[kowen1971]

This is one of those things I have taken for granted my kids would know. Paint me ignorant. A friend of mines home caught fire in his garage. His 13 yr old son was home alone at the time, upstairs, playing video games. Lucky enough the fire was only smoldering and wasn't giving off sufficent smoke for him to notice. When my friend and his wife got home they noticed the smoke pouring under the garage door. The fire had come to life and my friend went to raise the garage door. Thank goodness his wife new better and stopped him. The sudden rush of oxygen rich air rushing in would have been a very bad thing for anyone standing by the door as the fire would have flashed out to feed on the new fuel supply. So, I asked my kids, ages 11 and 17 what they would do if home alone and saw smoke coming under a door and the door was hot to the touch. Their reply "open it to check for fire". NO NO NO! Make sure your kids, grandkids, spouses, and loved ones no to never open the door. Get out if the house and call 911. Needless to say, my boys and I had a long talk about how not knowing what's behind a door can, in the case of fire, can save your life.

 

[captain-03]

Great reminder!!

 

[jbpmidas]

Thank you!

 

[1985 4runner]

Good advice.

Feeling a door with the back of your hand instead of your fingertips will let you know if its hot (with fire behind it) without burning your fingers. Smoke is not always an indicator. And ALWAYS stay low, beneath the smoke, heat & flames to make an exit.

 

[Big Sexy]

They always told us as volunteers to check with the back of your hand cause if an electrical wire is exposed to the door knob and you happen to touch it that the electricity would make you hold onto the handle and could kill you.

 

[sidroski]

Good advice, smart lady. As an example of fresh air getting to the fire, one of my old neighbors house burned down. He was working on a race car and I was doing a brake job in the drive way. Looked up and there was a small amount of smoke coming from his garage. I ran to grab my fire extinguisher and took off running toward his house while the wife called 911. I got maybe 100 yards down the road and the small amount of smoke had turned into a blaze. When the fire started coming out of the roof gables, I knew it was all over except to make sure everyone had gotten out which they had. Fire in an oxygen rich environment spreads quickly as has been said.

 

[Volzfan]

I recently came upon a house in my neighborhood that was burning and I was the first on the scene. One bedroom on the front of the house was blazing and smoke was coming from everywhere. As I called 911 I went to the front door and was pounding on it. There was smoke coming out all around it but it was not hot. The dispatcher kept telling me not to try to go in but it was more for my safety. My yelling and pounding on the door woke the neighbor. It was 10:50 on a Monday night. He came out and told me that they older couple that lived there was spending the winter in FL so I'm very glad that I didn't kick in the door. It would have caused the fire to spread with the fresh air and possibly burned the house down. They still had massive damage from smoke and water but the fire only burned 2 bedrooms.