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What's your disaster plan?

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
I'm not talking The End Of The World As We Know It, but an average everyday emergency.

What is you plan if your house is on fire at 2:30 am in the middle of January?

I actually woke up this morning with this thought running through my head. I realized that if the smoke alarm were to wake us due to a fire, we would be in a really bad situation. Our bedroom is on the second floor, so getting out a window is not easy. All our clothes are across the hall in a dressing room, so the only thing we would have to wear are lightweight sweat pants and a sweatshirt. I wouldn't even have shoes, as I only wear heavy hiking socks in the winter, no slippers. We keep the keys to the vehicles downstairs in the kitchen, along with my wallet and my wifes purse. They would be inaccessible in an emergency. My wife usually brings her cell phone into the bedroom, and on my side of the bed is the house phone. To top it all off, to get to the neighbors would be almost a half mile run across a windy field.

Similar to an earlier thread, I am thinking a BOB (bug out bag) is needed to be kept in the bedroom. This would contain spare keys and ID as well as warm clothes, a retired pair of boots and a winter coat.

Most importantly.....how are you planning to help your children?! :(
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
I just hope my dogs wake me up before anything gets too out of control.

I'm probably naive but I figure I can run fast through most flames. If it's smoke then I hope one of the 10 smoke detectors in our house works and gives me some warning.

Otherwise, I'll deal with it when it happens. Excuse me while I stick my head back in the sand. ;)
 

Wannafish

Floppy Member
SUPER Site Supporter
I realize this thread is open to alot of topics in the "what if" category, however, since you mentioned fire I'll follow up that way...

Open the slider in the bedroom and push Mrs. WannaF (and the dogs that sleep with us) out onto the deck, then grab one of the fire extinguishers and head into the rest of the house if possible. If not, let her burn - that's what I pay all that insurance for!

"Most importantly.....how are you planning to help your children?! "
We'll move in with them! :D That'll learn 'em!
 

Dargo

Like a bad penny...
GOLD Site Supporter
I've always been big on being prepared. Besides having plans on how to escape from windows on the 2nd floor, I intentionally had my house built with 2 different sets of stairs going to the 2nd floor. I still think being prepared is a good thing.
 

kensfarm

Charter Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Def. having a smoke alarm is the first step... I had a chimney fire in Dec...

I had dedicated the weekend to working on the farm house.. pellot stove wasn't working properly.. lot's of stuff to put away.. cleaning, etc. I had a fire in the fireplace going all day.. usually I'd go to bed around 10:00PM from being so tired from working outside.. but w/ indoor chores.. I worked late.

I had quit for the day/night.. 1:00AM Sunday morning.. I'm lying on the couch watching TV & relaxing. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP

Okay smoke alarm.. usually happens if a log rolls off the grate in the fireplace.. so I go into the kitchen.. hmmm... no log rolled off.. and the smoke is coming from upstairs. Yikes.. pop my head upstairs.. the whole second floor is dense from smoke. I make a quick look around.. no fire. Run back downstairs into the kitchen and I hear it.. a roar from the fireplace.. I pop outside to see the chimney top looking like a big 4th of July sprinkler!

What to do?
Well I had planned ahead for this day.. had a fire extinguisher in kitchen.. garden hose & nossle in cellar hooked up w/ water turned on.(door to cellar is outside kitchen back door.. don't have to worry about it freezing up in cellar)

First thing.. had to cool down fireplace to access chimney.. dumped 3 pots of water in the fireplace.. then grabbed the fire extinguisher.. a couple of shots to the fireplace.. then blasted the rest up the chimney.(Though the home fire extinguisher worked good.. it didn't last long) Chimney fire still going..

Grabbed the hose from the cellar.. tried putting some water down the chimney from outside.. I'm running 60psi on water pressure.. it would reach fine.. but just happened to be windy as hell outside. Drag hose into the kitchen.. and I'm blasting the water up the chimney.. still wouldn't go out.. I'm getting worried.. one more try w/ the water outside.. and I'm back in the kitchen blasting up the chimney again. Taking longer then I thought it should.. finally the chimney fire was out. I was amazed that hardly any water came back down into the fireplace.. and at how stubborn the fire could be.

Fire out.. I check upstairs again.. then take a look in the attic.. good.. no smoke in the attic. So why the smoke upstairs? The old-time fireplaces have a woodstove/coal connectors on the second floor(def. not allowed these days).. they are stuffed w/ fiberglass insullation.. and a pie-plate type cover to hide the hole. The pressure from the chimney fire was blowing smoke through this hole.

By the time I clean up the mess downstairs.. opened up the 2nd floor to pull the smoke outside.. it's 3AM. I go to bed.. tired.. a little frazzled from the event.. w/ a heavy smoke smell still in the air.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Smoke Alarms - more is better, properly located, test
Escape Plans - plan ahead, know how to get out
Fire Extinguishers - more is better, I'm putting 2 upstairs as well
Clean/Inpect Chimney - they always say.. it's not the first chimney fire that burns down the house.. it's the second one. (First one will crack chimney liner.. if your mortor breaks down.. house fire.)

Fire Drill - have kids, depending on the fire.. visability may be close to zero, go over the escape plan w/ the kids.. show them to crawl on the floor to the escape route.. maybe blindfold them to show how it might be.

911 - I didn't call.. pretty stupid.. should've been 2nd thing to do.. first thing get everyone out & safe.(I was home alone.. but have animals.)
 

OkeeDon

New member
My daughter and son-in-law just added a bedroom addition to their house. It's all on one floor, so second floor measures weren't considered. However, building codes in Florida (and perhaps elsewhere) now require that every bedroom have at least one window that is a minimum size so it is available for egress. I don't know if it's code or not, but I've always heard that second floor bedrooms should have a rope ladder with sill hooks stored under the bed or somewhere handy.

The other interesting thing they did that I had not seen before was to have all the smoke detectors tied together (they have them in the kitchen, halls and all bedrooms). If one goes off, they all go off. This was a suggestion of their electrician; I'm not sure how they are actually connected together. But, if there is a fire in one end of the house, it's smart that everyone in the house knows about it.

Their plan easily evolves from those simple decisions, with a little training (which they made fun) in how to open the windows and climb out.

Of course, the fact that Daddy is a fireman/emt (about to be a paramedic) raises their awareness level a bit.

Betsy and I currently live in a single-story home built before the code changes with very narrow windows in the bedroom (almost gun-slits, too narrow to get out). Our single smoke detector is in a different part of the house, and, if there was an emergency, we probably wouldn't be able to get to the room of my 101-1/2 year-old Mother-in-law. I fear that if there was a problem, we'd all be toast. Ah, well, we always did believe in doing things together, might as well die together, too...
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
OkeeDon said:
However, building codes in Florida (and perhaps elsewhere) now require that every bedroom have at least one window that is a minimum size so it is available for egress.
Don,

My BIL/SIL live in FL and their house got destroyed by the hurricanes. During the rebuild, they were going to make some changes and the new window code came up.

As described to me, the new window size was not for egress but actually for fireman ingress. People can fit out normal sized windows but a fireman with all his equipment and such couldn't get in the smaller windows.

Ken,

Glad you got the fire out!!!
Aren't you supposed to just cut off the air supply at the bottom of the fireplace? (close glass doors or cover with something to stop air from getting in).
 

OkeeDon

New member
bczoom said:
...As described to me, the new window size was not for egress but actually for fireman ingress. People can fit out normal sized windows but a fireman with all his equipment and such couldn't get in the smaller windows.
That makes a lot of sense, and I'm sure is a big part of the reason. Of course, my s-i-l is a typical youngish fireman with a hint of macho; he simply says that if the hole isn't big enough and he needs to get in, he'll make it bigger...
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
OkeeDon said:
he simply says that if the hole isn't big enough and he needs to get in, he'll make it bigger...
Another reason for the new code for windows.
Firemen we getting zapped from the electric as they used either an axe or chainsaw to "enlarge" the area.

It also saves the time of having to "enlarge" the area.
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
My 16 year old son lives upstairs but could jump down from either window. My little ones 2 and 5 year olds sleep in the room next to us down stairs. Half the time my daughter runs into our room about 3 in the morning. So the little ones will be ok. I just put a new detector in there room.
 
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