Fire escape ladders/ropes/descenders/ ...

snipped-for-privacy@gowanhill.com presented the following explanation :

Such easy access to get out, also makes it easy for burglars to get in.

snipped-for-privacy@aolbin.com wrote:

Any solution apart from an easy to use fire escape such as an external stairway from a very easy and quick to open window or door is likely to take longer to use rather than quick evacuation when alerted by a smoke alarm assuming you are living in a relatively normal domestic dwelling and not the sole residents of a decaying Manor House or hotel. Most people who die in domestic fires do so from the smoke rather than heat and its effects.You should be familiar with the layout of your home, practise getting from the various rooms to outside in the dark and be able to use find and use any keys that you may secure your external locks with . The time taken to use some unusual solution like a hose kept in the bathroom by the time you have got it out of the cupboard turned on the supply would be longer than just legging it. Remember that clearer air is often available nearer the floor if things have got really bad . A sensibly placed water extinguisher if it can be grabbed while passing may help and be easier to activate than a hose providing you know how to use it ,but use it to aid your evacuation not to fight the fire . That is the job of the fire brigade who have the means to do it , of course if you are some distance from a manned station they may not be in time but the first priority is to get yourselves out, if then if you want to attempt to fight the fire then a proper powerful hose reel mounted outside would help in that ,again if you feel you have the knowledge to risk it, remember things like mixing water and electricity can cause their own dangers . Probably not worth risk you live in suburbia but possibly worth doing have if you live in a remote cottage.

It is a pity that not many people get the chance to do even a basic fire fighting course, I?ve done a couple aimed at marine situations where as no fire brigade is usually close at all you have to deal with it,that doesn?t apply to most house fires but how to use an extinguisher and what type and when should be taught in schools as a life skill.

GH

Dave Liquorice presented the following explanation :

Back in the day when I still lived with my parents, at around 13 with a latch key - I arrived home to find smoke billowing up just inside the front door. A gas pipe had developed a pin hole, leaked and something had ignited it. I was able to extinguish it by throwing water at the burning wood work and turn the gas off.

As a result of that experience, I now have a couple of outside garden taps fitted, with ready connected hose pipes, one at the back, one at the side. The local village full time fire station is 1/2 mile away, so just a few minutes.

The kitchen roof by any chance? Will that maintain structural integrity during a fire that blocks the stairs?

Owain

They're secured by a locking pin at the top, so Mr Tealeaf would need a ladder anyway (or maybe a long pole with a hook on the end) to drop it.

Should be fairly easy to put a magnet on the dropping bit to activate an alarm when the ladder is released.

Owain

Then well done her.

snipped-for-privacy@gowanhill.com formulated the question :

No, the utility room which has a thick concrete slab roof.

I went on a couple of courses at work and once had the 'great fun' of setting off an extinguisher (CO2) in anger. But, the basic safety advice is "Get out" and leave it to the professionals to deal with.

OK, sounds good..

Andrew formulated the question :

I don't have a door at the bottom, the hall/ stair is open, connecting living room and kitchens with their own doors.

I've been on company fire training courses. Interestingly they were suspended for a while when one of my colleagues set off a CO2 extinguisher that turned out to have a leak from the pipe that joined the horn and he suffered a cold-burn.

SteveW

The aim is to get out (and stay out). Forget ropes. ladders parachutes and rocket packs etc. The safest way to get out is by a using a familiar direct obstacle free and illuminated route.

As others have said the immediate danger is fumes, not flames.

Fit linked smoke alarms (so if one goes off they all do), temperature triggered in the kitchen, optical in the living room and hall and (the most important one) on the ceiling of the first floor above the stairs.

These will trigger before a fire has a chance to develop and give you several minutes at least to get out.

Don't use high power devices like dishwashers, tumble dryers or washing machines overnight. If any occupants smoke stop them.

For the front and back doors make sure you can open them from inside without having to use a key. If you are a bit paranoid fit a very low power LED bulb (5W is more than enough) in a light fitting and turn it on at night so that you always have light at the foot of the stairs.

Make sure you have a simple hard wired telephone extension (not one that requires power) in the hall by the front door. Put it on a long enough lead so you can use it from the door position or just outside. Do not rely on a DECT (cordless) phone as it stops working if power fails.

Have a drill so each night you check fires are off in the lounge, cooker and hob are off, close the kitchen, dining room and lounge doors so no downstairs room has open access to the hall and stairs. Switch on the hall light.

If a smoke alarm sounds, get out and call the fire service from the hall extension by the front door if safe to do so. (a wired phone is always better than a mobile as it shows your location to the fire service operator). Don't try to go back in.

I remember being told that we mustn't touch the horn itself, only the handle that's attached to it, because of the risk of cold burns.

The most memorable thing I remember was the demonstration of why you shouldn't pour water on a burning-liquid (petrol or chip pan) fire. The demonstrator set up two wide, shallow trays. One was filled with petrol, the other with diesel. The petrol ignited as soon as a flame (on a long pole!) was brought near the vapour. The diesel could not be ignited, and put out the flame if it was touched onto the surface.

When the petrol fire was burning away nicely, the demonstrator poured a few millilitres of water (again, on a long pole) onto the fire and the whole thing exploded and shot burning petrol over a wide area. He then tried with a CO2 extinguisher - that blew the petrol out of the tray onto the grass, but the tray remained alight because the hot combustion gases heated the CO2 so it didn't lay as a blanket over the fuel. Foam or dry powder for liquid fuel fires, IIRC.

I've never had to use the approved method of holding a fire blanket, but I can still remember it: hold the blanket so the top edge faces towards you, curled round so it's covering your fists which are facing palm towards you, and lay the blanket gently *from front to back* (never the other way round) over the chip pan until it covers the pan, when the flames will very quickly go out because the fire is starved of oxygen. Leave the pan where it is until the fire brigade arrive: don't move it *even after the flames have gone out*. Obviously don't try to move it while it's on fire.

That would worry me.

Can you still completely shut off the kitchen from the rest of the house ?. If so I would make an effort to keep that door shut at night.

A smoke detector at the bottom of the stairs (plus elsewhere) will warn you the moment any smoke starts to come up the stairs, but tbh, the best escape route is down an enclosed staircase and straight out of the front door, especially when you are no longer 'agile'.

Commercial and other public buildings sometimes have fire curtains, like non-flammable roller blinds that drop down to stop smoke and hot gases from travelling up stairwells and the like, where physical fire doors are not possible.

I could close the kitchen door, but I don't because I have two dogs who may need access to their water in the kitchen. I have smoke detectors in the hall, landing and the enclosed loft - all linked, so if one is triggered, they all sound.

I am still pretty agile.

Think about smoke hoods.

Battery operated automatic emergency lights in case of power failure leaving you in the dark

Smoke alarms, heat alarms should give you plenty of time to get out the doors.

Don't forget that firemen search wardrobes for kids that hid from a fire and behind doors for adults that didn't remember the keys to open the door.

dennis@home laid this down on his screen :

I leave keys inside both back and front doors.