Fire drill

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?
 
Having had to get out of the top floor of a three story building via a window and with plenty of time to do it, (even put wet towels by the door) found when I was standing in the road that I had an empty tobacco tin in my hand! Why? No recollection of picking it up.
Motto, just get youself out as quick as possible and DON'T bother with anything else.
 
Never done a fire drill but if I had to get out of the MH quickly, I'd not bother with shoes or any other clothing for that matter. The idea of being burnt to death exceeds any other horrific death that I can think of.
 
Living on a boat for the best part of 14 years, it was standard practice to have a grab bag with all the bare necessities in it, wallet, passports, essential meds etc. This can be the bag you normally take out with you during the day. All you have to do is grab it on the way out. Nowadays these items are all on the table or seat twixt bed and door. Slip on shoes ready by the door, all you have to do is stick your feet in them.…you are not much use if you need to help others if your hopping round with sharp edged gravel stuck in your feet, or the ground is frozen. Likewise grab warm clothes lying ready on the way out. Don’t waste time putting them on. I once spent half an hour hopping around like an eejit in a frozen car park in January in Scotland: that emergency was toxic gas not fire. But not much point swapping an excess of heat for hyperthermia. My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering for ages afterwards!
 
Personally I don't think I will bother worrying and going to such lengths because something just might happen at some time in the future. Life's too short. 😂
 
Personally I don't think I will bother worrying and going to such lengths because something just might happen at some time in the future. Life's too short. 😂
Sorry but It’s not about worrying it’s about planning, so life’s not even shorter. Simple things like if a fire broke out in my home what would I do. And if not sure you can contact your local fire brigade for a free fire safety visit. They will give good advice that may safe your life, and your families life. Sadly I witnessed the results of none or poor planning all to often.
 
Personally I don't think I will bother worrying and going to such lengths because something just might happen at some time in the future. Life's too short. 😂

Same as. I've set my oven on fire a couple of times but luckily I've woken up before any damage done. Nobody parks near me now for some strange reason.

Problem now solved, I'm not allowed to use the oven anymore.
 
No question for me grab keys and drive out, we wild camp always so we know to park facing the easiest way out, I would assume others do the same on sites, then even if you have blinds up you can drive 20-30 feet to then be safe enough to prepare for driving further.


Doing a fire drill is a bloody good idea though as it might yours on fire.
 
Trying a fire drill tells you simple little things you might never have thought of otherwise. Out of habit we leave things like key fob, wallet, passports at the front or in glovebox. These and other essentials could not be reached without raising the bed taking precious time. Taking these may not save your life, but in a foreign country in the middle of the night and possibly without a phone to summon help would make like very difficult.

Whilst we would certainly drive out if we could, if one side of our own van is already burning as a result of somebody else’s fire we’d need to bail out sharpish instead.
 
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Living on a boat for the best part of 14 years, it was standard practice to have a grab bag with all the bare necessities in it, wallet, passports, essential meds etc. This can be the bag you normally take out with you during the day. All you have to do is grab it on the way out. Nowadays these items are all on the table or seat twixt bed and door. Slip on shoes ready by the door, all you have to do is stick your feet in them.…you are not much use if you need to help others if your hopping round with sharp edged gravel stuck in your feet, or the ground is frozen. Likewise grab warm clothes lying ready on the way out. Don’t waste time putting them on. I once spent half an hour hopping around like an eejit in a frozen car park in January in Scotland: that emergency was toxic gas not fire. But not much point swapping an excess of heat for hyperthermia. My teeth wouldn’t stop chattering for ages afterwards!

I keep a bag behind the seat.

I don't actually have anything in it though! Now I have a use for it (y)
 
We hang our keys next to the door as a matter of habit, have slip on shoes next to door also. My bag and our jackets / coats/ clothes are always on seat next to the door ( swivelled into van) and driver's seat always faces forwards. Had done this without actively thinking of fires.....but seems like we have covered it fairly well. However, passports and documents are not quite as accessible, so this post has made me rethink where I keep them.
 
We hang our keys next to the door as a matter of habit, have slip on shoes next to door also. My bag and our jackets / coats/ clothes are always on seat next to the door ( swivelled into van) and driver's seat always faces forwards. Had done this without actively thinking of fires.....but seems like we have covered it fairly well. However, passports and documents are not quite as accessible, so this post has made me rethink where I keep them.
Much the same, except passport accessible in few seconds. Not worried about documents.

Guess one benefit, my panel van is more door than panel, and one is likely to be open, depending on where parked.
 
Much the same, except passport accessible in few seconds. Not worried about documents.

Guess one benefit, my panel van is more door than panel, and one is likely to be open, depending on where parked.
I guess a good idea is to scan all the documents beforehand and email them to yourself (so copy on phone and also on 'the cloud') so you can access the info still if you make a fast exit.
 
Sorry but It’s not about worrying it’s about planning, so life’s not even shorter. Simple things like if a fire broke out in my home what would I do. And if not sure you can contact your local fire brigade for a free fire safety visit. They will give good advice that may safe your life, and your families life. Sadly I witnessed the results of none or poor planning all to often.
I would have expected you to respond exactly that way. But i do think its about worrying to start with that then causes the planning to happen. It all stars with "What if". If others want to do it and live their lives that way fine. I did say in my post personally not for me.
What if I am parked in a wood and a tree falls on me, must we plan for it. What if, what if, etc, etc, When does the risk of something happening become so little we don't have to bother planning for it. I know vans do set fire. I know vans do set on fire and set others on fire on aires but it happens so seldom to ME its not even worth a consideration. If it was I simply would not go on such a aire.

As for people keeping everything in a bag nice and handy I am sure the next time they are gassed the thieves will be very appreciative. 🤣
 
I would have expected you to respond exactly that way. But i do think its about worrying to start with that then causes the planning to happen. It all stars with "What if". If others want to do it and live their lives that way fine. I did say in my post personally not for me.
What if I am parked in a wood and a tree falls on me, must we plan for it. What if, what if, etc, etc, When does the risk of something happening become so little we don't have to bother planning for it. I know vans do set fire. I know vans do set on fire and set others on fire on aires but it happens so seldom to ME its not even worth a consideration. If it was I simply would not go on such a aire.

As for people keeping everything in a bag nice and handy I am sure the next time they are gassed the thieves will be very appreciative. 🤣
Fine line between being aware and overly concerned I suppose, and everyone has to draw their own line.
I always have and still do park in a way that allows an easy escape, seems to make sense, but I'm also aware that if someone really doesn't want me to move, I'm going nowhere.
Few blocks in front of a few tyres, let tyres down, cut coolant hose, endless list.

Most modern vans will have so many warning buzzers going off, what you going to do, look for the manual.

Anyway, I still sleep well :ROFLMAO:
 

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