HB13DISH
Retired Mod
- Joined
- Aug 13, 2007
- Messages
- 3,764
- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 0
- Age
- 78
- My Location
- Middle East - Israel
What a day !!!
Settled down this morning in front of the PC and after 30 minutes I smelt something odd. Looked everywhere inside my apartment, but there was nothing alarming.
Then I opened one of the windows and looked outside, and there it was, heavy smoke coming out of my neighbor's apartment, just below mine.
So I rushed downstairs, the door was open and my lady neighbor was holding a bucket of water in her hands and then she poured it's content over the window type air-conditioner.
She told me that it started to smolder all of a sudden, tripped the circuit breaker, but it seems to be burning from inside.
We poured some more water over the outside to cool it down.
We were (the whole building and tenants) extremely lucky that she acted immediately, otherwise the whole building could have gone up in smoke.
I think that people don't take much notice of fire hazards until they experience it just once in their life
Here is a list of preventive actions:
1 - Don't switch on any electrical equipment and then leave it without supervision.
2 - Switch off your PC and peripherals, especially when you go to bed.
DON'T be lazy because you have to switch it on in the morning. You have no idea how high the temperature inside the PC is and for goodness sake don't put any books or catalogs on the top of your PC. Use a shelf instead. Also keep the ventilation vents at least 30 cm from the wall.
3 - Have a fire extinguisher around, whether inside your apartment, or in every story if you live in a multi-story building. Make sure that the tenants know how to use it.
4 - If you are cooking something, don't get distracted by phone calls or people knocking on your front door. Worst hazard is when you pour some oil and then leave it w/o supervision, even for one minute.
Also set an alarm to remind you every 15 minutes that you have something cooking. I have a little alarm gadget and it has proved to be very useful when I leave something on, as it keeps reminding me to check every now and then.
If you feel tired, DON'T go to bed while there is something cooking. You could drowse off and end up in heaven (or hell).
Please add to the list if you like. I just covered a fraction of preventive measures against fire hazards.
Settled down this morning in front of the PC and after 30 minutes I smelt something odd. Looked everywhere inside my apartment, but there was nothing alarming.
Then I opened one of the windows and looked outside, and there it was, heavy smoke coming out of my neighbor's apartment, just below mine.
So I rushed downstairs, the door was open and my lady neighbor was holding a bucket of water in her hands and then she poured it's content over the window type air-conditioner.
She told me that it started to smolder all of a sudden, tripped the circuit breaker, but it seems to be burning from inside.
We poured some more water over the outside to cool it down.
We were (the whole building and tenants) extremely lucky that she acted immediately, otherwise the whole building could have gone up in smoke.
I think that people don't take much notice of fire hazards until they experience it just once in their life
Here is a list of preventive actions:
1 - Don't switch on any electrical equipment and then leave it without supervision.
2 - Switch off your PC and peripherals, especially when you go to bed.
DON'T be lazy because you have to switch it on in the morning. You have no idea how high the temperature inside the PC is and for goodness sake don't put any books or catalogs on the top of your PC. Use a shelf instead. Also keep the ventilation vents at least 30 cm from the wall.
3 - Have a fire extinguisher around, whether inside your apartment, or in every story if you live in a multi-story building. Make sure that the tenants know how to use it.
4 - If you are cooking something, don't get distracted by phone calls or people knocking on your front door. Worst hazard is when you pour some oil and then leave it w/o supervision, even for one minute.
Also set an alarm to remind you every 15 minutes that you have something cooking. I have a little alarm gadget and it has proved to be very useful when I leave something on, as it keeps reminding me to check every now and then.
If you feel tired, DON'T go to bed while there is something cooking. You could drowse off and end up in heaven (or hell).
Please add to the list if you like. I just covered a fraction of preventive measures against fire hazards.
