I'am sorry that this months blog is a little light on content, this month we had a fire in our kitchen, caused by a fitted dishwasher that had an unobserved electrical fault.
We are all safe and the damage limited by the reactions of the family and of course the amazing response and actions of the brave boys and girls of our fire brigade.
I wish to share our experience with you in the hope it that it helps some one else in the future.
Always thirsty for a pint our 1 year old son woke me up about 12:30 and as I left his bedroom I smelt something unusual, somewhat tired I almost shrugged it off and returned to bed, but thought better and I descended the stairs to investigate, through the glass of the kitchen door I could see smoke, I checked the glass was cold with the back of my hand and opened to find the kitchen was full of acrid smoke so knew it was serious.
Holding my breath I opened the outside door in the hope of clearing it, and re closing the internal door behind me I rushed upstairs to wake my Wife Emma so I could investigate further.
This time on re-entering the kitchen I heard fire crackling and so we closed everything down and rushed upstairs to get our two babies and set them all down in our back room next to the patio doors and back garden with Emma's mother who was sleeping downstairs.
My Wife called 999, I turned the electric off, which cut off her call on the house phone!
We then all escaped with my Mother in Law out through the back we piled them all into the car outside and turned on the hazards to help the fire engines find us. I stepped into the road to directed the engines up.
The smoke was now billowing out of the roof tiles, and we could see the orange of the fire through the door so all just in time.
Luckily it only took minutes for the firefighters to have the first hoses set up and the BA team entered and put it out swiftly.
The Smoke alarms would have woken us eventually but the fire would have taken hold by then, luckily we were out before they went off or it could have been a whole lot worse.
We would like to thanks the Firefighters who attended so swiftly and also remind everyone that Smoke Kills, and smoke alarms saves lives!
Please check your smoke alarms today, also think about heat sensors in the kitchen and carbon monoxide alarms where appropriate, have a family escape plan that everyone knows especially if you spend time away from your loved ones.
Stay safe, Si