WITHIN five minutes of the home fire safety visit starting, 11-year-old Daniel Fallon was scurrying to the dustbin to dispose of a multiple box-shaped adaptor.

They are, according to firefighter Ryan Hall, a ‘big no no’, which have a reputation for overloading and hanging half out of sockets.

It was the first piece of advice dished out to 37-year-old nurse Tracey Fallon and husband Tom (40) during a fire safety visit at their house.

The visits, usually carried out by two firefighters, are short, straightforward and free.

The officers give advice on fire safety, point out areas of potential fire risk, help to create an escape plan and, if it is needed, fit a free smoke alarm.

Jersey Fire and Rescue Service’s community safety officer, Marc Le Cornu, said that his officers visited every sort of home ‘from houses whose occupants can’t afford to carpet their floors to sprawling mansions in the country’.

Today, they were somewhere in between – a beautiful two-storey, four-bedroom house in St Saviour.

Chatting on the sofa before the home safety visit began, Mrs Fallon said: ‘I think we could be more fire aware. I think our house is quite safe but I’m not sure that we would know what to do if a fire broke out.

‘As a nurse you are given training to prepare for a serious event, so I suppose we should have one for the home as well.’

The person to help formulate this plan was firefighter Ryan Hall, who took Mrs Fallon, her husband, Tom, and their children, Daniel and Joel (7), around their house during the fire safety visit.

The starting point was the TV room, where Mr Hall found the unpopular box adaptor, and suggested it should be replaced with a flat four-track adaptor.

A quick test of the smoke alarm in the hall leading to the living room was followed by a visit to the living room and then the kitchen.

Mr Hall said: ‘The problem with having a smoke alarm in the kitchen is that it will tend to go off while cooking, so it is important to minimise the risk of fire in the first place.

‘The best advice is not to use a chip pan at all, make sure kettles and toasters are turned off and try not to use the tumble dryer at night, as their motors can sometimes catch fire.’

Upstairs, Mr Hall found that both smoke alarms were working and that the house was generally safe, mainly thanks to the lack of electrical appliances.

He advised the couple to test their smoke alarms every week, vacuum them from time to time to ensure that they are free of dust and replace them every ten years, even if they appear to be working fine.

He also identified the master bedroom as the best safe room – where the family can gather if they find that they are unable to leave the house.

Mr Hall said: ‘If you are woken up by your smoke alarms the priority is to get out of the house, but if the fire and smoke is too bad, then the best advice is to get into a safe room.

‘Put the back of your hand across the door to check if it is hot. You use the back of the hand because it is more sensitive.

‘If it’s not hot, open the door, but keep low as you won’t know how high the smoke is.

‘If you find only hazy smoke, then there’s a good chance you can get out of the house. If there is really thick smoke, the best thing Tracey and Tom can do is to get their children and get back into their bedroom.

‘They would need to block the bottom of the door with a towel and call the fire brigade.

‘I have identified their bedroom as the best safe room because it has a phone point, is near to their neighbour’s house and so will give them a better chance of being heard when shouting for help, and has the best access point for firefighters.’

Mr Hall’s final job of the visit was to help the couple to make an escape plan. He showed them how to escape – by crawling down the stairs backwards – and advised them to keep the route to the door clear and ensure that their keys are at hand.

He said: ‘The worst thing to do is to run down the stairs and end up tripping and falling down in the rush.’
The visit was interesting and informative, and was even a source of fun for Daniel and Joel. And one day it may even help to save their lives.

Mrs Fallon said: ‘What Ryan has said has made a lot of sense and it was nice to be able to see what we would need to do if a fire broke out. It’s nice that the children were involved too, and I’m sure they will remember everything they were told, even if we forget a few bits.’

Just over half an hour later, Mr Hall was setting off back to the station, Mr and Mrs Fallon were flicking through a home fire safety booklet and Daniel and Joel were practising walking backwards down the stairs.