Smoke detector saves two lives

It was around 1 o'clock in the morning when a 69-year-old resident of a house on monchszehnt in bad rodach was awakened by the alarm of a smoke detector. He noticed smoke coming from one of the rooms and immediately alerted the fire department.

A short time later, district fire inspector stefan puls was the first to arrive at the scene of the fire. "The inhabitant had already left the building", he reports. This was done on the advice of the control center when the alarm call was received there. "There was a very good response, the man was instructed to keep the door to the room where the smoke had been detected closed so that the fire could not spread", says puls. In addition, all persons should immediately leave the building.

When the district fire inspector arrived, a 68-year-old woman was still in the building, but she could be brought to safety without any danger. "The smoke detectors were already off again, the smoke remained confined to the locked room", stefan puls describes the situation on arrival of the bad rodach fire department.

The employment aimed in the further proceeding above all at damage limitation. So first of all, respiratory protection workers installed a smoke barrier – a kind of curtain – in front of the room door. "This way they can enter the room without spreading large amounts of smoke into the building", explains stefan pulse.

Heating blanket was the cause

In the room the firefighters quickly found that the smoke was coming from a sofa. The police in coburg found out that a heating blanket had set the furniture on fire.

"Less than ten liters of water from the fire engine was enough to extinguish the fire", says stefan pulse. The residents had gone to sleep at about 11 p.M. Without the smoke detector alarm, they would probably not have noticed the smoldering fire, which could have quickly spread to a room fire. From there to the full fire of the house it would not have been far according to estimation of the fire department.

So the damage could be kept very limited. "The house is still habitable except for the room from which the smoke had emanated. And even there the damage is minor. "Above all, there was no water damage to the building thanks to the prudent use of extinguishing agents", says stefan puls.

According to the police in coburg, the 69-year-old resident had to be medically treated because he had fallen on the stairs in the excitement, resulting in bruises, and there was also suspicion of smoke poisoning, but without the rescue alarm of the smoke detector, there would have been far greater danger to life and limb, according to the district fire inspector.

Little lifesavers

In this context, stefan puls once again reminds us of the obligation to install smoke detectors, which has been in force since 2018. From his point of view, all homeowners should really comply with this obligation. "We have again and again cases, where by the alarm of the smoke detector worse fires could be prevented and above all the life of the inhabitants could be saved ?, emphasizes stefan puls.

A perception shared by the police. Stefan probst, press spokesman for the coburg police, confirms: "we have incidents with smoke detectors time and again." often these do not even appear in the published police report, because thanks to the smoke detectors a more serious operation is spared. The fact that smoke detectors now occasionally sound an alarm without there being any smoke is far outweighed by the benefits of the devices.

The reason for such false alarms are smoke detectors whose battery is about to run out. In this case, the device also emits a warning tone to indicate that it is no longer ready for use and must be fitted with a new battery. These usually last for several years.