Smoke!

[Mother Dragon]

Harrigan, our resident poltergeist, continues his rampage. We've had a smoke detector beeping for a few days. We have seven, so we have to hunt the chirper down. Robert got a package of batteries so he could restore peace. I hate a whimpering smoke alarm.

We were firmly snoozed out when a smoke alarm went off full force. Not the "feed me" chirp, but the "Get out NOW!" scream. We both shot up in bed, noses wriggling, trying to smell smoke. Seven alarms scattered all over the house - kitchen, bedroom, garage, front hall, top of stairs, sewing/craft room, and computer room. You can't tell which one is howling. Robert started a careful search. No smoke, no fire, no steam, just a screeching alarm at the top of the stairs. And an apparently dead one in the computer room. We've done EDITH drills for many years, but we need to rethink them now that I can't get about. In the mean time, we're going to replace all seven of the smoke detectors. Harrigan has his ears covered.

Off we went in search of new alarms. We found the exact same ones at Lowe's for three times as much as at WalMart. So now we're busy putting up seven new alarms.

What's frightening is that some of the old alarms haven't even been made for 21 years! And some were dated 2003. They're supposed to be replaced every ten years or less.

All of this brings us to the question:

How many smoke alarms do you have? Are they properly placed? When is the last time you checked the batteries? And most important, how old are they?

Do you practice EDITH (Exit Drills In The Home)?

Do you have at least one fire extinguisher in your home, preferably in your kitchen? When was it last checked?

These things could save your kitties' and your lives, so please take a few minutes to check everything and replace as necessary.

And don't forget EDITH. For more good information, go to this website.

NFPA - How to make a home fire escape plan

 

[DreamerRose]

I have one in the hallway. It went off once when a trashcan caught on fire when I emptied an ashtray in it.

I also have a CO alarm, and it went off one bitterly cold New Year's Day. I called a furnace repair company who discovered that the furnace was putting out the CO from a fractured heat plate. That alarm saved my life. I would have gone to bed that night and never woken up. I had to move to a motel until the furnace was replaced.

The repairman told me to replace the CO alarm right then. He said after it had gone that high, the alarm was spent, and he also told me to replace both it and the smoke alarm every 5 years. I write the date of installation now on both my alarms so I can check them from time to time to see if they need to be replaced.

I don't have an exit plan, but I noticed today that a friend of mine has a sticker on her door glass that says "In case of a disaster, please save the pets inside." That's a really good idea - we're not always at home when a fire or other emergency starts.

 

[susanm9006]

One smoke detector upstairs, one downstairs and you reminded me that I need to test them both. I also have CO detectors upstairs and downstairs.

A few months back I was visiting my elderly early stage dementia aunt and she was telling me about the screeching creatures she had and how she had hired an exterminator to set traps for them. Fortunately one screeched at that point and I explained to her that what she was hearing was low battery warnings in one of her detectors. I switched out the batteries in all of them and no more creatures at her house.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Smoke alarms have saved us three times. The first was when idiot daughter, unbeknownst to us, lit a candle on a paper plate in her room and fell asleep. The alarm in her room went off and the fire was quickly extinguished. She was forbidden further candles.

The next time was when that same not-too-bright daughter left a pan of grease on the stove and forgot the burner was on. Fortunately there was a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and she'd been taught how to use it. Then she put a lid on the pan just to be sure.

The third time occurred after our daughter was out on her own. The alarm in the attached garage began screeching. Our bedroom is just across the hall from the garage. We immediately began doing all the things we'd been taught to do, including feeling the closed doors for heat. Everything seemed cool, so Robert opened the door tot he garage. Clouds of steam rivaling a volcano came pouring in. He opened the big garage door and cleared the garage. It seems the water heater had had some sort of valve break, and enough steam poured out that the heater would have started pouring water next. That alarm saved us from a flooded garage.

We also have CO detectors although we don't use any natural gas and don't have any hooked up.

Please check all your detectors and extinguishers before you need them.

 

[susanm9006]

If you have older Kidde extinguishers, check their website. They had a huge recall in 2018 and I received four replacement extinguishers.

 

[Willowy]

I got an explosive gas detector as soon as I bought the house, because I've never had propane before and it kind of scared me, lol. But so far no problems. I also have extinguishers in the kitchen and bedroom. But there's a large window right next to my bed, all the living area is on the ground floor, and there are windows in every room, so I don't think evacuating myself will be a problem. In case of a fire I intend to have the dogs follow me out and then break all the windows for the cats to evacuate themselves. Grabbing scared cats while an alarm is going off is not really the best idea.

I don't have the smoke detectors actually mounted to anything, just set on high shelves . One in the bedroom and one in the kichen area. I should take a few minutes to properly mount them.

 

[darkmavis]

We've got 3 smoke detectors, one in each bedroom and 1 in the hall area which would pick up any kitchen emergency. We also have a CO alarm which we had to replace recently because it was beeping, even after putting new batteries in, and it turned out it had expired. We've been in the house for 9 years, so whatever brand it is must have a 9 year shelf life!

On another note, our nextdoor neighbor called us over one night a few years ago because all of her smoke detectors were going off and she couldnt figure out why. We finally figured out they had an expiration date printed on them, so yeah, all of them had expired at the same time since she'd bought them all at the same time, so they were all chirping. It was pretty freaky though, before we knew the issue.

 

[Mother Dragon]

By the time my mom in her early 60s, she was, as we used to say, sot in her ways. She didn't like anything newfangled.

For Christmas one year, we decided to bring her out of the stone ages and replaced her old dial phone with a push-button one. We could tell she wasn't really happy but we knew it would be easier for her to operate.

That night the new phone began to make noise. "Beep!" Pause. "Beep!" Pause. Over and over again. She was frantic. She unplugged it.

Early the next morning she gingerly plugged it in and managed to call the phone company. She told them her phone was acting crazy and she needed it fixed immediately. They said they could come after New Year's. That wasn't good enough for her - not by a long shot. She huffed and puffed but they stood firm.

She finally played her trump card. She told them she was a heart patient (she was but in no danger) and she needed her phone in case of an emergency. They promised to come the next day and told her to unplug it, which she immediately did.

"Beep!" Pause. "Beep!" Pause. Over and over, from an unplugged phone.

She walked through the tiny hall where the phone was located. And where the smoke detector was merrily beeping away, announcing a low battery. I don't know what she told the phone company.

 

[NY cat man]

We also have 7 smoke alarms, plus 3 CO detectors. Ours all are of the sealed variety that don't use replaceable batteries. We also have 4 fire extinguishers- in the kitchen, upstairs, basement, and garage.

 

[Winchester]

Sounds like Harrigan was actually trying to do a good deed! Now you have all new smoke alarms.

We have three alarms, one in the hallway, one in the kitchen with a fire extinguisher, and one in the basement. We need to get a smoke alarm and fire extinguisher for the McShed.

The one in the hallway has been known to go off for no reason. Years ago, I came home from grocery shopping, and the blasted thing was blaring away. It also went off early one morning around 2:00 or so. Got Rick and our son scrambling out of bed and they were feeling walls, walking around outside, looking for amoke. Rick even went into the crawlspace above the house. Me? I was snoring merrily away. Rick woke me up, said, "My God, woman, didn't you hear the smoke alarm?" To which I replied, "No. Leave me alone," and rolled over and went back to sleep. He no sooner got back into bed than it went off again. He spent the night on the couch.

We did have a serious occurrence, though. One day I was doing laundry and I always had the the dryer running on Sensor, which means that as long as the dryer was sensing dampness, the dryer kept running. And running. And running. And, of course, you know me. I'm always doing a million things at one time and don't pay attention. And I always loaded the washer and dryer down with clothes.

We sat down to dinner that night. And the dining room light started to flicker. Our son and I looked at each other. And we tore down the basement steps. Sure enough, the dryer was on fire. It was arcing and that's why the dining room light was flickering. We started yelling and Rick came down. They got the dryer outside. And we had smoke everywhere. We were running around, trying to open windows in the basement and upstairs.

And what were the cats doing during all this frenzy? Why, they were sitting in a perfect circle on the kitchen table around the bowl of sweet and sour pork, taking turns getting chunks of pork out and chowing down.

Oh, and then one time, our son was making something in the oven. Whatever he was making bubbled over badly, all over the oven. And he never bothered to tell me. So not too long after that, I was making pizza and turned the oven on. Next thing, I look down at the oven window and the thing is on fire. I used flour to get it out. I asked my darling son why in the name of all that's holy did he not tell me what he did. He "forgot". I got it cleaned up to the point where I could set it to self-clean to get the rest. And kept watching through the window to make it didn't catch fire. Again.

DreamerRose We have a sticker in the living room window that says we have five cats (need to change it down to four or they'd be looking for a non-existent kitty) and one dog. That way, they knew to not just look for pets, but they know there are four cats and one dog.

 

[muffy]

I had one in my upstairs hallway and one in my basement.They kept going off for no reason and I could not stand the noise and it bothered my cats. I took them down and now I have none.

I will have it checked out one of these days.

 

[weebeasties]

Years ago my OH wanted going to deep fry some chicken. She poured a generous amount of oil in a stock pot and turned on the burner. As she waited for it to heat up she (Idiotically) decided to step outside to check the mail. Then she saw a branch that had fallen in the driveway and picked it up, then another...etc, completely forgetting about the oil on the stove. It wasn't until some time later that she stepped on the patio and heard something beeping. She opened the door to smoke rolling out. She smothered the fire and quickly began opening windows. The poor cats were hiding. Some under our bed, the others behind the couch. All safe but EXTREMELY traumatized. The AC had been running, so it had sucked in a lot of smoke and blown it through the vents throughout the house.
I came home from work to soot covering walls and ceilings. The kitchen was black. The stockpot had melted.
We came so close to a tragedy because of a few minutes of absentmindedness. If it wasn't for those smoke alarms beeping we would have lost everything, most importantly, the cats.
Years later and Sunshine still freaks out when she hears something sizzling. Even if we are just frying an egg.
My OH learned her lesson. NEVER leave a hot stove unattended and ALWAYS have fresh batteries in the smoke detectors! After reading this thread, I am going to be replacing the older ones. You can't be too safe.

 

[Jem]

A house fire is probably my biggest fear. Not because of losing my "stuff", but because of my cats.
We have a small house so we only have 2 smoke detectors, although I would like to have one more. Speaking of which, this fall, I need to replace the one in the basement.
So as mentioned, we have one in the basement near the water tank area, but a second on the other side of the basement would be best. Our other smoke detector is right outside of the bedrooms, in the hallway, that is also where we have our CO detector. A second CO detector in the basement is something we have wanted to get, and just haven't yet . The thing is, our water tank is fairly new and has some fail safes built into it in case of gas, CO or water leaks. Our nat. gas stove is old though, so we really should do it soon. And I know the upstairs smoke detector works to detect smoke coming from the kitchen/living area, because of the couple of times that what I was cooking in the oven produced a little too much smoke (bubbling over-spill from casseroles, bacon etc...) .
We have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, and it was checked a couple of years ago. My brother in law is a trained firefighter, so he'll look it over for us when we ask. A second one would be good the get, to have in our bedroom, in case something happens in the night and we can't get to the kitchen.
We "sort of" have an escape plan. But because fires are unpredictable and the location of where it can start varies, we have only talked about different scenarios and what we would do. All I know for sure, is that I would do whatever it took to save my kitties.

 

[Mother Dragon]

Sounds like Harrigan was actually trying to do a good deed! Now you have all new smoke alarms.

We have three alarms, one in the hallway, one in the kitchen with a fire extinguisher, and one in the basement. We need to get a smoke alarm and fire extinguisher for the McShed.

The one in the hallway has been known to go off for no reason. Years ago, I came home from grocery shopping, and the blasted thing was blaring away. It also went off early one morning around 2:00 or so. Got Rick and our son scrambling out of bed and they were feeling walls, walking around outside, looking for amoke. Rick even went into the crawlspace above the house. Me? I was snoring merrily away. Rick woke me up, said, "My God, woman, didn't you hear the smoke alarm?" To which I replied, "No. Leave me alone," and rolled over and went back to sleep. He no sooner got back into bed than it went off again. He spent the night on the couch.

We did have a serious occurrence, though. One day I was doing laundry and I always had the the dryer running on Sensor, which means that as long as the dryer was sensing dampness, the dryer kept running. And running. And running. And, of course, you know me. I'm always doing a million things at one time and don't pay attention. And I always loaded the washer and dryer down with clothes.

We sat down to dinner that night. And the dining room light started to flicker. Our son and I looked at each other. And we tore down the basement steps. Sure enough, the dryer was on fire. It was arcing and that's why the dining room light was flickering. We started yelling and Rick came down. They got the dryer outside. And we had smoke everywhere. We were running around, trying to open windows in the basement and upstairs.

And what were the cats doing during all this frenzy? Why, they were sitting in a perfect circle on the kitchen table around the bowl of sweet and sour pork, taking turns getting chunks of pork out and chowing down.

Oh, and then one time, our son was making something in the oven. Whatever he was making bubbled over badly, all over the oven. And he never bothered to tell me. So not too long after that, I was making pizza and turned the oven on. Next thing, I look down at the oven window and the thing is on fire. I used flour to get it out. I asked my darling son why in the name of all that's holy did he not tell me what he did. He "forgot". I got it cleaned up to the point where I could set it to self-clean to get the rest. And kept watching through the window to make it didn't catch fire. Again.

DreamerRose We have a sticker in the living room window that says we have five cats (need to change it down to four or they'd be looking for a non-existent kitty) and one dog. That way, they knew to not just look for pets, but they know there are four cats and one dog.

If you ever have a fire again, DO NOT USE FLOUR TO PUT IT OUT! Flour is explosive. Use salt instead.

 

[Jem]

Use salt instead.

I was always taught to use baking soda, is salt better or do they work the same overall?

 

[Mother Dragon]

Both are good, but salt is less apt to fly around, so it will hit the target better.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

We have one detector in each bedroom and two in the hallway. One is hooked to our home security system. We have no gas appliances so no carbon monoxide detector. At our old house that was the culprit of dead battery chimes! And it was always SO loud about it! And it never failed to run out while DH and I were at work with poor Mooch and Noodles stuck home listening to it for who knows how long.

But we did have a small gas leak there. I caught it before the detector! Nice right? The washer and dryer we across from the heat unit and Mooch and Noodles were always loosing toys under there. So late one night I was crawling around looking for toys after DH had gone to bed (it was right outside our bedroom) and I kept smelling something. Not super strong but something. I even went outside trying to be sure it wasn't something there. DH is hard to wake up but because we had a detector and it wasn't going off (we hadn't had it very long too!) he was unconcerned. We got up and went to work the next morning. I told my co-worker and decided to call the propane company we used. They sent someone to our house so fast they beat me there! And I only lived 10 minutes from work! They found a very small leak where the gas coming in connected to the heater. It didn't take long to fix and we were all safe and sound.

I'm very grateful it ended so well. DH and I both learned our lesson. I was more concerned than he was because I remember when a house near us did explode while I was in high school. Only the homeowner was home but his DD was down the street at a friends (which saved her life) and his other DD and wife were traveling. I lived miles away and heard it. A friend who lived closer was knocked out of bed! It knocked 2 other houses off their foundations! It's really nothing to take lightly.

We had a false alarm with our smoke detector once when DD was a baby. I've never seen my DH run so fast (and he was a runner ). In his underpants. With a baby in his arms. It's much funnier now.

My cousin-in-law and an old school friend are both firemen. I was told dust can trigger them. I'm more diligent on keeping them clean now. Cousin-in-law does NOT recommend the extinguishers you can get at Walmart and Lowes. He says to go to a proper store. I don't remember the brands though and I don't live near them. Our main extinguisher came from Lowes I'm pretty sure. It came with the house and we bought the house new. We also have a few things designed for the woodstove.

 

[Mother Dragon]

I had one in my upstairs hallway and one in my basement.They kept going off for no reason and I could not stand the noise and it bothered my cats. I took them down and now I have none.

I will have it checked out one of these days.

Muffy, a working smoke detector is vital for you and your babies. Please replace them immediately. We want you around here for a long time.

 

[muffy]

Muffy, a working smoke detector is vital for you and your babies. Please replace them immediately. We want you around here for a long time.

I don't know who to get to replace them. I don't know that if I get new ones that they will work.

 

[Willowy]

I don't know who to get to replace them. I don't know that if I get new ones that they will work.

They have basic ones for like $10 at Walmart. They don't need to be fancy . And the new ones don't go off for no reason as much as the old ones did. I'm sure they'll work, or someone would have sued the company already. And you can just put them on a high shelf , you don't have to mount them on the ceiling. Better than nothing!