How to escape from MH bedroom in case of fire

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When the devil is at your back chasing you out of the motor home, the last thing you wil be thinking about is where you put the extinguisher , rope, or anything of value. Everything can be replaced but your life..EVEN YOUR DOG, CAT or other PET.

With that said and having some Experiance teaching children how to survive a fire and get out alive, some advise.
1.  You are on your own....
2.  Close your bedroom door... (sleep with the door closed) very important will buy you time from smoke..
3.  Drop out of window..only superman jumps....hold on to bottom of window HANG AND DROP.  Normal person is 5'7"..... Even a fifth wheel is only 9'? You will fall maybe 36" 3ft? Give or take a few inches. In a home it will be about 10' between floors. 

Tomorrow go outside of your bedroom window and reach up and see how far you will fall. 

Never underestimate how fast a fire can spread.  Remember good air is as low as the toilet seat.  You have to get lower than a toilet seat and crawl that low to get out.

We tell children to get out do not try to save there dog, cat, mommy,daddy,brother or sister..YELL SCREAM MAKE A LOT OF NOISE to wake everyone else but you are ON YOUR OWN. Go to your meeting place and Stay there!!!!!!!  DO NOT GO BACK INSIDE!!!

Sounds cruel and cold but there are no do-overs..you become an adult in a instant.




Look at Jim's  pictures, study them.  Look at the plastic hanging..TOXIC..look at the burn pattern..

Class over now do your homework...  Please!!!!! Do your homework!!!!
 
Macthefireguy has a video showing how to exit a motorhome bedroom window. I believe he suggests getting a flexible ladder to help. I know at least one of us would have real trouble holding onto a rope, and probably trouble getting down a rope or chain ladder. (With arthritic hands, it is even hard to hang  by the windowsill, but I can see the point above that just sliding out feet first and dropping beats getting killed inside.)
 
Tin man said:
When the devil is at your back chasing you out of the motor home, the last thing you wil be thinking about is where you put the extinguisher , rope, or anything of value. Everything can be replaced but your life..EVEN YOUR DOG, CAT or other PET.
Click to expand...
Boy!  I'm not so sure about that one. :'(
 
Too Tom and Joyce

Ditto is part of your family, and if Ditto is like our Fritz, he sleeps on your bed at night.  Grab him and drop him out the window..if you sleep with the door closed he cannot get out.  More than likely he will let you know something is wrong before the smoke alarm goes off.  Remember you can go to a breeder to get another dog but I am sure you will not be able to replace TOM or JOYCE..

I sound so cold and heartless but this is a fact of life the devil WILL get you if you hesitate. 

A little CO will mess with your brain, and your thought process. 
 
Over the years I have looked at the gadgets available to exit both RVs and sticks and bricks. It takes time to deploy a device, open a window and get turned around to use the device.  I have grown to accept the fact that we will make a less than graceful nose dive through the bedroom window exit. Heat and smoke will make a person do things that are unthinkable. Look at the people that jump from a burning building from many stories to escape.  The most notable is the WTC. A tumble out of a RV will leave you broken and bruised but it sure beats the alternative.

I haven't really dug into the statistics but I have a feeling the odds of a fire aren't much higher than the sticks and bricks. I am not saying don't be prepared but just think your plan out and then think of the time that plan will take. Time will make or break survival. Smoke detectors that work will buy you some time. But think a minute. People diligently load up the living area but what about your basement storage? Just my $0.02!
 
Smoke detectors that work will buy you some time. But think a minute. People diligently load up the living area but what about your basement storage?
Click to expand...

I, too, think detection in basement areas is important. I found, though, that it is hard to hear a standard alarm sounding from a closed up basement, even at night with no other noise. I found some smoke alarms that connect with each other with a wireless system so that if one sounds, they all sound. I do not remember the brand - I am sure I just bought through Amazon or someone else online. During testing, they seem to work well. The only problem with them is that they do go through batteries fairly quickly.
 
Regarding a smoke/fire detector located in the basement area here is what I did with the smoke/fire detector that I installed behind the Norcold refer.  Basically my fire/smoke detector is located on the inside of the MHs outside wall next to the rear of the refer but the HORN was removed and about 4 feet of wire added so it could be located elsewhere.  I then brought the wires into the MH and the horn itself is now located inside the MH next to the bedroom and it is as loud as the one in the kitchen. 

I did this specifically so it could be easily heard inside the MH especially when sleeping.  A person could do the same with a smoke/fire detector located in the basement area.

Some pictures are in my reply #14 (msg # 378908) above.

JerryF

 
A good friend recently was awakened by the smoke detector. The Norcold 1200 LRIM refrigerator, will all recalls done by qualified dealers, caught fire while running on 120V electric power during the middle of the night. The bedroom door was closed so the air in there was not as smoke filled as the front. He had SECONDS to get out. Luckily, his wife was away and he had only himself to worry about. This fire was in an all steel bus and, from outside the damage looks minimal. It was totally gutted inside and was a total loss. He was able to grab the dog in a little carrier where it sleeps on the way out the door but NO time for anything else. No time to grab the cell phone, pants, computer on the table, nothing... If you smell smoke or a detector goes off, get out quickly. Never mind deploying anything. Run for your life.
 
No time to grab the cell phone, pants, computer on the table, nothing
Click to expand...

We have a small cloth bag next to the bed where we keep wallets, phone, money clips, keys, and a few other important things when we go to bed. We do this on the road in the motorhome and at the winter stick and bricks. In the motorhome in actually hangs from the big fire extinguisher handle. The extinguisher sits on top of the rope ladder to assist an escape. Never ran from a fire, but did escape when a tornado headed for us in the middle of the night. At least we had some basics with us when the house was destroyed. Having the credit cards and IDs really helped.
 
My thought is not to mess with the rope, but rather station a ladder outside your escape hatch
every time you park.  Many of us carry a short/medium latter for washing windshields or doing
other MH chores.  Make the escape hatch the position where it is stored while parked.  Thus your
ladder is always ready when you are.  Additionally if I wanted an inside 'tool' I would put what I
call a "Grabiron" somehow above the window.  You could use the table top as a 'slide' and the
handle to keep yourself up slightly and throw yourself out the window.  As stated the landing would
be problematic unless you're a retired gymnast, but like the pilots say, any landing you walk/crawl
away from is a good landing.

If you're worried about the security on your ladder, a short link of chain to secure it to 'something'
might be in order. 

Just my .02 worth.  I do like the idea of being prepared however.  Good topic to discuss in the forum
and work on solutions.
 
You could use the table top as a 'slide' and the
handle to keep yourself up slightly and throw yourself out the window. 


As stated in rule #3. Only superman jumps out a window  "Hang and Drop"

If your windows like my MH you will drop 4 inches.

 
I considered starting a new thread to expand on this a bit (it's a good topic, because it gets everyone thinking), but instead, I'll just ask my question here.

Many of us have Norcold refers, and they seem to be responsible for their share of fires, but is anyone concerned about residential refers in RVs? Mine at home generates a fair amount of heat behind it, so I assume a RR in an RV would do the same. Is anyone aware of any RR fire issues?

Kev
 
Kev,

The majority of fires from NoCold refers are caused by the coolant gases leaking out and catching fire. Residentials are a completely different animal and do not use the same gases to cool.

Now that does not mean a residential cannot catch fire but I think the possibility is extremely remote compared to an RV refer. I am much more relieved with our residential than the NoCold with which I had numerous problems with cooling units even though none, fortunately, caught fire.
 
Jim

Looked like a lot oh heat, not much fire in your pictures, but did not get the whole MH what started the fire? What time of day, and did the smoke alarms work?

Jim

Must of been a quick response from the fire department walls still intact.

 
Jim,

There was quite a bit of fire but the owner was able to pour water from two hoses down the chimney to keep it somewhat contained until the fire department got there. A neighbor also used a hose through the entry door. The outside of the coach looked like nothing happened except for the area around the chimney vent on the roof. Amazing!

The Norcold was the source of fire. I had just talked to him two days before about the latest Norcold recall. He did not know about it and called for the parts right away. They were in the mail when the fire occurred.


It takes the fire department at least nine minutes to get to our location. This was at 1:00am so it probably took a little bit longer. They told him to get away from the coach but he refused until they got their hose charged. I don't remember if the smoke detectors worked or not. The wife woke up and smelled something. The owner knew immediately what was happening and told her to get out.
 
Will be in Titusville today your resort..great Outdoors?  Sound advise get out ASAP..only have a few minuets if that much.  For people who are Not aware the reson the FD told the owner to get back; you are on a bomb..propane is running through your coach and one burnt line becomes a blow torch..

Gas fires are nasty, have to shut off the source before you put out the fire. One of the reasons your door covering the propane access does not have a lock on it. 

 
At the risk of angering you folks for being overly redundant please look at what I did with regard to installing a fire/smoke detector in the same area as our Norcold 1210 (behind and next to it) and then moving the fire/smoke detector's horn INTO the motorhome so it would wake you up if it sounded.  In our coach that horn is closer to the bedroom than the kitchens smoke detector's horn.

May I suggest that ANYONE who has a Norcold or Dometic refer do this.  The earlier you get a warning the more likely you'll get out safely.

This URL explains what I did regarding the Smoke/Fire detector.  By the way, after I wrote this I removed and remounted the smoke detectors horn into the motorhome.

http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=40919.msg378908#msg378908

JerryF
 
While we're on the subject, more or less, does anyone have any statistics on fridge fires operating on electric vs. gas?  I would assume the open flame while on gas would be more apt to cause a fire than the hot heating element.  I was just wondering if operating on electric is safer.
 
Jim,

Yes, we live at The Great Outdoors. This winter we are in AZ. Driving from Yellowstone to TGO and back is quite expensive. Figured we would save some money this winter and stay out west. Will be back next winter.
 
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