Here's a lesson for everyone.

[Phil]

This has nothing to do with biking but I have to share a recent incident with my E-mates on this forum.   Though you are all probably intelligent and know this already. 

Wednesday morning my wife left for work (well someone has to).  Now she usually leaves me asleep when she leaves the home but this morning she wanted to discuss her mother's funeral that was taking place the following day.  I am profoundly deaf and so I had to put in my hearing aids to lessen to the conversation.    Having given me her instructions she went to into the kitchen and turned on the dishwasher then left the house.   It was not long before I fell asleep again, still wearing my hearing aids.   

Sometime later I was woken by an alarm to discover the kitchen on fire.   The house was full of smoke and I had to fumble my way down stairs to the fornt door.   The fire brigade arrived within minutes and the fire was out soon after.    The kitchen is now out of bounds so we'll be spending a lot f time eating out and getting take aways.  But we are all safe thanks to the fact that I use wearing my hearing aids when the alarm went off. 

Now, this is the lesson.   1)  don't turn on electrical appliances then leave the house. 
                                        2)  shut all your internal doors before going to bed. 

The fire chief said I had I not heard the alarm I would have had less than four minutes between breathing in the first gulp of soot to death. 
The whole house, clothes, furniture, carpets et al is covered in black soot.  Had we closed the internal doors the soot would not have been so intense and we might have been able to use some of the rooms at least.   The insurance company have told us that they will clean up the place as they access the damage so we can either  live in thick soot or move out. 

Had we I not been in the house when the fire broke out we would not have a home now.   

Guys:  Please, pleas, please learn from our mistake.       Turn off all kitchen appliances when leaving the house and close all doors at night. 

Of Course, the general adult and intelligent nature of the posts on this forum leads me to believe that you probably know all this already and I'm teaching my grandmother to suck eggs.   But I would hate to learn that the same thing has happen to someone else because I did not put this posting on. 

Good News:  the bike survived and my  mother-in-law's funeral went without a hitch.   

Freeway Phil

   

[trophied]

Good advice about not running appliances when asleep or gone (especially with pets in the house).  Glad you are OK.  House fires are a traumatic experience, and in the states the last statistic I heard was that one in five people (20%) will be involved in one.  I'm one of the one in five, and my wife is another one.  Ours was from a car in the garage that had sat unused for more than 48 hours, at 2 am.  Never, ever, forget to change the smoke alarm, CO alarm batteries twice a year and replace them every 5 years.  Best wishes to you for a speedy return to a normal life.

[lemuriano]

Glad you are ok. I didn't know about the doors and thanks for sharing.

[RocketSteve]

A lesson indeed.

It's the smoke that kills and does a considerable amount of damage.

Unlike the Motorway signs; It's not tiredness that kills - it's falling asleep and CRASHING!

[Stelyn]

Sound advice,  glad your OK Phil,  a lucky escape by the sounds of it.....

[Tiny Tim]

Glad to hear that you're OK and that it "wasn't your time"

However, with regard to hearing fire alarms when asleep (and not waering hearing aids) check with the RNID (Royal National Institute for the Deaf) in the UK and or on Google. There are vibrating alarms which can fill the gap.They go under the pillow and are linked by radio to the smoke alarm.

[cropbiker]

Some excellent advice and very glad to bar you are alive and well to pass on your learnings!

[gfxmonkey]

Phil, good advice all round. Now could you please tell my wife!!! Apparently she knows everything so what I say goes in and out in the same breath!!!!!