our local fire brigade and now whenever we discuss what to do in a fire ds says "get down on the floor and crawl to mummies room" as he has seen it for himself.I know this all sounds a bit scary,i was a bit freaked out when i seen it myself but there is a fireman in with yous and you can get out at any time,there is no smell or anything and it really lets you see how fire works.Ask at your school or local station if they have anything like this.Incidentally my son was 5 and the other was 3 when we done this.

Thanks for your suggestions - I must be a bit thick, as I mentioned earlier, my uncle is a firefighter, and has twins aged 4 - he must surely have some ideas on what to do/say! I'll get in touch with him & pick his brain.

Guess what we'll be doing asap. What a big response - mumsnet can hold it's collective head up high, once Bloss and I have got our act together.

Thanks everyone!

My Dad was obsessed with us having fire drills etc when we were young as we lived in a two storey house with Mum & Dad downstsirs and three kids upstairs. My brother had to climb out of his window and down the trellis, my sister had to climb out her window and all the way around the house on the roof of the lower storey to climb down the same trellis. I had no roof to climb onto as my room overhung the back stairwell, so Dad made me a rope ladder to climb down. He made us go through the drill (and actually climb out etc) at least once every year!

I don't remember being scared of the thought of a fire, but being scared of heights, was terrified of the thought of climbing down the rope ladder! He persisted with this and I am sure that if we ever did have a fire that all three of us would have made it out with no problems!