Another tall building fire

[Gfamily]

Um.

‘Right Fred, it’s your turn to set off the fire alarm this week… yes of course we’ll back you up if you’re quizzed, we were all definitely sure we could smell burning from somewhere, always better safe than sorry innit?’

In the documentary series How do you want me? Peter Serafinowicz played an On Call fireman whose team used to arrange for fires to be set from time to time.

[nekomatic]

You’ve jumped ahead of the bit where someone was supposed to say ‘Well obviously the incentive would only pay out if it turned out there actually was a fire’.

[Grumble]

You’ve jumped ahead of the bit where someone was supposed to say ‘Well obviously the incentive would only pay out if it turned out there actually was a fire’.

I think it should pay out if there was an activation of a fire detector. Doing something like holding a lighter under a detector would be an offence.

[dyqik]

You’ve jumped ahead of the bit where someone was supposed to say ‘Well obviously the incentive would only pay out if it turned out there actually was a fire’.

And how hard is it to leave the paper towels on the toaster accidentally?

[Pucksoppet]

You’ve jumped ahead of the bit where someone was supposed to say ‘Well obviously the incentive would only pay out if it turned out there actually was a fire’.

And how hard is it to leave the paper towels on the toaster accidentally?

Frankly, putting flammable items on sources of ignition is idiotic, even if they are currently unpowered. I don't use the kitchen hob as a surface to put things on, or toasters, and I cringe inwardly when I see people just treating them as a conveniently free flat surface on which to dump things.

[Gfamily]

You’ve jumped ahead of the bit where someone was supposed to say ‘Well obviously the incentive would only pay out if it turned out there actually was a fire’.

And how hard is it to leave the paper towels on the toaster accidentally?

Frankly, putting flammable items on sources of ignition is idiotic, even if they are currently unpowered. I don't use the kitchen hob as a surface to put things on, or toasters, and I cringe inwardly when I see people just treating them as a conveniently free flat surface on which to dump things.

Yes, but when it's getting towards the end of term, and you have to get the train fare home ...
I think that was the implication

[dyqik]

You’ve jumped ahead of the bit where someone was supposed to say ‘Well obviously the incentive would only pay out if it turned out there actually was a fire’.

And how hard is it to leave the paper towels on the toaster accidentally?

Frankly, putting flammable items on sources of ignition is idiotic, even if they are currently unpowered. I don't use the kitchen hob as a surface to put things on, or toasters, and I cringe inwardly when I see people just treating them as a conveniently free flat surface on which to dump things.

You are spectacularly missing the point here.

[username]

There's a degree of stupidity on my part in this story, but I almost set fire to my girlfriend's parent's flat once. We were cooking and the alarm went off (as it had done so many times). The flat was in a converted house in west London, the alarm switches were in a communal area. My GF went to switch the alarm off, but couldn't, came back for my help and we both went to try to fix it. Neither of us could, so my GF went back up to the flat, which she found filled, really filled, with smoke from the decent sized conflagration on the stove, which I had unfortunately left on

Maybe motion detectors would be a good supplemental addition to smoke alarms.

[username]

Of relevance; New smoke alarm standards

[Gfamily]

There's a degree of stupidity on my part in this story, but I almost set fire to my girlfriend's parent's flat once. We were cooking and the alarm went off (as it had done so many times). The flat was in a converted house in west London, the alarm switches were in a communal area. My GF went to switch the alarm off, but couldn't, came back for my help and we both went to try to fix it. Neither of us could, so my GF went back up to the flat, which she found filled, really filled, with smoke from the decent sized conflagration on the stove, which I had unfortunately left on

Maybe motion detectors would be a good supplemental addition to smoke alarms.

There's a good new-ish podcast series by Tim Harford called Cautionary Tales in which the first episode is about how incidents can escalate because the wrong things are focused on at the wrong times and people assume things are how they should be rather than how they are.

[Martin Y]

Of relevance; New smoke alarm standards

Thanks for that. Interesting link.

Curiously though, I got distracted by thinking "UL - that rings a bell, but who are they again?" and then spent quite a lot longer than one might imagine possible clicking around their website trying merely to discover what the letters "UL" stand for. Now I have deja vu as I suspect I did exactly the same thing not that long ago.

[dyqik]

Underwriters Laboratory

The US equivalent of a CE mark. They do substantial fire safety testing at building system level as well, including in giant wind tunnels.

[Martin Y]

Underwriters Laboratory

The US equivalent of a CE mark. They do substantial fire safety testing at building system level as well, including in giant wind tunnels.

Their website, including its "About" and "History" links were designed by someone who did not imagine its being visited by people who did not already know what UL is.

[dyqik]

Underwriters Laboratory

The US equivalent of a CE mark. They do substantial fire safety testing at building system level as well, including in giant wind tunnels.

Their website, including its "About" and "History" links were designed by someone who did not imagine its being visited by people who did not already know what UL is.

It's in the first paragraph of their Wikipedia article.

[username]

This post intentionally made blank.

[username]

There's a degree of stupidity on my part in this story, but I almost set fire to my girlfriend's parent's flat once. We were cooking and the alarm went off (as it had done so many times). The flat was in a converted house in west London, the alarm switches were in a communal area. My GF went to switch the alarm off, but couldn't, came back for my help and we both went to try to fix it. Neither of us could, so my GF went back up to the flat, which she found filled, really filled, with smoke from the decent sized conflagration on the stove, which I had unfortunately left on

Maybe motion detectors would be a good supplemental addition to smoke alarms.

There's a good new-ish podcast series by Tim Harford called Cautionary Tales in which the first episode is about how incidents can escalate because the wrong things are focused on at the wrong times and people assume things are how they should be rather than how they are.

Ace podcast, thanks!

[username]

Underwriters Laboratory

The US equivalent of a CE mark. They do substantial fire safety testing at building system level as well, including in giant wind tunnels.

Their website, including its "About" and "History" links were designed by someone who did not imagine its being visited by people who did not already know what UL is.

It's in the first paragraph of their Wikipedia article.

My bad, I could have introduced the piece better. I couldn't find an equivalent revision in CE but it's possible it's being (or been) done as well (or maybe there's a British Standard layer for smoke detectors idk).

[jimbob]

Their website, including its "About" and "History" links were designed by someone who did not imagine its being visited by people who did not already know what UL is.

It's in the first paragraph of their Wikipedia article.

My bad, I could have introduced the piece better. I couldn't find an equivalent revision in CE but it's possible it's being (or been) done as well (or maybe there's a British Standard layer for smoke detectors idk).

EN54-something

From memory, I can't remember which I think EN54-9.

Australia also was important in their standards, but they were roughly equivalent in detecting fires.

We ised to go to the Loss Prevention Council at the old Elstree studios for the qualification test fires.

[OneOffDave]

There's a good new-ish podcast series by Tim Harford called Cautionary Tales in which the first episode is about how incidents can escalate because the wrong things are focused on at the wrong times and people assume things are how they should be rather than how they are.

There's CCTV of a deliberately set fire in an off licence and it's fascinating to watch the reaction of people as they come in and out of the shop just looking at the fire as if there's always a display on fire in that corner of the shop. The quality is a bit poor but it's interesting viewing.

[shpalman]

There's a good new-ish podcast series by Tim Harford called Cautionary Tales in which the first episode is about how incidents can escalate because the wrong things are focused on at the wrong times and people assume things are how they should be rather than how they are.

There's CCTV of a deliberately set fire in an off licence and it's fascinating to watch the reaction of people as they come in and out of the shop just looking at the fire as if there's always a display on fire in that corner of the shop. The quality is a bit poor but it's interesting viewing.

Nice screensaver!

[rockdoctor]

I learned a useful thing about house fires when I was a teenager. I was watching telly, mum was heating up fat to fry chips. The phone went and she went out to the hall to answer it (back in the days of wired landlines). Unfortunately she got caught up in a good natter and forgot the chip pan. Eventually I opened the door to the kitchen and found it filled with utterly opaque white gaseous fat smoke. I plunged in and turned off the gas stove and was opening windows when dad ran in. He saw how much smoke was still coming off the pan and decided to carry it outside.
As he stepped outside the back door it erupted in flames so he flung it away from him. Some boiling fat splashed on him as a result and he had to go to hospital for the burns.
I was pretty astonished how much energy the exploding fat held. So I am very cautious around hot flammable liquids and we microwave our chips now (like everyone else)

[Sciolus]

How many lives have been saved by the invention of the oven chip?

A not dissimilar story about grilling sausages is why I have a fire blanket in the kitchen.

[Hunting Dog]

I was pretty astonished how much energy the exploding fat held. So I am very cautious around hot flammable liquids and we microwave our chips now (like everyone else)

I manage to royally f.ck up frying chips when we had an electric hob with open elements... I did all the wrong things including moving the pan - but got away with it - however am now banned from attempting to deep fry anything

[JQH]

I learned a useful thing about house fires when I was a teenager. I was watching telly, mum was heating up fat to fry chips. The phone went and she went out to the hall to answer it (back in the days of wired landlines). Unfortunately she got caught up in a good natter and forgot the chip pan. Eventually I opened the door to the kitchen and found it filled with utterly opaque white gaseous fat smoke. I plunged in and turned off the gas stove and was opening windows when dad ran in. He saw how much smoke was still coming off the pan and decided to carry it outside.
As he stepped outside the back door it erupted in flames so he flung it away from him. Some boiling fat splashed on him as a result and he had to go to hospital for the burns.
I was pretty astonished how much energy the exploding fat held. So I am very cautious around hot flammable liquids and we microwave our chips now (like everyone else)

At least he didn't chuck water on it ...

[Gfamily]

When i was a teacher, a favourite demo was to heat a stub of candle wax in a crucible until it melted and then set it alight.

I'd then get the pupils to stand back and I'd squirt a syringe of water on it. Fortunately, our lab had a high ceiling, because the flame went a good 2 metres above the bench. I trust they learned the lesson.