Busy Mums

Fire Safety Tips and candles

Yesterday I wrote about the near shave our family had last weekend, when a candle which we thought had been put out, smouldered all night and then caught fire to the dried flower arrangement it was attached to.

I would consider myself as fairly safety conscious - and one of the things which I want to do with my website, http://www.helpforbusymums.com
was to provide a resource for busy mums to help them save time, and provide them with "sound bites of info" from the media, books and other mums. Today this is what I am going to attempt to do.

You are probably thinking by now I have gone off the point. What I am getting round to talking about is a item which appeared on the Jeremy Vine show, on Radio 2, I think before Christmas. It was about candles and nightlights.


There was someone representing the fire service talking and highlighting the dangers. I certainly learnt a few things.

He talked about nightlights and how if wrongly displayed, they are a serious fire hazard.

The problem he explained is that because the nightlight is contained in a thin metal casing, people assume that the casing is there for safety and to contain the flame, whereas in actual fact it is just to hold the candle wax.

It is not uncommon for nightlights to be placed directly on to surfaces, which are not fire resistant.

In a way you can understand the trap people fall into (and we did as well). Candles and night lights look very pretty.

He mentioned some occasions which he had witnessed as a fireman when peoples homes have been wrecked.

Candles and nightlights placed on televisions, mantelpieces, furniture and window sills all had resulted in serious fires.

There was also something which he mentioned ( and I may not have the terminology quite right ) a double burn. This is when the candle/nightlight has two flames, often when the candle has burned away so the wax and the wick are alight. This results in twice the heat, twice the danger - which I had never realised.

After some minutes of discussion the phone lines were opened up and there were several very scary calls from people who had got into trouble with candles and nightlights.

The one which sticks in my mind is a lady who telephoned in about her aunt who had put some candles or nightlights around her bath one evening. She thought she had blown them out. However, one may not have quite gone out and re-lit.

It then smouldered away through the night, until it eventually started burning her bath - which was made out of plastic. The fumes themselves were dangerous. By the time this ladies aunt had realised what was happening there was an explosion, caused I guess, by the substances on fire and probably other stuff like bleach, which we tend to keep in the bathroom. Amazingly the aunt survived.

A very scary story.

So without wishing to destroy those candlelit baths and romantic evenings in candlelight. Do be really careful.

Now I am going to make another call to the loss adjuster who is meant to be calling round to assess the damage to our lounge.

By the way if you have any stories, articles or info you think would be useful to busy mums then do drop by to my website http://www.helpforbusymums.com

Labels: fire hazzard, fire safety tips, safety tips

posted by Diana and Steve @ 09:26 0 Comments

Fire Safety Tips - a salutary tale.

On Saturday night we went to bed having made the usual household checks. Switched off the lights, locked the doors and blown out the candles.

At about 6:00am the dog started barking. Nothing particularly unusual in that, so we thought. She has been playing up quite a lot lately - and it was probably a cry for attention. Her barking stopped. We went back to sleep.

At about 7:00am the an alarm clock went off. My husband and I sighed, we were really looking forward to a lie in and it just seemed to be one thing after another.

After about a minute we both became aware it wasn't the alarm clock at all. It was the fire alarm. And it was still going.

Our immediate thought was that one of the kids had been downstairs and managed to burn the toast. This has happened several times before.

The alarm persisted and it was only then I thought there might possibly be a problem.

I threw my dressing gown on and rushed out onto the landing. Immediately I could smell smoke. I ran downstairs wondering what to expect and shouting FIRE GET UP at the top of my voice.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs I could see the problem. A dried flower arrangement which was housing a candle was on fire on the window sill. The flames were about eighteen inches high. And burning foliage was turning to molten ash and drifting all over the room.

The thick black smoke - just from this one item in flames made it dificult to breathe and even to see.

Fortunately the flames had not reached the curtains or the sofa and I realised I had probably a minute or so before they did. So my thought was to try and contain the fire by throwing a wet tea towel over it. If that did not work dial 999.

I rushed to the kitchen grabbed a tea towel and dowsed it with water. I ran back to the lounge breathing a sign of relief that the curtains or sofa had not yet caught fire.

It was only then that my husband finely appeared. He had run down the stairs naked and then run back upstairs to make himself decent! The kids appeared just about the same time.

Finally after another wet tea towel was thrown on this mini molten inferno my husband managed to throw the offending article - which was still on fire out of the window.

Half an hour later we sat down and thought how lucky we were. Thank goodness we had a working fire alarm. It also made us think about our reaction to the situation.

Of course the candle should have been checked before we went to bed. But the thing that worried me the most, was how many times I had to shout fire before everyone appeared. Now I maybe only talking a matter of seconds, but when you are dealing with fire it is the seconds which count.

How much more damage would have been done if my husband and I had debated who was going to go downstairs to investigate? Another minute or two.....it does not bare thinking about.

That fire alarm saved our home and possibly our lives.

Labels: candles and fire, fire prevention, fire safety, fire safety tips

posted by Diana and Steve @ 13:02 0 Comments