[BBC News] Family rescued from house blaze

[Newsbot]

Three people are rescued from a house fire thought to have been started by a smouldering candle.

 

Source : http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/...man/7167492.stm

[Andy Swainston]

There's a better report here (on IOM Online as well, which makes a change):

 

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/Family-esca...laze.3631765.jp

 

And it is a good point about the smoke alarms, it's all very well seeing them attached to the ceilings and thinking, "Well that's us covered then," but if the batteries are flat, then they aren't much use.

 

The best ones to go for are those that are hard wired into the mains, with the battery there simply as a backup for a power cut, these also have the benefit of all being linked together, so if the one downstairs goes off, it'll automatically set off the one upstairs as well. Once they've been fitted you can basically forget about them for five years, at which point the battery should be changed (you should still periodically test the system though).

 

If you're in rented accommodation it's always worth checking that: 1) Smoke alarms are fitted - 2) They've got batteries in - 3) They actually work (badly burning some toast in the vicinity should do the job). (We once lived in a rented house that had three smoke alarms fitted, two of which had badly corroded and leaky batteries in them, and one of which had a flat battery in it, needless to say none of them worked, and the landlord hadn't checked before we moved in.)

 

Same goes for home owners as well of course, it's just that private landlords can be a little, ahem, slack on such matters.

 

I suppose if you were able-bodied and lived in a bungalow you could be a bit more chilled out, since you're never really faced with a scary drop out a high window:

 

"Jump and save yourself Clarissa!"

 

"But it's three feet down to the ground, I daren't, I might crack a toenail!"

[bluemonday]

Good post.