VERY CLOSE CALL - SMOKE DETECTORS

[LuckyLady]

What a close call last week was...

While I was in Miami last week I get a call early morning Saturday from my brother asking whats the status of the insurance on the house. Well I guess that one means he hasn't paid for it, I already paid it for the year anyway but always a good time to ask about the insurance after there is a fire..Right?

Anyway apparently the hot water heater caught fire in the basement of my house. Thankfully I am a anal about changing out the batteries in the smoke detectors annually. Even tho they are in series on electric thru out the house. I even replace the units every 2 years.

They said that the smoke detectors started to go off a 7am while they were sleeping 2 floors up and the detectors outside and inside their bedrooms were blaring.

Greeted at the basement door by thick smoke, to find the hot water heater element lit up and started a fire.

They managed to get the fire out, with water after hitting the main power breaker off.

What a scare.Semi glad everyone is ok.

I was kind of hoping in a sense it lit the house up, insurance claim would of been a great thing

Moral of the story make sure your smoke detectors are working properly and you need more than just one. It would of been way worse if they units were not in series, because the one in the basement would of went off for a while or at least till it melted before the smoke reached my dining room then up the stairwell to where they were sleeping.

Fire scares the crap out of me, and its one of my only true fears. Happy that none of my personal belongings were in the house. Can't wait to see the mess of this one, when I get up there next.

[Robja]

Mary,

Another thing for people to consider is having backup smoke detectors. Most of your newer houses have smoke detectors wired in. I have additional smoke detectors that are battery operated in case the power went out. It is also a good ide to have carbon monoxide detectors in your home since it can be a silent killer. Im glad to hear your home did not sustain any structural damage.

[WAHOONBOX]

IT'S GOOD TO HEAR THAT THIS ENDED ON A SORT OF "POSITIVE" NOTE ....AMEN!

AND I AM GOING RIGHT NOW TO DO MY ANNUAL BATTERY REPLACEMENT


THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP!

[LuckyLady]

Mary,

Another thing for people to consider is having backup smoke detectors. Most of your newer houses have smoke detectors wired in. I have additional smoke detectors that are battery operated in case the power went out. It is also a good ide to have carbon monoxide detectors in your home since it can be a silent killer. Im glad to hear your home did not sustain any structural damage.

Yeah mine are battery back up as well as electric. I also have CO Detectors installed as well on all floors. My garage is detached and on the back of the property. I have to get smoke detectors installed out there. Not to concerned with whats in the garage it would be a simple way for it to get cleaned out

[Digger]

I am glad that everything turn out OK!!!

A good rule of thumb "Change the batteries in your smoke detector and CO detector when you change your clocks two times a year. keep the batteries for remotes, ect. smoke detectors saves lives, remote controls don't"

[marlineer]

One other thing...It is never a good idea to fight a fire Yourself. Get out of the house and dial 911. There is a huge risk involved, toxic smoke, backdraft, explosion, ect. ect. ect.

Glad You are on top of Your smoke detectors and also have
CO2 detectors Good point Mary.

[mllacosta]

Glad to hear everything turned out ok. You sound like a fire-fighters dream... I cant tell you how many fire calls I have been on where people just dont know how to change batteries and decide that 3 a.m. is the perfect time to call because "the stupid thing won't stop beeping" And yeah its never a good idea to put out a fire yourself... a fire grows 2 times in size every minute.

[marlineer]

This fire involved 3 beach block homes. It went undetected for about 2 hrs. in the middle house before it blew through the roof and involved the houses on either side. We later found smoke detector batteries on the tables below each detector. A neighbor was walking Her dog at 10pm and walked past the middle house. She smelled something burning, but assumed it was a fireplace. We did not get the call till 12:15 am! Thank God these were summer homes and not occupied. I love My job but would rather polish chrome all day than see someones life disrupted or worse.

[dhauhn]

luckylady if you home is set up were all of your appliances
are in the basement , washer, dryer, hotwater heater,frezer,
and so on you might think about putting in a sprinkler system just in the basement . it will lower your insurance and stop any fire before it gets upstaires and the water will not get in the whole house .

[LuckyLady]

luckylady if you home is set up were all of your appliances
are in the basement , washer, dryer, hotwater heater,frezer,
and so on you might think about putting in a sprinkler system just in the basement . it will lower your insurance and stop any fire before it gets upstaires and the water will not get in the whole house .

Just my heating unit and hot water heater are in the basement, everything else is on the 1st floor and away. My heating unit is raised up off the floor and I had sump pumps installed if there was ever a flood problem.

In comment to others post in regards to not trying to put the fire out, and call the fire department. It doesn't look like it but the house is over a 110 years old. The old timber would of lite up quicker than shit if a few more minutes would of went by. With gas lines running every which way down there as well.

For the occupants of the house it's amazing that they even heard the smoke detectors go off, very proud that they even thought to turn the main off

For my insurance I am not sure if it really matters where my appliances are, never was a question in the book that I filled out for my homeowners policy many years ago now.

Can't wait to see the end result of what got messed up outside of replacing the water heater.

Oh yeah forgot to add, the other happy moment of owning a home. I guess when I had the yard grated and leveled a year or so ago one of the sewer clean outs got crushed and little to my knowledge mr walnut tree decided it was time to wreak havoc on me. Thankfully it just was a slight blockage and not a back up