My House Fire

[hambone]

Last Sunday at around 5am I was woken from a deep sleep by my smoke alarm. I went downstairs where my daughters boyfriend met me and we investigated why the house was filling up with smoke. I saw the smoke instantly pouring through the door that led to the garage and ran outside to see thick black smoke pouring out of the garage. There is nothing more frightening than this. Mainly because your family is asleep in the house. As I ran back in the house, in less than a minute the second floor was filled with black poisonus smoke where my son was sleeping. We both screamed "FIRE" and I frantically opened the windows to my bedroom, grabbed pants, laptop and briefcase, screamed at my son who bolted out his bedroom coughing, and staggering. My 23 year old daughter was dragged out in her underwear and the 3 dogs all spilled out into the front yard where shaking I tried to dial 911 on my cell phone, but could not due to sheer panic. I tried to calm down and dialed 911 where I said my house was on fire please help me. The Henderson Nevada Fire Dept. Arrived in 5 minutes, where I asked them all to please save my home. I have a valuable and dear art collection and alot of things. Thank God the fire was contained within the garage. The smoke damage to the house was horrific and made the home uninhabitable. Last night I moved into a nice home paid for by my insurance company. My paid for Nissan was destroyed as well as many items, but we are alive. What saved mine and my families lives was the 9 volt battery powered smoke detector. The monitered alarm system did not do anything. It went off 2 days later.

People be sure to put battery powered smoke alarms in your home and garage. I am very lucky to be here today.

[KB]

Wow sorry to hear of your close call with the fire but glad everyone is safe.

Interesting what you say about the smoke alarms because here in Oz houses tend to all use the 9v battery ones.

Also good to hear you have insurance cover, you would be surprised at the numbers in Australia that don't cover for fire.

Ken

[hambone]

Thanks Ken, you know I work for an Oz fellow named Peter Lik who is now one of the worlds top art photographers. In 6 years his photos have been offered at Sothebys, and sell for 6 figures, although most sell for under 5 K. Peter is an amazing guy, from Melbourne.

[Shundi]

Wow- that is terrible- thank God you and your family were ok and no one was harmed. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[KB]

Thanks Ken, you know I work for an Oz fellow named Peter Lik who is now one of the worlds top art photographers. In 6 years his photos have been offered at Sothebys, and sell for 6 figures, although most sell for under 5 K. Peter is an amazing guy, from Melbourne.

Yeah I'm his love child....only he doesn't know it yet.

Ken

[offshore]

HB,

I read your report @RWI. Glad to know you are all OK, and your No 1 son, is recovering from the kicking!

The most amazing thing, is that the shock of the moment just removes normal logical everyday abilities... I know exactly what you mean about not being able to even dial the phone.

So hopefully the household is back on an even keel, you have got over the compulsion to keep on checking those batteries for charge, and now have a battery replacement programme in place, regardless of condition.

We can't afford to lose old stagers like you!

Offshore

[robertb]

Wow, glad to hear you and your family are ok! Your timing is amazing, I bought a weekend house and this past weekend the smoke detectors went haywire. They were going off sporadically from 1AM on and they're wired into the alarm system so if one goes off, they all go off. Ended up disconnecting all of them and pulling them off the ceiling. The whole time I was thinking... what if there is a real fire.

First thing I'm doing when I get there tomorrow is install some 9V powered smoke detectors. Thanks for sharing that story!

[Toadtorrent]

Wow...scary. So glad everyone is safe and things are repairable. A good reminder to check those batteries. My 4 year old was just asking the other day if we could check them as it's nearing Christmas.

[KB]

They say change them on the 1st of Jan.......Change the year, change your batteries.

Ken

[dluddy]

Wow H, was a scary story.

THe powers of smoke detectors and insurance come front and center at times like these.

Glad everyone got out safely.

[ubiquitous]

My goodness. That is indeed a scary and stratling situation... I am glad to hear that you and your family are safe and okay!

Any idea what the cause of the fire was?

[jdkno]

Glad to hear that you and yours are all ok and that the fire was restricted to the garage.

There is no replacement for 9V smoke detectors, I swear by them in my house. I have an alarm system with both smoke detectors and heat sensors but I still use the good old 9V smoke detectors.

I use the ones with the emergency light built into them on both ends of the hallway, and one near all 3 exit doors.

Since your garage will obviously need to be re-built might I make the following suggestions as to what I have learned from years of constructing commercial properties and implemented in my own home.

I insulated all of my garage walls and ceilings with fire resistant spray foam insulation. It gives me about an R-20 rating and in the event of a fire the foam will expand to stop the travel of both fire and smoke to different areas of the house.

Walls and ceilings, I used 2 layers of 5/8" Type X Fire resistant gyp board on all walls, for the ceiling I have 2 layers, then hat channels and a third finishing layer which gives me a 2 hour ceiling rating.

I also have wall mounted fire extinguishers in the garage near the door to the house and near the door to outside, and I keep one in the hallway closet and under the sink in the kitchen.

I was not always so neurotic about fire but after seeing a house a block away from me burn to the ground I started doing whatever I could to give me an upper hand in the event of a fire.

Door from garage to house. I used a 45 min fire rated steel door, the door itself is rated and there is an expanding gasket on the door so if there is fire on one side the smoke will not come through the opening.

I also keep a fire cabinet in the garage to store any flamable materials such as gas and chemical solvents.

Another thing alot of people over look is fire protection in their attic. I have both smoke and heat sensors wired to my alarm system running in my attic, as well I also have a 9V smoke alarm on both ends and right at the access door to the attic.

[iglutikut]

holy [censored] Hambone. I am so sorry for your loss.. but very glad indeed everyone was safe and sound.. Wow..

Our cottage equipped with ADP fire and all that went off due to a fire and I ended up driving 3 hours north of toronto to meet the fire dept who where as stunned as I was that the smoke alarm went off for no apparant reason.. You all are right 9V alarms work

[jfreeman420]

This is one of the most horrific things that can happen and one of my greatest fears. I almost burned down my house when I fell asleep with a pizza in the oven. My 9V battery was dead. Thankfully the fire was contained in the oven but I learned my lesson as well.

Glad you and your family are ok but I too would like to know what started the fire if you care to share.

[Guest HaloArchive]

Wow, I am so glad you are safe, I know what you went though.

I was once in the house where I had my brother staying. He had went out and left a hallogen light on. The cat knocked it over and it caught the window sill on fire and the entire room was toast. Thank god once again for the cheapo smoke detector!

May my prayers be with you!

H

[hambone]

Thank you most kindly to those who left these heartfelt posts. Never before have I experienced such a near death experience, but my two kids are what keeps replaying in my mind, and had one of them perished, I do ot know if I would be able to recover. This has been a tough year for so many people, and I am just happy to be alive. Thank you again.

[FxrAndy]

Glad to hear the family is fine, i am going to check my battery's now

[Demsey]

Thank God. For evolving man, to the point where he discovered the technology that led to the 9V stortage battery, and then the independant smoke detector. Unfortunately for some, too latent after he discovered the technology to make 'fire'.

I would consider this a 'happy ending' in spite of the obvious. There are few things in this world that frighten me to the point where I will often dwell on the prospect. 'Out of Control Fire' is at the top of the list.

Bless the Fire Fighters. Glad you are all OK HB. You did well.

[P4GTR]

FORGET ME, SAVE THE WATCHES!!

[omegaunit]

Makes you think of what could have been without the fire alarm.

Glad to hear all of you made it out safely.

Another alarm to consider is a CO2 alarm.

I heard a very sad story of a family of five dying in their sleep, the vent for the gas fireplace got blocked with snow.

This can happen with all sorts of gas appliances.

[Member X]

Makes you think of what could have been without the fire alarm.

Glad to hear all of you made it out safely.

Another alarm to consider is a CO2 alarm.

I heard a very sad story of a family of five dying in their sleep, the vent for the gas fireplace got blocked with snow.

This can happen with all sorts of gas appliances.

Do you mean a CO (Carbon Monoxide) alarm? That's the odourless one that makes you drowsy and then just drop off, never to awaken unless someone finds you...