Advice with Secured Windows and Fire Risk

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mclean

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#1110320 18-Aug-2014 11:11

Any plan which is supposed to happen after you wake up in an out-of-control fire is fraught with risk.

If you have automatic sprinklers that risk goes away. An NZS 4517 residential system to is not all that expensive - maybe a third of the cost of your carpets or kitchen appliances. The life safety record of properly installed systems is this country is essentially perfect. Installation is not so easy if have an existing skillion roof or if you live in a multi-unit building, but in most houses it's quite simple.

For sure, smoke detectors are the next best thing - just remember that smoke alarms have no effect whatsoever on a fire. Having to decide whether to go further into a burning house to rescue your kids, rather than get yourself out immediately, is a decision best avoided.

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#1110345 18-Aug-2014 11:22

mclean: Any plan which is supposed to happen after you wake up in an out-of-control fire is fraught with risk.

If you have automatic sprinklers that risk goes away. An NZS 4517 residential system to is not all that expensive - maybe a third of the cost of your carpets or kitchen appliances. The life safety record of properly installed systems is this country is essentially perfect. Installation is not so easy if have an existing skillion roof or if you live in a multi-unit building, but in most houses it's quite simple.

For sure, smoke detectors are the next best thing - just remember that smoke alarms have no effect whatsoever on a fire. Having to decide whether to go further into a burning house to rescue your kids, rather than get yourself out immediately, is a decision best avoided.

Is it even a decision you would need to make ? Hell itself couldn't keep me out of a building if my kids were inside.

We have good quality, regularly tested smoke detectors in a number of places in the house.

networkn

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#1110574 18-Aug-2014 15:30

Interesting conversation with the fire department.

The fire education guy said that if we have photoelectric smoke detectors in the house, especially in the hallway leading to our kids room, that he was completely confident we as adults would be able to get to the kids and either exit the house through the normal method, or be able to exit through the window with adult assisted force. He said he has the same situation in his house and relies on this technology himself.

He thinks VERY highly of the tiny little smoke detectors with the 10 year life and was really super happy that my sons school is doing this with them!

bazzer

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#1111120 19-Aug-2014 10:13

networkn: Is it even a decision you would need to make ? Hell itself couldn't keep me out of a building if my kids were inside.

You're not much good to them if you're dead?

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#1111122 19-Aug-2014 10:17

bazzer:
networkn: Is it even a decision you would need to make ? Hell itself couldn't keep me out of a building if my kids were inside.

You're not much good to them if you're dead?

What good would I be if they were dead?

At the end of the day, the entire conversation is based around mitigating the risks. With the smoke alarms all over the house and specifically in the areas the fire would need to travel to get to the kids rooms, I believe based on what the fire department has said,
that I would get enough warning to ensure I am there to help them if I needed to be. If the fire starts in the kids room, then God help me.

mclean

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#1111254 19-Aug-2014 12:48

Here are the risks, more or less, for house fire incidents in NZ:

Fire incidents per year: 5000

No smoke alarms or sprinklers:

Death rate:      6.0 per 1000 fires
Property loss:   $29,000 per fire

Smoke alarms installed (good system, 4 working detectors):

Death rate:      2.5 per 1000 fires
Property loss:   $29,000 per fire

Residential sprinklers installed:

Death rate:      1.2 per 1000 fires
Property loss:   $2,000 per fire

The advice from any experienced fire fighter is to get out immediately if your house is on fire - the danger from flashover is just too great. Of course instincts kick in when kids are involved, but the kids need to know what to do on their own.

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networkn

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#1111276 19-Aug-2014 13:15

mclean: Here are the risks, more or less, for house fire incidents in NZ:

Fire incidents per year: 5000

No smoke alarms or sprinklers:

Death rate:      6.0 per 1000 fires
Property loss:   $29,000 per fire

Smoke alarms installed (good system, 4 working detectors):

Death rate:      2.5 per 1000 fires
Property loss:   $29,000 per fire

Residential sprinklers installed:

Death rate:      1.2 per 1000 fires
Property loss:   $2,000 per fire

The advice from any experienced fire fighter is to get out immediately if your house is on fire - the danger from flashover is just too great. Of course instincts kick in when kids are involved, but the kids need to know what to do on their own.

Thanks for those stats. We have done fire drills at home, he got them at kindergarten and he got them at school recently. I am as comfortable as I can be that he knows the drill. My daughter is 2, and can't get out of her cot unassisted so one way or another I would have to get to her. Fire Department is 800m up the road from us,

not sure what the response time would be.

We also have a German Shepherd, I am pretty sure he would go NUTS if there was a fire.

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#1111279 19-Aug-2014 13:32

Edit: Original post deleted after properly reading your OP.

Smoke detectors are brilliant - I've seen the results of them being installed and of them not being installed.

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#1111285 19-Aug-2014 13:49

Dratsab: Edit: Original post deleted after properly reading your OP.

Smoke detectors are brilliant - I've seen the results of them being installed and of them not being installed.

It's part of our employee welcome package we provide 3 of them in a pack to encourage people install them.

Bung

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#1111309 19-Aug-2014 14:38

networkn: Interesting conversation with the fire department.

The fire education guy said that if we have photoelectric smoke detectors in the house, especially in the hallway leading to our kids room, that he was completely confident we as adults would be able to get to the kids and either exit the house through the normal method, or be able to exit through the window with adult assisted force. He said he has the same situation in his house and relies on this technology himself.

He thinks VERY highly of the tiny little smoke detectors with the 10 year life and was really super happy that my sons school is doing this with them!

The Consumer review of smoke detectors has another conventionally sized unit with a 10 year battery that they rate higher at smouldering and flaming fire detection than the tiny one with the bonus that it is half the price. Their testing was done at the fire lab at BRANZ.

Maybe anything above OK detection is good enough and he was using the Decorator's Guide.

Swanny

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#1111706 19-Aug-2014 23:49

Now thinking about upgrading ours. Both needed new batteries after we'd only been in the (new) house a couple of months. Must have been in the bargain bin.....

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#1111708 19-Aug-2014 23:54

You can get special locks that restrict the amount windows can open (eg if someone trys to open it wider from the outside). But it can be disengaged from the inside when the window is closed in the case of emergency, and then the window can be fully opened. I used to have these on windows in a house I lieve when I was a child. I would have thought that would be the best option.

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