Talk to More Th>n about fire safety in your home - £240 voucher to be won NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

More Th>n would like to find out what tips Mumsnetters have to improve fire safety in their homes.

Here’s what More Th>n have to say, "Our Helping Hands series is about providing little hints and tips that can make everyday life a little bit easier. But we also want to share advice that can help with more important matters, like Fire Safety. It's a situation we all hope never to find ourselves in, but it's important to have a plan in place should a fire break out in your home to keep you and your loved ones safe. If you have any other safety advice and ideas, we'd love to hear them."

To get some inspiration, watch the video below and share your own tips on this thread.

What do you think of the tips given in the video? Do you use any of these in your home already? Have you spoken to your DCs about fire safety in your home? What do you do in the way of fire safety? Do you have a fire blanket in your kitchen in case of emergencies? Or maybe you just make sure that you keep any candles out of reach of small children? Whatever it is to improve fire safety in your home we’d love to hear about it.

Everyone who adds their comments will be entered into a prize draw to win a £240 Amazon voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

[MichelleMumsnet]

Thank you everyone for your comments. Congratulations to BobaFetaCheese who won the prize draw! We'll be in touch shortly.

[ataraxia]

Don't do much in the home to be honest - this reminds me to check the smoke alarm.
Video - good idea about the key for doors that are keylocked on the inside.

[IJustWoreMyTrenchcoat]

This is quite relevant for me at the moment as we are moving into a house with an open fire and a multi fuel burner. We have a newborn and I am worried already about the safety aspect.

I am too relaxed about things like charging tablets overnight and candles, some of these posts are making me think again.

[Letitsnow9]

We have alarms, 2 different escape routes (one upstairs, one down), fire extinguisher and alarms. We are also careful not to leave things on and unattended ie Christmas tree lights. You can never be too careful or too safe.
Important not to forget carbon monoxide alarms too (saved my life but few people seem to have them compared to fire alarms)

[Theimpossiblegirl]

Reading through this I realise that apart from smoke alarms and turning stuff off, I am not very up on fire safety. Thanks for the heads up, I will be addressing this tomorrow and not putting the washing machine on when I go to bed like I usually do!

[lionheart]

Smoke alarms (which are tested every Sunday when I set them off while cooking a roast). We close all of the doors at night, take keys plus mobile to bed. Fire safety officer suggested these things. A closed door can keep the fire at bay for 15-20 minutes. Landlines do not always work in a fire.

[daisyjoy]

When we redid our kitchen we got the electricians to put in a heat detector rather than a smoke detector. It's wired into the mains so can't run out of batteries and won't go off if DH burns the toast, but will if there's a fire creating heat. I love it as it doesn't go off unnecessarily but gives me peace of mind

[lorka]

We recently had a bit of a scare with a light nearly going on fire so we have replaced all our fire alarms in the house as they were quite old and made sure every one has a back up battery that works.
We have talked to our children re fire safety and they have also had talks and visits to the fire station at school/cubs etc.

[Jinty64]

We arranged for a fire officer to visit the house. He fitted a third smoke alarm which we check regularly. I switch everything off at night. I used to put the washing machine on before I went to bed but don't do that anymore. I shut all the internal doors at night or if I am out.

We leave a key in the doors all the time and the children all know what to do.

[AndHarry]

We don't do any of those but we do have smoke alarms and keep our keys nearby overnight. I've discussed with my 3yo what to do in a fire: shout and get out or if he can't get out, go into a room without a fire and stay where you are. The thing that worries me the most is him thinking he's done something naughty and not saying anything or trying to hide from the fire so I hope that by teaching him the above points over and over, he will know what to do should he ever discover a fire. My other top tip is to keep exits clear; our hall gets really cluttered with bags and shoes but I make sure to tidy it every night before going to bed so we have a clear route to the front door.

[TinselandGretel]

Plus, both front and back door have a dedicated key on a hook just above the door (out of sight from outside house) so that there is always a key on hand to be able to get out if necessary.

[TinselandGretel]

We are very vigilant on fire safety.

we have a fire blanket and extinguisher in the kitchen
we have another extinguisher upstairs
we have smoke detectors in the cellar, ground floor, stairs, upstairs and attic (ground/upstairs are mains wired)
we have a window upstairs which opens fully so you can climb out and we have a special collapsing fire ladder hidden under the bed in that room so that we have a safe exit from upstairs should the stairwell be blocked.

We had the local fire brigade come and assess the new house when we moved, and we keep spare batteries in the change the batteries in the alarms as soon as they start to bleep, we also test regularly.

Since we had DC we don't have candles in the house. I don't use those plug in air fresheners, they have some bad reviews for catching fire. I also try to never leave unnecessary appliances on overnight to reduce the risk.

[HootyMcOwlface]

My dad always said to us whenever we moved to a new house that we should plan our fire escape route and talked us through it, like if a certain area was blocked. That has stayed with me and I do the same each time we move.
I learnt a lot about fire safety at school and at work and I've dealt with small fires at home.
We're not great at checking smoke alarms but I'll do ours today! Also not really fire safety but we did buy a carbon dioxide detector to keep in our kitchen near the boiler as that's very important too.

[rachel19784]

We have had the Fire brigade in checking our smoke alarms and giving great Fire advice. I was shocked by the sort of things that can start a fire and are more risky for example extension wires and plugs over candles. I do have candles lit but have them in safe areas and in glass dishes. Every night I go round unplugging everything, I think this is because my dad always did it as I was growing up and now I do what I saw as a child! I always leave keys for each door hanging up where the kids know and can be accessed incase we need to leave in an emergency. I close the downstairs doors each night as the Fire brigade told us this gives us extra time in the event of a fire. We always have a telephone upstairs and no toys, laptops, phones ect are left on charge.
I have a small Fire Extinguisher in the kitchen in event of my terrible cooking setting on fire...it has happened.
The kids have had plenty of Fire safety talks at school, it does worry me with teenagers when they have there music on full blast in there headphones, would they hear the fire alarm going off? I also have a carbon monoxide alarm.

[momb]

We have mains fire alarms with back up batteries which are changed annually.
Our children know what to do if there is a fire.
We do have candles for birthdays. I always have a cup of water handy for these 2 minutes!

[Lh8609]

I have a smoke alarm on both the landing and in the hallway downstairs both hooked up to the mains so there's never a chance of the battery failing and they're linked together to go off at the same time regardless of which one actually detects the smoke. They also detect heat as well as smoke and even go off sometimes just from cooking vapours and steam! A pain in the bum but at least I know they will detect the first sign of a fire.

[DoctorGilbertson]

We try to only run appliances when we are in and awake.

[CaramelisedOnion]

'don't really use candles much and on the rare occasions I do I am meticulously careful about extinguishing them...I tend to use an electronic wax burner as opposed to traditional scented candles. I unplug everything in the house before bed and when leaving the house, and have an electric hob. I don't cook with a chip pan as my father told me a horrible story about setting fire to his mum abd dad's kitchen when he was 18 so that put me off! I have a smoke alarm fitted by the local fire brigade and check it regularly. I have not spoken to my son about fire hazards yet as he is only 2 so a bit young to understand. I do not have a fire blanket or extinguisher....I guess I am going for "prevention rather than cure" I leave the front door key and the back door key close to the doors at night time also.I don

[cheshirekat1]

Back door key not in same place as front door key!

[cheshirekat1]

What do you think of the tips given in the video?

Good tips but would also be keen to reiterate the importance of security too as to where the spare front key can be reached (ie out of reach from outside via letterbox). Also have a back door key always kept in same place. Also the meeting point - depending on where fire is could be confusing for children? It's also served as a reminder to get a blanket or extinguisher for kitchen.

More tips? Another one we have is to have window keys within reach, either underneath a trinket on the ledge or with a key ring on it hooked onto the tie back hook at the side.

Candles are another thing- always on candle plates, away from fabrics, paper/cards, drafts, baby, cat, etc.

Hair straighteners- always switch off, unplug and leave on heat proof mat, another idea is to have on a timer for those stomach churning moments of 'have I left them on?' Hair dryer- always run it through on cold after drying hair to cool elements and plastic and never lie it hot on the carpet

Iron- got a metal wall holder that can put it on straight after use so I don't worry that it is plugged in and hot.
Discussion?
I'm due with baby in 2 wks but definitely plan to discuss safety in home when they can understand!

[Cherryjellybean]

What do you think of the tips given in the video? Do you use any of these in your home already? Have you spoken to your DCs about fire safety in your home? What do you do in the way of fire safety? Do you have a fire blanket in your kitchen in case of emergencies? Or maybe you just make sure that you keep any candles out of reach of small children? Whatever it is to improve fire safety in your home we’d love to hear about it.

The video is good...we check smoke alarms, we keep the back door key hung up at the back door, so we don't have a spare one. Dd is too young to understand fire safety yet.
We had the firemen come to our home which was fab, and they fitted smoke alarms and checked for any risks, and they were happy with our home. Our risk at this time of year is candles, we only normally light one at a time, but its still a risk.

[LegoCaltrops]

We test the smoke alarms regularly daily while using the grill So we know they work. Would never remove the battery like the previous tenants did.

We try to keep internal doors closed as much as possible. Also, turn all appliances off / unplug when not in use.

Never coil up electrical wires that are in use - eg don't use a cable tie etc to 'tidy them up' . The heat generated can't escape as easily & can lead to damage to the cable over the long term.

I did a fire safety course several years ago, part of which was looking at causes of domestic fires. Electrical fires, particularly overloaded sockets were quite shocking, & the fire station had some examples of extension leads that had been overloaded & had very obvious signs of heat damage. I still make sure we don't overload the plugs, DH thinks I'm crazy but I know it's sensible to be careful.

Test door handles with the back of your hand if you think there may be a fire. If there is a fire, live electric cables can fall from the ceiling. If it touches the metal handle & you go to take hold of the handle as normal, you will automatically grab the handle. (Due to the electric current!) If you use the back of your hand, you can't accidentally grab the handle.

We each keep our house keys near the doors - my set in a bag near front door, DH's set on the counter by the back door.

[Turnipvontrapp]

We have smoke alarms, I need to test them tomorrow now. I don't leave appliances switched on. Leave keys on the stairs in case we need to escape quick.

[janeyh31]

We have a fire alarm and we have talked to our girls about what it means when it goes off and in the event of a fire they make sure they leave the house straight away and they know calling 999 for the emergency services. We always keep doors shut when we are not there & I keep keys etc somewhere they are accessible quickly.

[mrsgordonfreeman]

We have an escape route agreed, and we try to make sure that all the exits are clear, i.e. any large toys, shoes or assorted crap is put away in the evenings rather than left lying around. We have two smoke alarms which I regularly test, however DH is always taking them down because his vile paleo cooking produces huge amounts of smoke and there's no door to the kitchen.
Although our front door double locks from the inside I don't tend to use it as I don't fancy fumbling about in the smoke and darkness for the key.