Smoke alarms

Just thought that I would post this to remind us about how smoke alarms do save lives. A week ago the wife's grandmother had finished her dinner and sat down to watch TV. She heard a poping sound come from the kitchen. Not long after that she smelled a burning smell from her kitchen and the smoke alarm went off. It seems the Exhaust fan had shorted which caused the insulation in the roof to smoulder till it started to burn. She was able to get out of the house as of the ceiling fell in from the fire. We know the material was old insulation and we know what the cause was so if any of us have older relatives then please make sure they are safe and their alarms all work properly.

That can be a scary scenario. I've had to attend a few house fires that had been started by ceiling fans and downlights. Most got out, and were lucky enough we saved the houses with only minor damage...

...all except one.

A few years ago, we had an electric fan catch fire in an upstairs bedroom. We had 2 smoke detectors in the house, but neither went off immediately. Fortunately, my son was woken by the flames licking at him, and didn't succumb to the effects of the smoke. Once he opened the bedroom door, the detectors went off.

We nearly lost the two boys, as well as the house. As it was, the damage was signicant, and it took a long time to recover from it.

I learnt a major lesson. A smoke detector is utterley useless, if the fire is the other side of a closed door. We now have 10 detectors in the house.....and that is NOT overkill.

RE: Lone smoke detectors - can be useless.
yep agree, my son set our bathroom rubbish bin on fire and even though there was a detector in the hall outside the bathroom, because he turned the fan on to get rid of the smoke and he shut the door, nothing registered until the cabinetwork was well alight. Melmine makes a lovely choking gas when it burns - nearly knocked me out when I opened the door but I was able to turn on the shower and hose things down.

Also don't forget some kind of fire extinguisher in your shed is a wise investment.

I had 4 small fire extiguishers in the house. One of them saved my house last year.

A little oil spilled from a shallow pan into the gas stove cause the whole pan with oil to catch fire & fire burned very quickly up and melted the rangehood filter & part of it's electrical wiring within a few seconds.
Fire alarm 2 meters away had not alarm yet.
My wife shouted. I got the a BCF firextinugher and the fire was put out just using 10% of the BCF.

A fire extinusher cost about $20.

But check the type. The fire extinguisher for the woodworking shed and the type for the kitchen & that for electrical are different.

I get frustrated whenever I read of a housefire because they almost never give the cause.
If they did, or if the fire service issued reports on the causes of house fires, we'd all be able to assess our own risk situations.

Michael

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Originally Posted by reuelt

But check the type.

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Good advice. It's not good enough to buy an extinguisher, stick it on the wall and forget about it. We need to be familiar with exactly what type it is and how it should be used.

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Originally Posted by reuelt

The fire extinguisher for the woodworking shed and the type for the kitchen & that for electrical are different.

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Not entirely true.
The cheapies flogged off by big retailers are probably dry chemical, type BE, which are fine for flammable liquids (Class B fires), gas (Class C), electrical (Class E) and cooking oil (Class F) fires, but ineffective against wood, paper and cloth (Class A). Type BE thus have limited usefulness in a woodworking workshop but are generally fine in a kitchen.

A better choice, suitable for both indoor/kitchen and workshop use is the dry chemical ABE extinguisher, effective on class A fires as well.

NOTE: The classification system referred to here is probably applicable to Australia only.

A fire blanket in the workshop would also be a good idea in preference to the messy clean up after letting loose with a dry chemical extinguisher for a small, easily controllable fire.

Some further reading here and here.

Thanks for that clear explanation. I am now resolved to get a couple of extinguishers - something I have been putting off for a long time.

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Originally Posted by Fencepost2

Thanks for that clear explanation. I am now resolved to get a couple of extinguishers - something I have been putting off for a long time.

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Glad to help.
I had better get one for the workshop myself :-