Fire! Fire!!
Now, I know
everyone bangs on about health & safety and there are more regulations than
you can shake a stick at when it comes to rental properties and building work, but let me tell you… now I know why.
Growing up, smoke alarms were seen as a nuisance in our house so we didn’t have any. When
we had an extension on our family home, regulations meant that we had to have
hard wired smoke alarms fitted throughout the house. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t
overly keen on the idea; what if they go off randomly in the middle of the
night in a power cut and wake the kids up? Do we really need them in so many
rooms? What a nuisance!
Until last
weekend when they worked and showed me how important they really are…
Just before
midnight we were woken by an almighty shrill throughout the house and after
a moment of bewilderment we ran through the house and finally got to the kitchen
to find a room full of smoke and a pan on fire. I had gone to bed and not
turned the gas hob off. My amazing partner managed to get the pan out of the
house so there was minimal damage and the wonderful South Yorkshire Fire &
Rescue were there in a matter of minutes too. They checked everything was out,
got rid of the smoke, chatted to the kids and looked after my partner having
had inhaled rather a lot of smoke. I cannot praise them enough. Despite it
being my entire fault they were friendly, helpful and so kind. Not once did
they tell me off, thankfully.
So a few hours
later once the kids were finally in bed and we’d calmed down, I realised how
important the smoke alarms were. What could have happened, especially to the
kids, doesn’t really bear thinking about… it might be a pain testing smoke
alarms or even getting them fitted in the first place but please do remember
why they’re there. They are SO important!!
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