Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors - ot

#1

[size=6][color=Red]PLEASE GO CHECK YOURS NOW!!![/color][/size]

We have a family friend who died in a tragic fire this past Saturday. The whole family died, except for the daughter that was away at university. Husband, wife, and son who was a senior in high school. All of them gone. It’s absolutely devastating.

It is thought that an ember from a wood-burning stove jumped out and caused a chair to catch on fire. The three of them were all found by the front door, overcome by smoke inhalation as they were trying to leave the house. They think it took less than two hours for the smoke to get to that fatal level. The rest of the house burnt to the ground after.

It’s not known if they had functioning smoke detectors, however it’s my personal belief that carbon monoxide detectors can sometimes trigger sooner than smoke detectors.

[color=Red]PLEASE CHECK YOUR DETECTORS!! IF YOU DON’T HAVE A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR, GET ONE!! [/color]

This isn’t a joke - it’s a sad, sad reality. I’ve always heard about fire safety but have NEVER known anyone tragically affected by fire. Now i do and it’s crushing. An entire family gone in a few hours. The surviving daughter is, as expected, a mess. She has no family now. None. No immediate family to be there in her future - for her wedding, when she has babies, major holidays - no one.

[color=Red]GO! DO IT NOW!! PLEASE.[/color]

Give yourself all the chances possible. Be diligent. Please.

-hh

#2

Hh I am so sorry. That is so awlful. Oh that poor girl, our prayers are with her.

I wanted to add that when we moved into our new house I put up the Carbon Monoxide Detector/Smoke Detector (two in one) and after living here for four years I realized it was only a CMD! OMG! So please go check and make sure that you have both!

#3

OMG that’s HORRIBLE!!! :crying:

Ill check mine tonight!

#4

I’m so sorry to hear about this…that’s terrible!

Actually, CM/smoke detector combos aren’t all that…it’s better to have separate ones. CM is heavier than smoke, so it doesn’t rise as quickly. You should place the CM detectors closer to the floor.

#5

I know that ours work…seriously, no joke, our smoke detector goes off every time I turn our oven higher than 350 degrees. It’s insane. We keep saying that we’ll never die in a fire :rollseyes:

#6

That is so sad, so tragic! Maybe by reminding us all, you may have saved a life.

#7

How horrible… Prayers for her… :heart:

my dh says dinner is done cause mine goes off :rollseyes:

#8

How tragic! We recently were doing some redecorating and I took down the smoke detectors that are in our house. They were filled with years of grime and dust. We had never been up that high, so hadn’t paid any attention to them other than to change their batteries. We immediately ran to Home Depot and bought new detectors for the whole house. My dh is a former firefighter and he was having a panic attack that while they would go off when we would hit the test button that they may not have functioned had we had a fire (a real and dangerous possiblity here during hurricane season!) So not only should you change the batteries, but you should also check to make sure that they are clean and will go off if you burn something! You should have one for every bedroom, the hallway, the main living areas (living rooms dens) and a kitchen alarm which is less sensitive (so a smattering of something won’t set it off) and has a “false alarm” button so you can make the noise stop without removing the battery.