howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
17 February 2011
17:0693015last evening a lady in athol terrace, after hearing her smoke alarm go off, decided to tackle the blaze herself.
she was later taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
the fire service have stressed that she took the wrong action and instead should have called them and left the house.
easier said than done though.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
17 February 2011
17:2693017howard
i understand where your coming from, but your life shoul;d come before material things you can replace a house but you cant replace a life.
that said you usually act on impulse and i m,yself have put muself in positions of danger in the interest of saving lives
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
17 February 2011
17:4593021Many peoples' reaction to a chip pan fire is to throw water in the pan. This is what fire brigades do in controlled demonstrations to show how dangerous it is. It instantly fills the room with mixed droplets of steam and cooking oil- a highly explosive mixture which can blow the roof off and seriously injure anyone nearby.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
17 February 2011
17:5193022the reason behind the fire brigade saying dont be a hero is because if you stsay in the house fighting the fire and get into even more diffculty the fireperson has to go in to rescue in what could be a worse situation than the situation first started.
also the heroes(and iv done it myself
)who act on inpulse could get in difficulyty and make the fire fighters job even more difficult
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Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
17 February 2011
18:0793023I attended a training day re fires and as Peter said throwing water on a chip pan fire is the worse thing you can do but sometimes people panic. This is a photo showing what can happen very quickly (as part of the demonstration).
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
17 February 2011
18:1993024The reason why one should not throw wter on a chip pan fire is that water must NOT be used to put out oil-fires. There are different kinds of fire extinguishers, depending on their contents.
Extinguishers with water are a complete different kettle of fish to extinguishers with foam.
There are essentially four kinds of extinguishers, each with a distinct couloured stripe, and the stripe's colour describes the extinguisher's contents.
Also, don't use water to put out an electrical fire. If an electrical appliance has caufght fire, rather turn the mains off.
If there is am accute danger of smoke spreading, or the fire is spreading, get everyone out of the house at once, and call 999, and inform any neighbours to evacuate.
Guest 696- Registered: 31 Mar 2010
- Posts: 8,115
17 February 2011
18:2293025Adding to that, burning plastic can cause severe poisonous fumes to spread, which would be breathed in without proper respiratory protection; and if water is used to put oiut a spreading wood fire, lots of smoke will spread out immediately, filling the room at once.
So better to evacuate everyone indoors immediately and call 999.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
17 February 2011
18:3893026yes alexander
just com,pleted my fire awareness training must hav done that at least 6 time
lol
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
17 February 2011
18:4393027excellent info from alex let's hope people looking in pay heed, write it all down and memorise it.
none of us know when we will need to know all that, qute right about the different extinguishers.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
17 February 2011
18:4693029Well done with that picture Jeane. Well captured. Yes the fire guys do a demonstration similar to that here during the Pencester Safety Open day here in Dover. Have seen the demo myself but didnt get such a dramatic picture. Much as with the Police DVD currently on our frontpage, it pays dividends to make people aware of what NOT to do.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
17 February 2011
18:5893033yep
but even then, faced with watching some one die
would you act
i did
would you
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Guest 703- Registered: 30 Jul 2010
- Posts: 2,096
17 February 2011
19:0493038Many small fires can be put out safely and be prevented from becoming big fires if you don't panic
and know what to do - and I don't think for domestic situations that involves deciding which of your four different fire extinguishers to use.
I was the fire officer for a three storey laboratory building for many years and we only had three fires that I can remember, all small and put out by quick thinking and unconventional means that would have the health and safety people quaking, but we knew what we were doing and none of them got as far as setting off the smoke detectors.
We had three or four false alarms each year where we couldn't identify the cause but still managed to evacuate the building in less than three minutes thanks to good planning and training, and you can do that at home
http://www.kent.fire-uk.org/your_safety/fire_safety.aspx
Best way with chip pan fires - don't have a chip pan
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,895
17 February 2011
19:3593045If it is safe to do so, turn off the power and cover the chip pan with the lid or damp towel which starves the fire of oxygen.
Best to have an electric fryer which is thermostat controlled or settle for those awful oven chips.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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