The best view of a fire engine, perhaps – leaving after a job well done…
It finally happened. We had a fire just down the close off my quiet suburban road – and I missed it! A garden shed caught fire, setting light to stored wood and in turn igniting a neighbour’s garage. The neighbour’s kids, at home for the holidays, acted sensibly, evacuated the house and stayed outside. The shed owner joined them on the street and rang the Fire Brigade, so the fire engines were on the scene pronto.
What an afternoon! Smoke, flames, two fire engines, Hampshire’s finest (and it turns out, hunkiest) firemen armed with assorted fire hoses – and I missed the lot!
Worst of all, I was in my house at the time. Since I usually work from home, I’m on daily waving terms with every dog walker in the street, I know everyone’s car, and can spot an Ikea delivery lorry at 30 paces, even while typing. So how on earth could I have missed two engines, sirens blazing, turning the corner right outside my house? By the time I noticed (only because someone had parked a car across my gate and I needed to get out), the excitement was over and the firemen were going home.
I think the answer is what I call “London cry wolf” syndrome. I lived within the M25 for almost 20 years, and over that time I learned to lock out the almost continual background noise of car alarms, police sirens, “warning vehicle reversing”, squealing taxi brakes, etc. Even after 15 months in suburban Hampshire, I still lock out the noise of nearby mainline trains and jets overhead coming in to the airfield, helped by our remarkably efficient double glazing.
And perhaps here’s the actual lesson of my missing the “Most Exciting Day on the Close Since Someone Lost Their Car Keys”. A combination of effective sound proofing and, I guess, conditioned indifference to sirens meant that, if it had been my garage going up in flames, the first I might have known about it would be the firemen knocking on the door.
So, guess where I’m fitting smoke alarms next? Actually, technically speaking, they won’t be smoke alarms, as they can be triggered by dust and fumes, but heat alarms. Heat alarms operate when the temperature rises above 57 degrees C (135 degrees F), so the alarm would sound if my garage was being lightly toasted by a fire next door. Fire Protection Online sell a longlife 10 year heat alarm by Kidde which is ideal. My job is to test it as soon as it is fitted, and learn what is sounds like, so if (or when) it goes off, I don’t sit back and simply ignore it!
I’m off now to ask the unfortunate garage owner if they need a hand clearing up the mess, and get the lowdown on just how lovely those firemen were…
