Guineapigfeet
Adult Guinea Pig
Hi, I just wanted to share a very frightening experience in the hope it won’t happen to anyone else.
We all know how dangerous it is to leave candles burning unattended. Fire crews come into schools and drill this into us. But at 530 yesterday morning my next door neighbours’ house burnt down from a *burnt-out* candle, in a holder, that they left on top on a plastic storage box *outside* over night. The fire crews thought it was their tumble dryer in the conservatory but the smoke patterns didn’t match. They didn’t believe us when we said it started outside (my partner was the first to wake as we have a rear facing bedroom and the firelight woke him. I was the first to call 999 whilst he hammered on their front door to wake them - everyone got out fine) until nextdoor’s Cctv proved it started from just where we said it did.
It was terrifying how fast it spread. The fence was ablaze in minutes and by the time I was on the phone to the emergency services the conservatory was catching. From the conservatory it jumped to the loft and roof. The conservatory is gone. The boys’ bedroom and the spare room are destroyed, mostly from the roof collapsing in. The firstfloor floor is unsafe and there’s smoke and water damage in the whole of the back half of the house. Only the living room and the parents bedroom are OK. It does not bear thinking about what could have happened if we had been away, or if no one woke up. There was no smoke alarm in the conservatory and none in the loft.
Please please be super careful with candles, even if you think they are out. This can happen.
The firemen also gave us a tumble dryer lesson, as most house fires are caused by them. Never ever turn a drier off in the middle of a cycle. (I know we used to, if we had to go out unexpectedly) And never open the door. The rush of oxygen to a hot drier is enough to ignite it. Always turn the timer to 20mins to allow it go to through its cool-down cycle and then open it. (or how ever long the cool-down cycle of your drier is)
We were all very lucky. No one was hurt.
We all know how dangerous it is to leave candles burning unattended. Fire crews come into schools and drill this into us. But at 530 yesterday morning my next door neighbours’ house burnt down from a *burnt-out* candle, in a holder, that they left on top on a plastic storage box *outside* over night. The fire crews thought it was their tumble dryer in the conservatory but the smoke patterns didn’t match. They didn’t believe us when we said it started outside (my partner was the first to wake as we have a rear facing bedroom and the firelight woke him. I was the first to call 999 whilst he hammered on their front door to wake them - everyone got out fine) until nextdoor’s Cctv proved it started from just where we said it did.
It was terrifying how fast it spread. The fence was ablaze in minutes and by the time I was on the phone to the emergency services the conservatory was catching. From the conservatory it jumped to the loft and roof. The conservatory is gone. The boys’ bedroom and the spare room are destroyed, mostly from the roof collapsing in. The firstfloor floor is unsafe and there’s smoke and water damage in the whole of the back half of the house. Only the living room and the parents bedroom are OK. It does not bear thinking about what could have happened if we had been away, or if no one woke up. There was no smoke alarm in the conservatory and none in the loft.
Please please be super careful with candles, even if you think they are out. This can happen.
The firemen also gave us a tumble dryer lesson, as most house fires are caused by them. Never ever turn a drier off in the middle of a cycle. (I know we used to, if we had to go out unexpectedly) And never open the door. The rush of oxygen to a hot drier is enough to ignite it. Always turn the timer to 20mins to allow it go to through its cool-down cycle and then open it. (or how ever long the cool-down cycle of your drier is)
We were all very lucky. No one was hurt.