barge1914
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Following a discussion on another thread we thought we would have a fire drill. It’s an exercise clearly worth doing, especially if you park regularly on aires or in car parks where others park uncomfortably close. What happens if the van next door is on fire and so close the fire will very soon spread to your van.
Do you escape quickly via the hab door? But if the fire is on that side, how long will it take to get out on the other side? You’ll be befuddled by sleep, trying to grab essentials like wallet and phone, where are your shoes, the seats may be the wrong way round to reach the door. Do your security devices block your escape? Can you start your van and get it out of harms way? Without knowing how long each of these hurdles takes to get past it will be hard to make safe decisions.
So, we had a fire drill and timed ourselves.
1) To get out of high level bed, peep out each side, grab essentials, slide feet in shoes and get out of habitation door…30 seconds.
2) As above, but additionally shove up the bed, turn seats and get out of drivers door…about 1 minute.
3) As 2 above. But push up front window blind, driver and passenger cab side windows, disable immobiliser, start engine and drive out leaving blocks behind…1 minute 30 Sec.
A worthwhile exercise as we learnt some valuable things in doing it and thinking it through.
1) When we go to bed ensure essentials: phone, wallet, clothes, keys, etc. are immediately available to grab on the way out (without being obstructed behind the drop down bed.
2) Make sure slip on shoes are ready by hab door pointing outwards ready to slip feet into whilst exiting.
3) When we fold down front seats to lower the bed do so with them facing forward.
4) Don’t leave pedal box, steering wheel or external wheel clamps or locks in place at night.
5) If parked on blocks make sure they face the direction of escape.
6) Ideally park facing towards exit route. It’s a lot more difficult and time consuming to back out at night.
7) Don’t use external silver screens when parked uncomfortably close to other vehicles.
8) Make sure the smoke alarm has a functioning battery in it.
There’s only two of us and one is a very light sleeper, it may well take others a lot longer, especially if you have more people, children, dogs, or people with physical disabilities. And of course at night it will be dark and you may be drowsy.
I can hear you all scuttling around your vans now doing fire drills. How long did it take? What did you learn?
Do you escape quickly via the hab door? But if the fire is on that side, how long will it take to get out on the other side? You’ll be befuddled by sleep, trying to grab essentials like wallet and phone, where are your shoes, the seats may be the wrong way round to reach the door. Do your security devices block your escape? Can you start your van and get it out of harms way? Without knowing how long each of these hurdles takes to get past it will be hard to make safe decisions.
So, we had a fire drill and timed ourselves.
1) To get out of high level bed, peep out each side, grab essentials, slide feet in shoes and get out of habitation door…30 seconds.
2) As above, but additionally shove up the bed, turn seats and get out of drivers door…about 1 minute.
3) As 2 above. But push up front window blind, driver and passenger cab side windows, disable immobiliser, start engine and drive out leaving blocks behind…1 minute 30 Sec.
A worthwhile exercise as we learnt some valuable things in doing it and thinking it through.
1) When we go to bed ensure essentials: phone, wallet, clothes, keys, etc. are immediately available to grab on the way out (without being obstructed behind the drop down bed.
2) Make sure slip on shoes are ready by hab door pointing outwards ready to slip feet into whilst exiting.
3) When we fold down front seats to lower the bed do so with them facing forward.
4) Don’t leave pedal box, steering wheel or external wheel clamps or locks in place at night.
5) If parked on blocks make sure they face the direction of escape.
6) Ideally park facing towards exit route. It’s a lot more difficult and time consuming to back out at night.
7) Don’t use external silver screens when parked uncomfortably close to other vehicles.
8) Make sure the smoke alarm has a functioning battery in it.
There’s only two of us and one is a very light sleeper, it may well take others a lot longer, especially if you have more people, children, dogs, or people with physical disabilities. And of course at night it will be dark and you may be drowsy.
I can hear you all scuttling around your vans now doing fire drills. How long did it take? What did you learn?