Sunrise with a house fire.

[Wocka]

Gidday,

This is a nice friendly reminder to make sure your smoke alarms are working properly.

This morning I was up @ 4:30 to do a sunrise shoot @ Turrimetta Beach (Sydney’s Northern Beaches) with my mate Eric. After a fairly ordinary sunrise we were sitting in the reserve above the beach @ approximately 6:45am when I’m thinking to myself I can smell smoke, like a wood burning fire place. I think that’s a little strange as it’s nice and warm outside.

A couple of minutes later 3 girls (approx 9-15 yrs old) in their pajama’s come and stand at the top of their drive way looking at the house. We just thought they had a slumber party or something and were up early, there weren’t panicking or looking distressed. We kept talking then noticed smoke coming from the roof at the back of the property, then we see the mum upstairs running around and opening windows. By this time the smoke is getting thicker.

It finally clicks that this is a house fire. My car was parked right in front of this house, so I start running, dump my camera bag and tripod in the boot and ask the girls what’s happening. They say there is a fire in the house. At this stage the mum runs out the front door, dumps stuff on the lawn and goes back in. I run into the house after her, silly I know but if she’s going in them I am as well.

I follow her into the room downstairs where the fire is burning. There is a patch of the ceiling about 2m x 2m burnt through to the rafters and on fire. She chucks me a cello and I carry that out-side. Then go back for more and carry out another instrument in its case. By this time she has disappeared. I call to Eric outside that it’s on fire, he runs around the back and gets the hose. I try and open the balcony door but it’s locked and can't unlock it, as it is almost directly under the fire, so I didn’t want to stand there too long. I run to the next room (the laundry) and find a bucket, fill it with water and throw it on the ceiling. It doesn’t do much as you would expect.

I then run up-stairs and see if I can chuck water from the top down. There is only smoke and no flames. I go back downstairs and fill the bucket again and have another go from underneath. I run back to the laundry and see Eric has the hose on the balcony and I say turn it on as I pull open a window that is slightly ajar. The hose breaks at the tap, the hose came out of the orange socket that attaches to the tap. Eric tries to hold the hose in the joint but I’m getting very little pressure to get it through the fly screen.

At his stage the fire brigade arrived and took over.

Everyone was out safe. I spoke to the mother outside. She is watching the fire brigade do their job and noticeably in shock. It’s not a good way to be woken up. But they did have smoke detectors and they were working. To my untrained eye I'd say it was an electrical fault as the fire was in the floor space between upstairs / downstairs.

Please make sure your smoke detectors are working and that hoses in the yard are in a good state and work. We may not have done that much with a house hose but everything helps.

Cheers

[Yi-P]

Great to hear that nobody was hurt in this. Hope the family has some insurance for their property.

How would you test a smoke detector without setting it off with real smoke?? I know there are people coming in and checking for fire safety once in a while during the year. Tho just curious how would you test it yourself?

[biggerry]

How would you test a smoke detector without setting it off with real smoke?? I know there are people coming in and checking for fire safety once in a while during the year. Tho just curious how would you test it yourself?

Shoud be a little button to test with... poke it and hold your ears

although the best way is to test is to crank up some tasty bacon and eggs and toast, waft some chargrilled smoking bacon under the smoke detector and verify correct operation

no seriously tho, if you rent and are not comfortable with testing or not sure just get your real estate to check it out.

Thanks for sharing you experience Wocka, good to see you jumped in and helped....

[sheepie]

We test our smoke alarms every now and then - usually with toast

Serious message there - but I have to say, what were they thinking going around opening windows while there's a fire happening?

[Geoff]

I thought the same thing Sheepie - OPENING windows with a fire..yeah sure..lets just feed the fire some more oxygen!? I guess people do crazy things in a stressful/panicked situation.

Good on ya Wocka, great feeling helping people in a situation like that and it's not often til after some such event that you realise the enormity (potential) of how differently things could have eventuated! Glad everyone is ok, and the blessed cello.

You didn't get any photos though of the house on fire? Shame on you!

[Matt. K]

You can also test your fire alarm by playing the beam of a torch over it. It should go off. Fires are very scary and houses can burn to nothing in a matter of minutes. Well done Wocka....and it was appropriate that you put the camera away.

[radar]

Well done Warwick, glad you and the family didn't get hurt. It was very brave of you to run in and help.

André

[who]

You can also test your fire alarm by playing the beam of a torch over it. It should go off.

Actually that is not a common feature. Testing is usually via a button on the units - and you should change the batteries yearly, even on a system that is 240V mains power with battery backup.

Other testing depends on the technology of the units - there are a couple of different systems available now. I believe you can source aerosol cans of test smoke from certain suppliers in that trade too.

I personally would urge people to consider what they have in their homes -- and ideally -- if you own - ensure you have some & not just 9V supermarket jobbies. I personally have 4 interconnected Clipsal units that are 240V with 9V backup - which cover the areas that can/do get closed off - 1 in the rumpus downstairs (open to rooms, laundry etc), 1 in the top of the stairwell, 1 in the lounge - open to dining/kitchen but fairly separate, but is sometimes closed off to rest of house & 1 in hallway near bedrooms...... covers the whole house quite well.

[kipper]

Fire alarms are suppose to be tested on a weekly basis using the test facility of the alarm or the other way to test them is to burn some toast
There are varying types of heads that you are available for detecting fires. Some detect purely for smoke, others are more advanced and detect for a combination of smoke and heat. I've used in the past as a maintenance electrician the canisters of simulation smoke to set off the alarms for weekly routine testing of fire alarm installations. If you have a battery only smoke detector then the batteries should be replaced twice a year (if I remember correctly), usually when the clocks go forward/back.

I'm glad nobody was injured in the fire and I hope the family can move back in once it's established what caused the fire and whether it is safe to do so. I remember when living in Oz there were a lot fires on the news that seemed to be electrical related.

[Bindii]

What an experience.. and it goes to show that we should be more dilligent when it comes to testing our fire alarms.. *winces*... it will be the first thing that I shall be doing when I get in from work this afternoon and I suspect that other forum members will also have a peep at theirs too..

Many years ago I watched a caravan burn to the ground with two toddler aged boys in it.. I'll never forget the horror of seeing the mother of those two boys screaming as she was held back from trying to enter the caravan by neighbours who knew it was fruitless... I was very very pleased to see that no one was hurt in this fire though... possessions can be replaced but people cannot...

[Wocka]

I did think about my action of opening the balcony doors while trying to do so. Again my experience is only from watching movies like Backdraft where the room is sealed with a fire burning inside.

My reasoning was:
a) There was already plenty of oxygen in the room to feed the fire. I don't believe I was adding to it.
b) I was trying to gain better access for putting the fire out with a hose.

When the fire brigade turned up I watched one of the dude's try to open the exact same door before they put out the fire. So hopefully I was on the right path. The neighbour standing next to me commented saying they will probably break the glass next, which they didn't.

I don't know how much structual damage was done to the house. But It certinly wasn't a knock down and rebuild job.

Cheers,

P.S. I usually test our smoke alarms with burnt toast.

[paulmac]

Step 1: Take this all in and think "Wow. Lucky escape."
Step 2: Stand up, NOW, get the ladder and go press the test buttons!

Step 3: No, really, NOW is a good time to do it!


(I did. Thanks for the reminder. I'd reckon I tested mine a year ago at least.)