View Full Version : Hi, scared of fire in house!
:ohmy: Hi, i woke up this morning to my dad shouting "whats burning" so i went downstairs and there was this burning smell in the kitchen (no were else in the house) so we checked the whole house, found nothing. He said it was like an "electric burning smell" i will not be able to sleep tonight now. i will check the fire alarms about 10 times and unplug every plug in the house before bed. Im sitting here scared now that the house is going to burn down :(
Don't worry Emma. If you have smoke alarms and unplug electrical appliances when not in use then the chances of a fire are very slim.
It's just another expression of your anxiety, ie, if it's not one thing it's another...
What treatment you receiving for your anxiety?
Thank you. I will be the last one in bed tonight lol just so i can unplug everything :(. Im sitting by the door now just so if anything was to happen, i wont be trapped in my room.
the cooker was going at the same time so we tunred that off and it started to decrease the smell about 5 mins later. Not sure if it was that because we turned it back on again after and it was fine. it wasnt even by the cooker the smell was in the corner of the kitchen.
Im not on any mediaction/treatment as of yet. I have visisted my GP severeal times in the last few months and i am awaiting counselling. He offered me pills but im to scared to get them/take them. I mainly suffer with health anxiety but the burning smell this morning has put me off food/drink (havnt had any yet and its 11:10am) or doing anything for the rest of the day.I lost a stone in weight in 6 weeks when my anxiety first started.
Well it's good to hear that you've been referred for therapy but keep chasing them up as I know how they can drag their feet :lac:
I'm sure you'll be fine - it was just a scare and a shock and it's set off your anxiety. Try and take your mind off it and keep busy.
What meds did your doc prescribe?
Thanks. i know ill be fine until it comes to sleeping tonight.
My doc didnt prescribe any he mentioned that i could take them but before he got round to saying which ones he would prescribe i said my fear about them and he moved on and talked about counessling instead. :)
I'll send Fireman Sam tonight to watch for anything suspicious Emma hehe ;)
haha ;) my mum leaves the tele on till about 3am and my dad his radio which scares me lol:( reallyyy dont want to sleep tonight. surely there must have been a reason for the smell.
talked to my dad again and said it was definatly an electric burning smell :( he said he doesnt know what caused it BUT how the hell am i going to sleep tonight with fear that the house could burn down........... my bedrooms in the worst place to because id be trapped :(
my panic level is slowly rising i can feel a tightness in my chest and my pulse rate is clearly well over 100 at the moment :(
i can not go to bed knowing there is a chance of the house burning down tonight:@
Em.ma - try not to worry too much. Smoke alarms save lives and they will go off if there's a fire in your house. Just check that they are working. Also good advice is to keep downstairs doors shut at night (most fires start in kitchen or living room) - these shut doors keep your escape route (stairs) free from smoke/fire. Also it's recommended to turn off anyhting that doesn't need to be on ie. don't leave TV's on standby. There's loads of other advice - have a look on the firekills website or better still contact your local fire service - they all do FREE home fire risk checks and it may put your mind at rest so check it out. House fires though are few and far between so try not to worry.
Take care
Tracey x
thanks, will close the kitchen/lounge door tonight BUT then theres no smoke alarms in kitchen there on the staircase :@
surely the burning smell is a warning that somethings not quite right :( cant phone the fire depo because dad isnt worried :(
also i swear i can smell it in my room now :(
It's your anxiety Em.ma. Sometimes we can 'imagine' smells as if they're really there. ie when I'm really upset I sometimes 'smell' my gran (who's no longer with us).
MM says he's sending Fireman Sam..I've found out that Elvis works with him..so you'll def be ok :Dx
aww thanks lol. BUT this morning wasnt my anxiety because even my dad/bro could smell it :( gotta be up at 6 tommorow how am i going to sleep lol
Emma, just make sure the fire alarms are working!!!! We actually had a fire in our house and the smoke alarms saved our lives (well, not mine actually as I was out shopping, it was Christmas Eve 2000). We live in a tall Victorian 3 storey house and my eldest son had the good sense to put a damp towel at the bottom of his door and wait until the fire brigade rescued him, rather than risking going down umpteen stairs through toxic smoke. Everyone was fine ....including all the pets ... the house was rather blackened ... but we did get it decorated which was great!!!! Seriously though, I never worry about fires as I know that smoke alarms work!!!! We always made sure the kids had them in their rooms when they went to uni. Nearly every fire, where there is injury or worse, you find that they either didn't have a smoke alarm or it wasn't working. You and your Dad have checked yours and they are fine so sleep well, and don't worry!!!!
If you're dad's not worried it must be ok as he'd def want everyone to be ok. Em.ma I can't advise on the sleeping..'cos I think I must be the worst sleeper ever :emot-sleepyhead:xx
thanks, do i close the kictchen door. no smoke alarms in there (but there is one outside the kitchen) will it still detect smoke if it happens in the kitchen :( petrified (why did that burning happen earlier :() and i can smell something like it in my room now to
im so scared i might go stay at my friends for the night :(but idk want to leave my family with the chance of a fire
loveletter
16-01-11, 16:48
I have a bit of a worry about the house catching fire in the night since my son about 16 years ago left a chip pan on.
If it was me just to put your mind at rest I would have a night on the sofa down stairs.
If there was anything wrong and there was going to be a fire I think it would have happened by now.
I had some one come to stay for 3 nights over Christmas and this person a few months ago fell asleep in there bed with a fag and woke up with there bed on fire.
I loved having this person at mine but hated it when it come to bedtime.
I ended up sleeping down stairs for the 3 nights they where here as I think the thought of being upstairs made it worse.
I really do think all will be ok in your house but if you really feel bad at bedtime have a night on the sofa
thanks, not sure what my parents would think of me on the sofa though lolz.
Also keep hearing this beep go off (its a few beeps every few seconds) i think its outside though but im scared that the electrics are gonna blow or the wiring in the house is bad and its going to burn.
also just went to look at one smoke alarm and it flashed red
tbh ive always had a slight fear of fire but the electric burning smell either has me freaked. my dad was running round like mad trying to find out what it was but after 10 mins it went
thanks for the advice everyone... i'm still petrified (even my dad agrees something was burning earlier) grr. i cant help but think what if the electrics blow in the night and it catches on fire. im on the verge of crying lol
i dont know if to leave the kitchen door open as there is no smoke alarm in the kitchen (but if i leave it open it blocks my escape route) lol. which i lived in bungalow tonight. i just now ill be plauged by this fear for weeks/months on end now.
My fire alarm makes a beep noise when it is running out of batteries ?
i have been hearing beeping noises from somewere- mum n dad asleep dont really want to test them yet but might have to in a bit. i also see a red flash from it sometimes.
im scared out of my mind that the house is going to catch fire. I just want to stay up all night and not sleep :(
i cant even go have a bath because im scared it will happen whilst im in there
Trust me hon the chances of it happening are so unlikely; go have a bath, stick on a good dvd/telly programme and relax. The smoke alarm in my flat often flashes green just to let me know it's there, and alive and well :D .. A good trick is to find out the name of your smoke alarm. It should be written on it, and then if you do a quick google search you ought to find the instruction booklet - which will explain the red flash I'm sure. Try not to panic, trust mum and dad. Could have been something burning outside remember.. If it was this morning then whatever it is isnt still burning, you'd know by now x
thanks. i guess im just scared it'll start again in the middle of the night.
i dont think it was outside. it was near the door of the kitchen (no plugs around there though haha)
Going to have a bath in a little while and try to sleep x:D
Hi Emma,
Try not to worry about it.
“the cooker was going at the same time so we tunred that off and it started to decrease the smell about 5 mins later.”
That would be my first guess – that something dropped on the cooker like some dust, or a spider, or maybe something was spilt on it last night and it started to smell as it heated up.
“Not sure if it was that because we turned it back on again after and it was fine. it wasnt even by the cooker the smell was in the corner of the kitchen.”
Perhaps whatever it was had burnt off by then. And sometimes smells can drift and collect in certain areas of a room.
Maybe even it was something outside. Was a window or vent open? Or a heater that’s now off?
If you think it was something to do with the cooker, why not check it again now. Leave it on for a short while and see if you can smell it again.
“i cant help but think what if the electrics blow in the night and it catches on fire”
It’s true that house fires can (occasionally) be caused by dodgy electrics, but if you understand how, it can give you some peace of mind. If something ‘blows’ as you put it, there’s usually a flash and a bang and a fuse or cut out trips. No more electricity flows so there’s nothing to cause a fire. And if that had happened this morning, something wouldn’t be working now.
The other thing that can cause a fire is faulty wiring or connections that heat up when current flows through them, and that heat can build up. But if things are switched off, no current is flowing so nothing to generate heat. So even in the remote chance of a fault, nothing is likely to happen at night with everything switched off. To give you double peace of mind you could even turn the cooker completely off – there’s usually a big switch on the wall for it.
“i dont know if to leave the kitchen door open as there is no smoke alarm in the kitchen”
I’d keep the door closed. That would contain a fire but smoke would probably still waft under the door and set off the alarm.
“also just went to look at one smoke alarm and it flashed red”
They often do that – flash I little LED every minute or so just to show they’re working OK.
“i have been hearing beeping noises from somewere”
I sometimes hear noises like that from next door – maybe their smoke alarm, or alarm clock. When the batteries are running low it usually give a single beep every few minutes to warn you.
BTW, you can now get alarms for kitchens, but it’s best to get advice first. The normal ones aren’t practical because they detect smoke, and if you’re doing King Alfred impressions it’ll be going off all the time. Even steam from cooking can trigger them. So there’s a different type that detects heat rather than smoke.
You’ll be fine :)
Nigel
Nigel thanks :)your post really helped. dont think it was the cooker as we've used it since and there hasnt been the smell again :D
Also mum tends to leave the tv on standby because she watches it nearly all night lol (she has a weird sleeping patern because of her work hours) and my BT interntet thing is left on which im turning of tonight. also my brother tends to get up in the night and play his ps3 lol. have already turned the cooker/everything in kicthen off as know one will be using it lol.
"The other thing that can cause a fire is faulty wiring or connections" is what im scared off. we havnt had a service from an electrician since we moved here (which was 8 years ago) and i doubt the last people did because they never cared about the house- it was such a mess when we moved in lol.
Hi Emma,
Glad you’re feeling calmer about it now :)
I still think the most likely thing was something on the cooker that has since burnt off.
“Also mum tends to leave the tv on standby because she watches it nearly all night lol (she has a weird sleeping patern because of her work hours) and my BT interntet thing is left on which im turning of tonight. also my brother tends to get up in the night and play his ps3 lol.”
Things like that use very little power and shouldn’t pose a problem, even if there was a minor fault somewhere. It’s the ones that use a lot of power that put a stain on faulty wiring etc, and they’re the devices that get hot in some way – cooker, kettle, heater, iron, etc.
I repaired TVs for nearly 30 years and never had one catch fire. Not even heard any horror stories from the people I worked with. They do smoke and smoulder occasionally, but they’re rigorously tested and anything that could catch fire must be made of fire proof materials. The only risk is when things are bodged by cowboy repairers.
“we havnt had a service from an electrician since we moved here (which was 8 years ago)...”
You can get an idea by checking what kind of fuse box you have. If it has the re-wirable fuses the installation is quite old and it might be worth getting it checked at some point. If it has the modern trip switches it should be OK.
I still have one of the old fuse boxes and I’m not overly worried about it, so even if you have too, that’s no reason to have a sleepless night.
Actually you’ve made me panic now! Not about electrics though. You made me think about the age of my house. It was only 10 years old when i bought it... now it’s almost 30 :ohmy:
It’s scary where the years have gone!!
Take care :)
Nigel
thank you. just gone round the house trying to smell things. i think i can but its proberly just my imagantion as im a tad bit anxious about it. :)have switched off the kettle, cooker etc already But i dont know how to get to the pulg for the washing machine :\. im hoping a good nights sleep helps even if i have to be up at 6 tommorow :D got a nice tension headache to go along with this aswell now :P
The washing will be fine if it’s not on. There might be a switch just above it, but sometimes there’s only a socket behind it. It’s not practical to get to that because they’re damned heavy beasts!
“just gone round the house trying to smell things. i think i can but its proberly just my imagantion as im a tad bit anxious about it.”
It’s easy to imagine smells when we really think about it. Ask somebody else who isn’t so worried if they notice anything. I’m sure it’s your imagination.
Nigel
thanks you have made it easier for me to sleep tonight. still slightly anxious but no were near as bad as i was :)
I’m pleased to have put your mind at rest about this.
Have a good night, and let us know how it went tomorrow :)
thanks still feeling a bit nervous but im sure ill be fine.
nervous but going to go to bed in 5 minutes... really worried though
zinadinpeterson
17-01-11, 13:15
I use to worry about things like fire, tornado, theft, etc. And although I am always afraid that I try to keep things in perspective. Most people live their lives, and none of these things in their place. Be prepared, but do not worry much of your life.
thanks. really nervous about this again today :( though. Last night was fine, managed to sleep in my own bed. :D
Hi Emma,
I’m glad all’s well and you had a good night :yesyes:
Try not to worry – I think if something was wrong somebody would’ve noticed something by now.
Take care :)
Nigel
thank you :D
getting slighly panicky about sleeping in a moment though
i still feel as if i can smell it to :(
sorry to bump this thread but me and my dad just smelt this again in th kitchen :( and i think i can smell it in the corridor to :( scared to sleep again tonight.
petrified, i cant help thinking its the gas or something now :'( i really dont want to go to bed tonight. Last night i had a nightmare about someone telling me they have cancer aswell. i cant seem to get the thought of a fire happening out my head :'(
Em.ma, it is not the gas as that doesn't have a burning smell...unless I don't understand what you mean by 'burning smell'. x
Hi Emma,
Try to calm down and be rational for a minute. If it was an electrical burning smell last time and gas this time, unless your house is suddenly developing lots of different problems all at the same time, it’s most likely a case of misusing your imagination :winks:
If it is the same smell, try to be certain about what it is. Also try to decide where it comes from, and what was happening at the time, or just before. Like have you just used the cooker again, or something like the heating that might’ve just switched on or off? Or something outside even?
Nigel
thanks, we was using the cooker and grill at the time. last time we was using the cooker to. I told my dad thats what i thought it was but i dont think he thinks that, so it worrys me because his normally right lol.
Hi, I was just reading your thread when I almost set fire to my kitchen, turned the wrong oven on with the trays in it!!
I think it will be your cooker with burnt deposits either on the grill or on the oven or the plates, try giving the oven a good cleanout with either cif, brillo pads or an oven cleaner aerosol, but do not use this on the stayclean liners, if you have those.
Hi Emma
Could it be that the burning smell was coming from a neighbours house? maybe they burnt something, opened the windows and the smell wafted into your house?
Our smoke detectors are linked straight to the electricity supply and beep constantly, (which they are supposed to - but its annoying) and sometimes they go off when there is no burning smell...I am not sure why they do this?:wacko: I get really panicky and have to check everything, over and over. It drives me mad.
I hope you get a better nights sleep.
thanks. of course the house is still standing lol but i still have a fear of it :(
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