Having read about 2 House fires in my County , how prepared are you ,
Do you have Smoke and Fire alarms , a fire Extinguishers, fire Blanket ?
Do you have an escape plan ?
I have a Fire Blanket and alarms .
I have five fire alarms and smoke alarms. As it happens our fire service did a check a couple of weeks ago.
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I don’t have a fire alarm for my home - it’s only a small bungalow so a smoke alarm is adequate.
I also have a small fire extinguisher and a fire blanket near the cooking appliances in the kitchen (not sure why I bother with those really because I never deep fry anything, have no naked flames and I have an induction hob)
As for escape plan, I always keep the front and rear doors locked but when I’m indoors, I leave the keys in the locks, so I wouldn’t have to fumble about for them in a dark or smoky hall if I had to get out in a hurry.
If I couldn’t get out of the doors, I could climb out of a window in any room, except the bathroom - I doubt I could fit through the small opening window in there!
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I leave my keys in door when im in , and carry the front door key in my pocket in case i answer the door and lock myself out .
Im also in a Bungalow and changed two large bedroom windows when i moved in to allow me to climb out .
If my house catches fire it will be a pile of ashes covered in sheets of corrugated iron within 20 minutes as it is built entirely of wood.
There are fire alarms in every room except the kitchen
Edit: I meant to say smoke detectors not fire alarms
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I have a fire and CO alarm. Since I live on the ground floor I hope I can escape through any door (3) and window.
I recently bought a key safe which I’m going to install in the unlocked part of my garden shed. One worry less.
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Smoke alarms fitted, plus I have an extinguisher just by the kitchen.
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I have smoke alarms and fire extinguishers. When I bought the fire extinguishers, I knew I would not use them but having them seemed to be the right thing to do. My keys are always next to me.
When I first moved here, there were a lot of instructions about how to prepare for a fire that had me planning for it out of worry. Over the years, I have less bandwidth for that.
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Prevention is better than cure. I’m on the first floor so a quality robust rope ladder might be worth consideration, something designed for purpose. Just in case.
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Mainly the fire service check all the devices.=
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I live in a retirement complex where it’s all taken care of.
The fire brigade are regularly called out for false alarms when someone burns their tea or toast.
There was one genuine fire when one of the old dears put a wet plastic shopping bag on her electric heater to dry …
On the fire drill blurb you’re told to stay in your flat if there is a fire unless told to evacuate.
No way. I’m out of there pronto.
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Can I just say something about leaving your keys in the door, I’m not trying to frighten anybody and I know it’s probably for the best safety wise
But if you leave your key in the door and you have an accident or unconscious it means no one can open the door from the outside using their key
This happened to me and mum. She had a fall and couldn’t get up, I could see her on the floor through the sitting room window and I had my key but couldn’t open the door to get to her. I phoned my husband and he rushed round to break in.
Fortunately she came round a bit before he got there and crawled to the front door and was able to reach up enough to get the key out
It was a horrible feeling, though
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Thats a good point Maree, The key to my front door is kept on me at all times, so if I do have an accident my Son as a spare key to get in …
Hope your mum had a quick recovery .
You can still get in with a key in the door… but only if the key on the inside is vertical, at 12 o’clock position.
Insert the outside key in the door as usual and find a handy stone from the garden to give your key a good tap.
It’ll push the inside key out enough so the locking mechanism inside the door frame can turn.
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sounds like you done this before Mort. Handy to know
Life seemed so much easier when you just got a ladder, a length of wire and found a window that hadn’t been closed properly.
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As for leaving your keys in the door it depends on the door and the lock. It just needs to be checked out.
We can lock the front door properly and leave the key in the lock in any position and the door can still be opened from outside by anybody who has a key. Used to be handy when the children came home late at night and is now in case carers or nurses need to get in.
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You’ve all made me think…we have smoke alarms but I need to think of escape routes from upstairs also we have fire extinguishers but they are in the garage…might be an idea to bring one inside the house 
Does your Extinguisher have to have its pressure tested . Is it a rechargable one …