OT - Escaping from a burning house

[LiveMusic]

I got to thinking about my elderly mom getting out of a housefire alive. There were some people killed recently locally.

 

I was thinking of getting her a baseball bat to crash out a window. Her home is not a 2-story home but her bedroom has windows but they do not go to the floor. The bottom of the windows is waist high. She would need a stepladder permanently there. Crash out the window and climb out.

 

HOWEVER, I recall that what kills people in fires is they stand up upon discovering the fire (while sleeping) and when they take that first breath standing, they get knocked out from fumes.

 

IF that's the case, you'd have to remember to hol your breath. I recall experts saying CRAWL to the nearest exit. But her windows are tall.

 

I also recall them saying to sleep with your bedroom door closed.

 

Any tips?

[Harald F. Metzner]

Hi,

 

if it is her house or your own building, change rooms so that her bedroom is at the ground floor. I designed my new house so that i can change my bedroom from first floor to ground when i'm older. This way i can avoid using the steps.

[Harald F. Metzner]

...

 

I forgot one thing....

-> practice.

 

If there is a fire, there will be no light (at night). Electricity can be cut, and even with working lights the fumes will be so strong that you can see nothing. Your fire departement might have some instructional video tapes that show you how fast it will be, until there is absolute darkness in case of fire. (90 seconds i think).

Turn of all light and practice. Don't forget to put a maglight beside her bed, or install some guiding lights, smoke detectors etc. Again, your fire departement will be glad to assist you.

[Tedster]

Yeah, you should always have some of those safe lights...that go on when the power goes off.

 

Fire drills are a must. For those who have two story homes, the Kidde company makes chain escape ladders that you can stick under your bed, they hang on the window sill, so you can climb safely down. Take precautions so you don't cut yourself on broken glass.

[where02190]

Consider an alarm/alert service connected via phone, that monitors either the internal system, or a device the person wears in case of emergency.

 

Alarm systems are inexpensive, usually under $30/month, and will automatically send police and fire in the event of an alarm activiation either by intrusion or fire.

 

The monitoring companies provide a small transponder that the person wears that they can activate at anytime and communicate via voice to a live monitor who can send, fire, police or EMT's immediately.