Fire! Fire!

This is an unusual post but I just wanted to share a gem of advice that I was given last night!

Over a glass of wine after dinner with my lovely British guests I discovered that they both worked for the fire service...one fighting fires and one answering those dreaded 111 emergency calls from panicked callers!

An intriguing occupation that must require great patience and calm clear responses in order to get the right services to the right place as soon as physically possible while trying to gleam as much information about the situation from someone in the hot spot!  So being my usual inquisitive self I was very keen to know if there was any pattern to the main causes [and therefore preventions] of most of the calls that they went out to....and here is what you may not know but you must know!

Any electrical appliance [typically dishwashers, dryers or washing machines] that you put on just before going to bed [and who doesn't!] remains on 'standby' throughout the night after the load has finished causing it to be a sitting duck for causing a house fire...all it takes is a small internal fault and the electricity surging through the machine gets hot and bursts into flames! Smoke fills the house and unless you have working [!] smoke alarms installed you could find yourself in serious danger! NOW this may sound really dramatic but according to these seasoned experts this is, alongside arson, one of the main causes of house fires...

SO in order to prevent this from happening you should install a timer to cut the power to the said machines as soon as the cycle has finished....just like a Chrismas tree timer...simple cheap and it could save your life!