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Well today my house almost burned down, so that was fun.
- Thread starter Amir0x
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I'll have some real photos up later as soon as my fiancee comes back with her tablet. You guys will have a nice laugh at this
They made this most annoying chirping sound and so the day I disconnected them a number of years ago it was middle of night and I couldn't sleep due to them chirping so I just completely disconnected them all.
Then I never put them back together or got the batteries, due to laziness. Definitely lesson learned. I find I am much lazier about doing small relatively easy things than big things, it's really strange. Easy to put the small things in the back of your mind I guess.
In any event, I definitely learned my lesson. I bet I would have been woken up much earlier before the fire got to that point had I had my fire detectors properly up.
The chirping thing has happened to me too. I had no remedy to sleep except taking that fucker apart.
Smoke detector companies really need to design better smoke alarms that don't send out 8 million decibel intergalactic acoustic signals whenever their battery is low or they bug out.
BTW do people wake up when they breathe smoke while they're asleep? Or do they just suffocate in their sleep?
Get one. They aren't that expensive and they can save your home and life.
I did have one before, but my stupid friend got really drunk at my house a few years back and sprayed mine all over the front yard being all dumb. Again, just laziness on my part not replacing it over the years.
BladeoftheImmortal
Member
More than laziness, my friend.
hipbabboom
Huh? What did I say? Did I screw up again? :(
Get one. They aren't that expensive and they can save your home and life.
Thread should be a wakeup call to everyone.
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
Saw you talking about this on Twitter. That sucks man. Glad you're all okay and nothing terrible was lost.
adamsappel
Member
"I sent three boats."
If you ignore the shrill chirp, why would you pay attention to a lesser signal?
jeremy1456
Junior Member
Or like, they should keep it the same because batteries are important for it.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
Get one. They aren't that expensive and they can save your home and life.
Might not help Amirox in his case. He shouldn't have opened the window or open the door as it would cause a flash fire.
If he was able to open the door, it would have caused a flash fire and exploded the door, which would probably knock him out.
But agreed that fire extinguisher will be great for any open fires. Everyone needs to remember that they need to be replaced when they expire.
bodyboarder
Member
Get one. They aren't that expensive and they can save your home and life.
These are basically only good for tiny fires. They last less then 10 seconds generally. Basically unless you catch it at the start, and know how to use one correctly, get the fuck out and call 000/911 etc.
Parakeetman
No one wants a throne you've been sitting on!
Glad to hear everyone was ok Amir0x and yeah never a fun thing to go through.
Had a fire at my apartment floor 2 doors down. Thankfully the apartment had the kitchen window left open so one of the other residents could constantly spray the fire extinguisher through that opening and hit the stuff that was burning in the kitchen, I was busy running up / down all the floors grabbing the extinguishers to bring back up and prepping them to pass off once I got to the top. We used up about 3 which helped suppress the kitchen side, but the living room side of the apartment was toast.
Sad part about everything too was what had happened was the old lady that lived there a relative had come to pick her up since she fell deathly ill and actually had passed away in the hospital. Since she horded stuff guess the relative did not notice the heater being on which is what ignited the stuff in the apartment after being left on for god knows how long. Its what I heard from the owner of the apartment complex when had asked if the old lady was ok. Since she was a nice person that would always trade greetings with if met outside and such.
Though yeah as others said get an extinguisher.
Had a fire at my apartment floor 2 doors down. Thankfully the apartment had the kitchen window left open so one of the other residents could constantly spray the fire extinguisher through that opening and hit the stuff that was burning in the kitchen, I was busy running up / down all the floors grabbing the extinguishers to bring back up and prepping them to pass off once I got to the top. We used up about 3 which helped suppress the kitchen side, but the living room side of the apartment was toast.
Sad part about everything too was what had happened was the old lady that lived there a relative had come to pick her up since she fell deathly ill and actually had passed away in the hospital. Since she horded stuff guess the relative did not notice the heater being on which is what ignited the stuff in the apartment after being left on for god knows how long. Its what I heard from the owner of the apartment complex when had asked if the old lady was ok. Since she was a nice person that would always trade greetings with if met outside and such.
Though yeah as others said get an extinguisher.
Maybe he doesn't change the battery out of spite? Honestly that comment has me scratching my head too...
JonathanNemo
Member
Dude, there are some really amazing sofas out there. Check out Ikea, their expensive ones are more comfy than the beds.
Falls asleep watching TV or something. Happens to me all the time as couches can be quite cozy depending on the type.
I always forget that they expire
Souldestroyer Reborn
Banned
Probably an electrical fire.
OP you're extremely lucky the fire hadn't properly taken hold, opening doors in the way you did could've resulted in a flashover, plus you were constantly feeding the fire more fuel to burn by opening doors etc. (read up
On the back of hand/stay low rule when opening doors)
I need to go on fire training/emergency response team courses annually as part of my jobs contractual agreements which involves full fireman/ emergency response team training, planning, fighting fires, rescuing casualties, entering buildings on fire to do search and rescues etc.
It's amazing just how quickly a fire can take hold.
Water on its own is generally regarded as a waste of time on fires. Foam/powder is needed to properly put the fire out and starve it of oxygene. Also to fight a fire, the best way to do so is to actually spray water in the air above the fire, not directly at it. Reason being that if you can cool the warm air above the fire and work your way down there's more chance of keeping the fire out instead of it relighting again.
I've literally been in a situation before during training where we put a fire out and nearly 2 hours later the fire started up again purely because the embers which still had a small amount of heat in them were fed from the oxygene reignited. It's what we intended to happen to see it in practice, but is amazing to think that it can do so.
I hope hou get your shit all sorted out by the insurance company.
OP you're extremely lucky the fire hadn't properly taken hold, opening doors in the way you did could've resulted in a flashover, plus you were constantly feeding the fire more fuel to burn by opening doors etc. (read up
On the back of hand/stay low rule when opening doors)
I need to go on fire training/emergency response team courses annually as part of my jobs contractual agreements which involves full fireman/ emergency response team training, planning, fighting fires, rescuing casualties, entering buildings on fire to do search and rescues etc.
It's amazing just how quickly a fire can take hold.
Water on its own is generally regarded as a waste of time on fires. Foam/powder is needed to properly put the fire out and starve it of oxygene. Also to fight a fire, the best way to do so is to actually spray water in the air above the fire, not directly at it. Reason being that if you can cool the warm air above the fire and work your way down there's more chance of keeping the fire out instead of it relighting again.
I've literally been in a situation before during training where we put a fire out and nearly 2 hours later the fire started up again purely because the embers which still had a small amount of heat in them were fed from the oxygene reignited. It's what we intended to happen to see it in practice, but is amazing to think that it can do so.
I hope hou get your shit all sorted out by the insurance company.
You're supposed to test those once a year (nobody does), so it's easier and cheaper to just change the battery when you get a low battery warning.
Dreamgazer
Member
For soot on walls, you can rent a powerwash to clean it out. That's how I did it for my father's house.
Also, I hope this helps:
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/docs/emergunit/cleanFireDamage.pdf
Also, I hope this helps:
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/eh/docs/emergunit/cleanFireDamage.pdf
all upstairs. Two bathrooms, three bedrooms, a crafts room and a laundry room.
Glad you're okay. April last year someone here caught fire to their apartment, it was ruined completely. The fire itself didn't spread too much to the other apartments but the smoke caused damage to the second and third floors of the building so the firemen came and had to spray and that caused further water damage. In fact, smoke and water damage can fuck a lot of shit up. Had to replace the carpet and all the doors and since the fire men couldn't just use the elevator or walk the stairs they had to break the windows open to put out the fire. I was out when this happened but our cat was here and I was really afraid she was hurt, luckily she was okay but she was really scared and it took forever to find her and when I did find her she scratched and bit the hell out of me, was bleeding for like an hour and the scars stayed for months..
I absolutely hate the neighbor that caused the fire, btw. 1. I can't get into it but he's an abuser of women. 2. He left the cig that caused the fire and damaged a bunch of shit.
So, yeah my point is I kind of know how you feel and went through something similar (more than once really, but this was the worst)
Edit: and yes, the smell does take FOREVER to get out. My advice is get a lot of fans, and exhaust fans. There were at least 3 huge exhaust fans on every floor of this apartment up until late December last year , (fire was in April)
I absolutely hate the neighbor that caused the fire, btw. 1. I can't get into it but he's an abuser of women. 2. He left the cig that caused the fire and damaged a bunch of shit.
So, yeah my point is I kind of know how you feel and went through something similar (more than once really, but this was the worst)
Edit: and yes, the smell does take FOREVER to get out. My advice is get a lot of fans, and exhaust fans. There were at least 3 huge exhaust fans on every floor of this apartment up until late December last year , (fire was in April)
Daffy Duck
Member
At least both you and your girlfriend are alive, that's the most important thing.
Everything else can be replaced.
Everything else can be replaced.
CurlySaysX
Banned
You had a fire and you opened the window? Haven't you seen Backdraft? Also why was almost burning down your house fun? Because you did the worst thing you could have done?
D
Deleted member 80556
Unconfirmed Member
I'm very glad you're ok, Ami! I'm glad I haven't had many experiences with fire, and the type of apartment I'm living in makes it hard to get a fire. Thankfully.
manzoman96
Member
the most important thing is that your guys made it out safe. Glad to hear that.
Shalashaska
Member
The people upstairs are doing some homework or something and knocked down our smoke detector a couple days ago, been too lazy to put it back.. gonna fix that today.
Rapscallion
Member
Glad to hear you're safe OP.
My apartment burned down a few years ago and we lost everything we owned. It's a hell of an experience that makes you look at a lot of things differently.
My apartment burned down a few years ago and we lost everything we owned. It's a hell of an experience that makes you look at a lot of things differently.
Glad you're doing alright.
They didn't do any overhaul? That's a little odd, especially if the firefighters saw heat in the walls after a mattress fire.
Do you have any photos or anything? I'd love to see how your FD responds to fires when its cold. Cold weather firefighting is a completely different animal and each department has their ways.
I'd definitely call insurance. There's no reason not to if you're telling the truth; especially for a smoke filled house. All of your stuff is now covered in a fine film of noxious dust from the smoke. Essentially you have chargrilled mattress soot on everything in your house; even if the fire was contained to just one room. To be honest, I'm surprised the fire marshal didn't tell you couldn't stay in your home.
They didn't do any overhaul? That's a little odd, especially if the firefighters saw heat in the walls after a mattress fire.
Do you have any photos or anything? I'd love to see how your FD responds to fires when its cold. Cold weather firefighting is a completely different animal and each department has their ways.
I'd definitely call insurance. There's no reason not to if you're telling the truth; especially for a smoke filled house. All of your stuff is now covered in a fine film of noxious dust from the smoke. Essentially you have chargrilled mattress soot on everything in your house; even if the fire was contained to just one room. To be honest, I'm surprised the fire marshal didn't tell you couldn't stay in your home.
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