[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] I'm an old hand at it now. [LAUGHTER] Fire prevent ex fire prevention officer is gonna give us some real good tips. I've heard this film, seen this film quite a number of times and it really is good. I hope you didn't mind us starting but we decided that we'd Not at all. Excuse me. No. It's alright. we'd press on. So we've got a very good film. Aha. Er so over Right. to you then Jackie. Before we start is, is Can you use the O H P? Are you going to use that O H P?
[Jack:] I am going to use it.
[speaker001:] Oh right. Cos when we want
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] this afternoon
[Jack:] Yeah I'm gonna use the O H P first and then
[speaker001:] Right. Okay.
[Jack:] use the films
[speaker001:] Jolly good.
[Jack:] Okay. Okay?
[speaker001:] Come and sit over here? Yes. Right. [LAUGHTER] Now there's an offer. [LAUGHTER] Right.
[Jack:] I understand everybody enjoyed the physical jerks this morning.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] [background to following] Oh yeah. They were nice. Was it on Radio Nottingham? [LAUGHTER] [LAUGHTER] Feel the.
[Jack:] Keeps you fit. Remarkable young lady isn't she? Yes. Right. Well good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name's Jack. I've just retired from the Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service after just over thirty years service having reached, reached the er full time that I matured, that's thirty years service and attaining the ripe old age of fifty five. Okay? So er they've put me out to grass so to speak. And I myself, as er your course leader has indicated, I was on a course here myself some four weeks ago listening to the same subject, doing the physical exercises etcetera etcetera and listening and trying to take in, I won't say I did, trying to take in all the different aspects that will affect us in our er retirement years. Now when we get round to this subject this afternoon of fire a lot of people think that fire is a modern invention. Okay? It's something to do with the new computer age of technology and space invaders and everything else. Well we all know from our own history books that fire has been with us for a long long time hasn't it? Right from the days of the early caveman when he used fire not only for cooking but he also used it as means of lighting and keeping his family warm er during the winter months. Okay? But just let's have a look at some of the things that have caused fires or cause us to bring about legislation in fire. And one of the things that we learn very early in history is... the Great Fire of London. Can you all see that? Great Fire of London started second of September in sixteen sixty six started in the early hours at a baker's house in Pudding Lane. It burned for three days. It destroyed four hundred and thirty six acres of buildings, thirteen thousand two hundred houses, eighty seven parish churches, numerous other public buildings. Remarkably only six persons died. But two hundred thousand were made homeless and the estimated loss was ten million seven and thirty thousand pounds in sixteen sixty six. Imagine what the cost would have been
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] today
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] if that same scenario happened. I mean we've only got to have a look at the recent events in London went on about the insurances over the bombings over the weekend haven't we? To find out what the er costs are going to be. And this then created the first institute fire insurance and your rebuilding acts. Okay? And not to go into too much depth, basically if I can find the switch.
[speaker001:] That's it.
[Jack:] Basically what happened from that, the crown at the time then decided to widen the streets and broaden the pavements. And also bought out the insurance company fire brigades where, when you go round a lot of the older buildings in our towns and cities today and even villages, you will find an insurance plaque or an insurance mark on the side of the house or the building concerned. And this was the old insurance plaque and if your house caught fire then the insurance fire brigade would come and put out your fire for you. Okay? But not only have we had the Great Fire of London we've had other disasters in the country apart from disasters of the Great War and the er Second World War. We had the Bradford Football disaster and we had other disasters in nightclubs, the Fairfield Night Nursing Home in in Nottingham
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] not far from us. All brought about some legislation. And let's face it ladies and gentlemen, legislation has governed us basically all our working lives hasn't it? Okay? The Education Act for example. The Fire Precautions Act. The Fire Safety and Safety of Sports Grounds Act. The Factories Act. The Licensing Act. The Gaming Act. So if you go to your local pub at night for a er an evening social and you have a drink no doubt you'll look round your public house and you'll see all sorts of pieces of fire equipment. Fire alarm systems, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting all that sort of thing. And this has been brought about to enhance your safety, not only when you're at your place of work, but when you're out and enjoying your social evening either at a theatre, a pub, a club or the cinema or wherever you may be. And of course we come home don't we? And as you ladies and gentlemen now are thinking of retiring as I have done the least thing you want to be bothered about is rules and regulations. And this is sometimes where we slip up because fire is still prevailing with us even when we're in home. Okay? A fire can start in the home and it can start very very easily. What do you think are the common causes of fire in the home situation?...
[speaker001:] Chip pans.
[Jack:] Chip pans.
[speaker001:] Electrical Electrical Children playing with matches.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Electric blankets.
[Jack:] Okay. Well just let's have a look at a few shall we?
[speaker001:] [whistling]
[Jack:] From this side, too far. Right. The careless use of matches, lighters and pipes.... Okay? So let's look at the first one. Excuse me I've got a rather heavy cold. Matches and pipes, okay? Some of us here this afternoon may be grandparents in our right. Okay? And school holidays and you've got your grandchildren or grandchild come to stay with you and granddad has his favourite chair by the side of the fire. He has his box of matches or his lighter and he likes his pipe. And he likes it in a certain place and nobody must touch it. And, but of course young Johnny comes along to spend the day with his grandparents and he likes to ape granddad. He likes to sit in granddad's chair and pretend that he's smoking granddad's pipe. Okay? So if you do have grandchildren come to stay with you please make sure that you put your matches or you cigarettes, your cigars and your lighters way out of reach of the young children concerned. I know it's commonsense but unfortunately a lot of people still tend to leave these er objects lying about in easy reach of the young child, okay? One of your colleagues mentioned the careless use of cookers and chip pans. too. What happens? You put the chip pan on. The telephone rings, you get distracted. Okay? And you're on the phone for ages and ages talking about A B and C, and all a sudden you think [sniff] I can smell something burning. And low and behold you can't even get back into the kitchen because the kitchen is full of deadly fumes from the burning fat or er fat or oil within the chip pan. Okay? Drying, the airing of clothes is another one. You get your fire going. It's rather a damp day outside you want to finish airing your clothes off, so what to do? You stick them round on the old er airer in front of the open fire. It doesn't matter whether it's a solid fuel fire or a coal effect er g gas fire or whether it's an electric fire. If that er clothing becomes heated and it gets to the right temperature it will burst into the flames, likewise if it's not balanced properly and you go out the door the living room or the lounge into the kitchen or some other part of your home the draft by closing the door can knock the airer over, unbalance it and of course er set fire to the clothing. Unguarded open fires. Again the problem there is that you get the hot coals, if it's a solid fuel fire, er dropping off onto the hearth setting fire to the hearth rug. Children playing with matches and lighters a again we've already covered this in object number one, but again it's a reminder. Make sure that if you have children in the home that matches and lighters are placed well out of, place them out of reach. Old faulty electrical appliances. Again your electrical appliances do want servicing on a regular basis. How many of you use an electrical blanket?... Well quite a few of you. What do you do at the end of the winter time and er spring arrives and it's too warm for the electric blanket. What do you do? Do you fold it in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions? Or do you just screw it up, stuff it in the box up in the attic or out of way, out of sight until next September October November time when you want to fetch it out again?...
[speaker001:] [background to following] Leave it on the bed. [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] Pardon?
[speaker001:] Leave it where it was.
[Jack:] Leave it where it was.
[speaker001:] Yes.
[Jack:] On the bed.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] Okay, providing it's not used. Okay. But very often people will just get hold of the er blanket, they'll screw it up okay? Stick it away out the way until next winter and as we all know inside the electric blanket we have [banging] little... and there's your blanket. We have little electric fibres, elements running through similar to an electric fire and if you crumple it up, and don't take care of it properly, what happens is you will snap one of the fine filaments. And what happens then, the electric current, as we know, flows backwards and forwards and it gets to this bit here and there's a break, so what does it do? The spark tries to jump the gap doesn't it?
[speaker001:] Mm. Mm.
[Jack:] Okay? It tries to jump the gap and in doing so sets fire to y the surrounding material that the blanket is made of and that's where you start to get problems on your fire blankets.
[speaker001:] Excuse me?
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Y you mentioned folding. Is there a, is there a proper way to fold cos I haven't
[Jack:] Yeah nor
[speaker001:] seen it.
[Jack:] Yeah. Normally normally with your folder there should be some m manufacturer's instructions come.
[speaker001:] No, there wasn't.
[Jack:] Except, there wasn't? Well I, I would suggest that if you have a look and see how the lay of the er
[speaker001:] Wiring.
[Jack:] wires or the elements run and then fold it so it can avoid kinking those. So you fold in actual fact between the layers of the material and you don't try to bend the
[speaker001:] The wires.
[Jack:] the the element. Try to fold within the layers of the material so that you don't, and, and you keep your elements in a straight line then. Okay? But if you've got any doubts, if you're in any doubts at all go to your local E board or some electrical supplier, a reputable electrical supplier, and they will tell you how to do it properly. Okay?... Overloaded and wrongly fused plugs. Okay? Again another source of danger within the home because what happens or, what's the, what's the object of a fuse in a plug?
[speaker001:] [whispering] Safety [].
[Jack:] Safety. Right. But very often we will overlook safety because we stick any old fuse in we think it works, okay? But if something untoward happens to that ele piece of electrical equipment, okay? The electrical equipment overheats and then fuse as yo we all know should blow... to cut off the supply of electrical equipment to that piece of apparatus. But sometimes if we've got the wrong fuse in it won't blow and it will continue to feed the electric current through to the heater or whatever piece of electrical apparatus it is, until such times as we have a fire situation. If we don't get a fire situation the person who is operating the piece of electric equipment is quite likely to get an electrical shock.
[speaker001:] How do you know which fuse to put?
[Jack:] How do you know which fuse? Right. Quite simply normally when you buy a piece of electrical apparatus, doesn't matter what it is, normally it will tell you what fuse should be put into the er appliance itself, into the plug.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] But you can, next time to go to pay your electricity bill, you can pick up this leaflet called Plugs and Fuses, Electricity and You. Okay? And that even tells you how to wire a plug correctly. It's a
[speaker001:] do that.
[Jack:] good descriptive booklet and it tells you on the back, in actual fact I've got some handouts here which you can pick up when we've finished the talk, okay? There should be sufficient to go round. And it tells you the normal plug rating for a particular appliance. Like a vacuum cleaner should be five amp, a deep fat fryer should be thirteen amp and various
[speaker001:] [cough]
[Jack:] er little pieces of information on plugs and fuses. Okay? So
[speaker001:] Thank you.
[Jack:] please pick one of those up before you leave this afternoon.
[speaker001:] Has some new legislation just come out about all that. That any new electrical goods supplied after a certain date are now supposed to have the fu the, the plug the fuse plug actually er as it were fused I don't mean that sort of fuse, I mean
[Jack:] No. I know what you mean, yes, yes
[speaker001:] used on to the wire so that you can't take it off.
[Jack:] yes.
[speaker001:] I've got a feeling it is and I know if you Yeah.
[Jack:] I believe that has but
[speaker001:] now the plug's
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] part of it.
[Jack:] Yeah. I, I believe that has but the only way I would ask you to ensure this
[speaker001:] Oh Yeah.
[Jack:] if you're thinking is if you go to you your Electricity Board
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] or ring up your local Trading Standards Officer
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] there's one based at County Hall and if you're from the Nottingham Arnold area there's one based on Front Street at Arnold. But please get in touch with a, a qualified electrician
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] and they will tell you whether or not
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] what the latest information is.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] Okay?
[speaker001:] . Yeah. I think it has come in but I think they're still Still selling old stuff. That's right. Yeah.
[Jack:] They will still sell the old
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] They will still sell the old cos it is a
[speaker001:] Yeah. Yeah
[Jack:] it's market isn't it?
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] I it's a market thing you know
[speaker001:] And ninety percent of the plugs sold loose have got thirteen amp Mm. Oh yeah. They have. fuses. Yeah. Yeah. And ninety percent of the things they're attached to still got thirteen amp fuses. I bet they'll have.
[Jack:] Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[speaker001:] Whether they're table lamp, irons or cookers
[Jack:] This is a this is a question we very often get asked, why do they sell a thirteen amp fuse with a thirteen amp plug if it only wants a five amp in? As I say it's one of these er competitive market things, but if you go into an electrical shop and you buy a piece of electrical equipment, or if you want er a plug for it, a piece of electrical equipment because you found out that the plug on the electrical equipment at home is defective, it's got cracked porcelain or something like, then please have a word with the person who is selling you the plug and say look, this plug is gonna be fitted on X appliance. What type of fuse do I want in it? Would you please ensure that the plug is correctly fitted with the right fuse? And I've, nine times out of ten a good, local, electrical retailer will do it there and then. May cost you just the, the cost of replacing the fuse or they might say there you are my dear, okay, no extra charge. Okay? But please if you're in any doubt have a word with your electrical contractor, unless you are a competent person yourself and capable of doing it yourself and working out the, the ampage yourself. Okay?
[speaker001:] Incidentally electric blankets are only three amp.
[Jack:] Pardon?
[speaker001:] Electric blankets should only be Three amp. three amp
[Jack:] Three amp. Yeah.
[speaker001:] Mm. Just while we're on that subject. Anything on multi plugs? You know the sort of the erm thing you can plug in
[Jack:] This sort of thing like this?... That type of thing?
[speaker001:] Yeah. Mm.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] That as compared with the one you can put in that you know one at the top one at the side and.
[Jack:] Yeah. Right. Okay. Again, this I haven't got an example to show you but I have seen one of these that's caught fire and the only reason it's caught fire is because this total piece of equipment is only capable of taking a maximum of thirteen amps. Okay? So if you've got a three amp fuse another three amp fuse and a, a three amp fuse in and another one in it... you've got nine amps haven't you?
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] Okay? So you only want another small piece of electrical apparatus in there. So if you was to stick your washing machine in there for example. Okay? Or an electric fire then you would be asking for trouble because you'd be trying to draw out
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] more electricity out of the system then it's designed to give you. It's like trying to draw more money out of the bank and you've got no more cash left in reserve, okay? So if you are using these, I've got one of these at home in my lounge and the only thing that I run from it is my television set and the video recorder. That's all. The two other sockets remain empty. And then I know full well that I'm well within the guidelines of not going over the thirteen amp that this is designed to operate at maximum efficiency and safety. Okay? A lot of people think because you've got four sockets you can bang four pieces of apparatus. Well you can't. You can provided you keep under the thirteen amp rating but if you go over the thirteen amp rating then you are asking for trouble. Okay? And the same applies to your... multiple socket adaptor where you've just got one power point. You stick it in and you've got everything adjoined to it. You know you've got the electric fire, you've got the telly and everything else to it. Again if you go over the thirteen amp you're trying to draw out more elec electricity and you're causing overheating. Okay? And that's where you start to get your problems irrespective of whether your appliances are correctly fused you must make sure they are correctly fused but you must not exceed the thirteen amp otherwise you've had it. You will be asking yourself for trouble.
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] Okay?
[speaker001:] Am I not right in thinking that the batons themselves are fused, therefore they are a safety device, therefore t the fuse in the baton will go if you do exceed the thirteen?
[Jack:] Yes. It will go and it should go but again if you've not got the correct fuse in it won't go. You must always ensure that you have the correct fuse in. Okay? But for safety's sake ladies and gentlemen please do not exceed the thirteen amps output on your piece of apparatus.... Probably if you're having a new home built or something like that you may not have to recourse to those because while you're having, you're having your home built you can say to the electrician, alright I want X number of power points here. I want X number of power points there and I want X number of power points there. But if you're like me moving to a, a house that's been established for some years you'll probably find there's only a minimum of power points because let's face it over the years the use of electrical apparatus have become more and more hasn't it?
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] You know what with microwaves and electric toasters and things like that you know. And of course in the old days they just weren't available because they weren't on the market. Half of them hadn't even been thought of, especially microwaves anyway. I know electric toasters do go back even beyond my years but er okay? Portable heaters close to furniture.... Again we've got the situation where you've got radiated heat. Okay? What happens on a cold winter's evening you stand in front of the fire. Okay? You're warming yourself aren't you? It's chilly out there tonight Mabel isn't it? You know. What happens? What can you feel? You can feel the heat from the fire can't you? Doesn't matter whether it's a solid fuel fire, gas fire or electric and this is what we call radiated heat. And if you were silly enough to stand there long enough [sniff] you'd soon, your skirt, your trousers you'd soon start smelling a little bit.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] You know? And away you'd go. So again it's the same with putting portable heaters close to the furniture. Let's face it we all like comfort on a winter's evening when we're watching the, our favourite programmes on the television and we shove our chairs right up to the fire to get nice and snug. But if we ever leave the room at all, always pull the chair back.... Okay? A reasonable distance, okay? To make sure that er the furniture is not too close. Plugs left switched on. Okay? Again, very often in this modern days and age, we have to leave certain electrical appliances switched on all the time don't we? The fridge-freezer otherwise you'd get up every morning and you'd have a right mess in your cupboard wouldn't you? In, in your er kitchen. So we have to make sure that again the plugs are in good working order. There's no cracks that would allow er leaks of electricity through. Okay? No cracks in the porcelain. The fuse again is correct and not only the fuse but the wiring is in good working order. And this happens with electric irons as well, and another thing make sure your electric iron cable is in good working order. How long is it since you really examined your electric iron when you've used it? On the cable? Okay? What happens to it?
[speaker001:] It frays.
[Jack:] It frays. Because it's doing this thing all the time isn't it? You know, while you're away ironing you're doing this all the time. [repetitive banging] Up and down the old ironing board. Okay. And eventually after a period of time that ins outer insulation will wear down, it will fray and it will break and it will expose the live and the neutral wires until, unfortunately sometimes, it will be a little bit too late. And you will, if you don't end up with a house fire you may end up with nasty burns or even electric shock. So do periodically, either yourself or get your hubby, to have a look and make sure that all your cabling is in good working order, okay? Likewise you should never burrow or bury cabling under the carpet because the same thing happens. You lay the Axminster carpet on top of the cable, trampling all over it, over a number of years and again the old thing happens, it wears down the outer protective cabling, it breaks down the insulation and then you get a fire situation burning away, smouldering away underneath your carpet because while ever your er electrical appliance is switched on heat is being generated. There's even heat coming from this lamp now. Okay? Heat is being generated all the time and that's the problem. Paraffin heaters and L P G heaters, again are another source of danger, especially L P G heaters. And when you look at L P G, while it's in its canister, okay, it's a liquid but when it meets normal atmospheric temperature and pressure it converts to a gas. Okay? You can't see it, sometimes the agents will put a stenching er material in it that you can [sniff] you can smell it, mm, I can smell gas... you know and it's this stenching thing that you can smell, but very rarely can you see it. Again if you re rely on L P G heaters as soon as you've got an emp er a, a, a cylinder empty, get it out the way back to your supplier to make sure that you only have it serviced on a one to one basis so you get a one for one swap. Okay? How many of you ladies and gentlemen are Do It Yourself enthusiasts?... Right. What about glues and solvents? That we use in the home? Okay? A lot of the glues and solvents that we use in the home, especially if you're putting lino tiles down or, or carpet tiles, down contain substances that are highly flammable. Okay? The material itself is highly flammable and it's heavier than air which means, in chemical, means it drops down to ground level. Okay? It doesn't float in the air it drops down to ground level and some years ago, when I was based in Ashfield, I had an experience of this. We were called to an explosion and house fire in Sutton-in-Ashfield and I responded as Officer in Charge and I pulled up outside, we dealt with the fire and then we began the investigation to find out what had happened. And the story goes, to cut it quite short, two workmen were in this person's house laying carpet tiles in the lounge and they were using this substance that was heavier than air and it was also highly flammable. And of course with it being heavier than air it does tell you it can give a nasty headache, cause drowsiness, etcetera etcetera. So after they'd been using this stuff with no windows open or anything, one of the workmen began to feel a little bit groggy so he said to his mate and open the back door Charlie, will you, I'm feeling a bit groggy. Okay? So what happened was [paper rustling]... quick sketch that's the kitchen, that's the cooker. Okay? Lounge window... that's the lounge where the men were working. Okay? So his, his colleague went and opened the door to the kitchen from the lounge and opened the back door. The inrush of fresh air came in through the room, circulated, inter mixed with the vapour laden air in the lounge. Okay? And of course being on the air current it went on its way back and what was waiting for it here?
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] The pilot light on the gas cooker.
[speaker001:] [gasp]
[Jack:] And as soon as it hit it, vrroom! It went. Fortunately the building suffered more injury than what the men did, thankfully, but obviously of course the building by insurance it would still, it was still a nasty shock for the owner occupier of the house. It cracked the wall down that side and it took out that window put a big crack in there and also in the ceiling. Okay? So if you are ever using solvents, okay, in your home, please adhere to the manufacturer's instructions. Okay?
[speaker001:] this has happened in my house with a workman.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And he, he set kitchen on fire.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] He lost his eyebrows and most of his hair... and the whole house was
[Jack:] Yeah. Okay?.
[speaker001:] workmen don't guarantee that he is doing it according to the thing because
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] the central heating could cut in
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] or the gas boiler
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] cut in.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And did exactly
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] the same sort of thing.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] We didn't have an explosion but we did have a big fire.
[Jack:] Yeah. Well this, this does an explosion actually rather than a
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] little fire but there's enough damage from the explosion to d do the job. But as the gentlemen there he's got firsthand experience. Yeah?
[speaker001:] Erm paint is now solvent based or s I know it's gonna be phased out but basically it's solvent based.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] A are they flammable?
[Jack:] They're not as flammable as, as such. They're, when you're talking about the normal household gloss, yes it is flammable but it's not a, nowhere near as flammable as your cellulose thinners that you spray your car with and things like that, your touch up sprays, because it doesn't contain the amount of petroleum adhesive er additive I should say, in the er in its mixture as does er
[speaker001:] A and are they heavier than air ones? Or, or or are
[Jack:] They are heavier than air and again if you follow the manufacturer's instructions, if it says when using this paint allow adequate ventilation
[speaker001:] Yes.
[Jack:] then you're okay. You see I mean I had an uncle, he's passed on now, and he was an avid pipe-smoker. Okay? And I've seen him, he's made me cringe, he used to have a cigar cigarette lighter and he used to fill it with this L P G stuff. And I've seen him standing ope in front of the open fire with his back to the fire going like that and you can see the heat shimmer stuff coming off and you know it's the L P G. I used to say Uncle I don't lie, you know you're do oh I've been doing it for years you all that [LAUGHTER] sort of thing you know []. You couldn't get him to alter his ways. But it's just one of those things. If you're using these substances do please be careful but not only about Do It Yourself er er enthusiasts. What about the normal everyday consumer goods we buy? Hair lacquer? Underarm deodorant to make us smell nice when we're going out to a party? What does it say on the canister?
[speaker001:] Pressurized. Keep away from heat.
[Jack:] Pressurized, keep away from any source, direct sunlight. Because, again, the canisters are pressurized. The substance whether it be hairspray or whatever it is, is put in under pressure. Okay? And the seams of the canister are only designed to withstand a certain amount of pressure. Once that pressure is exceeded, bang! It will go just like a bomb. And that's why we strongly recommend, and the environmental health people strongly recommend, you never shove them in the garden refuse. When you're doing your annual burn out when you're burning all the weeds and you might think oh I'll get rid of this. And everything used to go on the old garden bonfires didn't it, in the past? Okay? And very often people stick one of these canisters in the er in the old garden bonfire, alright? And of course when it got heated it used to blow and it used to blow all the burning debris all over. Well if your next door neighbour's got the window open the burning debris lands on her bed or his bed and away you've got a fire situation, okay? Because these canisters when they do blow they can spread debris quite some considerable distances. Okay? So whenever you're er tt using er these type of things do be careful. I mean if I was to s stand here and tell you that self-raising flour is classed as an X one, as a class one explosive dust your wife would never make any, an apple pie again in her life. But I'm not gonna tell you that. Okay?
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] But it is and that's why in flour mills they have blast suppression built in and everything else. But the reason being that er flour and stuff is a class one dust is because if you imagine a granule of flour. It's surrounded by a large volume of air isn't it? And the flame propagation is so rapid it's consumed that it just blows. Okay? So that's why, again, you have to be careful with most of our domestic er things that we have er in our homes. Again poor servicing of electric appliances. If you have electrical appliances I know it's gonna cost you a few pence, or probably even a few pounds these days, do make sure that your electrical appliances are serviced properly and correctly. Then you should be reasonably safe.
[speaker001:] Gas central heating boilers, if the ignition doesn't ignite fast enough you get a build up and that can go with an interesting bang.
[Jack:] Yes it can. Yes it can. So everything we've got in our home, the old gas central heating and that's why very often there's a reminder in your annual winter's er bill that you get. The one that's the biggest one of the year they will say when's the last time you had your er gas boiler serviced? Is it ready for doing? Would you like to take effectively a three star, four star, one star er servicing? Okay? I think it's well wor er well worth your while taking er note of these things. Okay? Let's have a look on a little bit then. Danger from fire in the home, the facts. Approximately there are a least sixty thousand fires a year. Approximately seven hundred deaths a year. Seven thousand injuries and many of these could be avoided if we will only take reasonable and proper precautions that we should do. Take advice, if you've got any doubt each old time fire station ha in this county, has a fire safety division attached to it and there are usually two officers on duty, okay? Unless they're out carrying out their inspections but at least the administrator's there, she will help all she possibly can in the absence of the fire safety officer. If you've got any doubts get in touch with your local fire safety officer and he will come along and er waylay any problems that you may have and he will indeed er give you the best of advice that's available. Okay?
[speaker001:] Are they facts for Nottinghamshire?
[Jack:] Those are for Nottinghamshire, yeah. Yeah. If you're from Derbyshire or Leicestershire then in your local telephone directory er do you mean the fire or these numbers?
[speaker001:] Those numbers.
[Jack:] No these numbers are basically nationally at the moment. But unfortunately it's on the increase
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] and as we are all aware I, I feel sure for there being in the you've been, in that it is unlawful to leave a child alone in the house under the age of twelve years. Cos if anything happens to that child especially in a fire situation you are liable to criminal er tt etcetera. Ah in fact there's a case in London where they've just recently charged a mother, where the firemen were called to a house fire over the weekend and erm during the, putting the fire out they discovered a child's body er i on the settee. Er apparently she was a four year old er they searched for the mother, they found the mother and I understand now that the mother's been charged with murder. So whether she'd committed the act before and er tried to cover it up I don't know, cos obviously it's subject to sub judice at the moment until they've got the, everything in the outcome. But that's the latest thing I've heard of on the one anyway.
[speaker001:] Yeah....
[Jack:] How can we protect our homes then? Okay. We've gone along to lengths of making sure that all our electrical appliances are in good working order. We switch everything off at night that's reasonable to switch off, obviously we're leaving the fridge and freezer on and the electric clock working. Okay. We close all the doors at night. What else can do to protect our homes?... What should we be thinking of doing?
[speaker001:] Smoke alarms.
[Jack:] Smoke alarm. How many of you got smoke alarms?... Quite a few of you. Good. Okay? And we should also have a fire escape plan. Okay? Just to s talk a little bit on the smoke alarms and then we'll go into the video cos I I'm mindful of the time. Okay? Heat, two types of smoke detector you get in the home, heat and smoke. Okay?... Heat reacting
[speaker001:] [sneeze]
[Jack:] increase in temperatures and smoke reacts to smoke and fumes. Okay? Domestic smoke alarms are basically two types. The ionization type and in this in the centre of the core of the er detector is er a small chamber and any particle or substance getting in that chamber is ionized by a small radioactive source. Okay? But don't worry about the radioactive source it's not gonna do you any harm whatsoever. You're not going to suddenly turn green and walk about like that you know. Okay? It ionizes, causes the current to be completed and then that sets off the alarm. Okay?... And the optical type it contains this photoelectric cell which triggers alarm when the beam is disturbed by smoke particles. So very often you'll see it on these erm infra red things in er burglar alarm systems. Where you can see a little red light, neon, going in one corner and a reflecting light in the opposite corner. And anything that goes in between those disturbs the beam and it causes an electric current to sound the alarm and it's the same thing that happens with the er detectors. Okay?
[speaker001:] [cough]
[Jack:] What's the reaction factor? Well let's, just let's have a little look. Okay? The ionaz ionization detector, often a little bit quicker to react to a hot blazing type of fire such as your chip pan. Okay? The optical detector ideal to react to smouldering type of fire,a example, a cigarette fallen down the side of the er sofa. Some detectors incorporate the two types in a single unit to give you a better performance. Okay? But they are both apt in th they'll do and they'll both do the job. So don't start getting yourself worried well, have I got an ionization or have I got an op an optical one. The only thing you have to bear in mind is that if you have a smoke detector that conforms to the British Standard kite-mark, British Standard five four five part one, that'll be quite sufficient. But what should we do to ensure that our smoke detector is working properly?
[speaker001:] Test it. Test it.
[Jack:] Yeah. Test it on a weekly basis. Okay? But what also should be do?
[speaker001:] Cook fish. [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] Cook fish. Yes. Yes. Or grill them.
[speaker001:] that goes off when we
[Jack:] Yes.
[speaker001:] cook fish. Always. Yeah
[Jack:] Yeah. Will do.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Mine always goes off whenever I'm grilling anything at all. Yeah. Mm.
[Jack:] Yeah. Yes. You will find they are very very susceptible and that's the object of the exercise. That's why they are so keen. And that's why in, in buildings, industrial and commercial buildings where we put heat and smoke detectors in for the protection of life and that's why you put it in your homes. Erm it is because they are so acute, the least little whiff and they're away. Okay? You must also remember, ladies and gentlemen, to change the battery at least once a year. Or especially when you start getting the low pip pip pip about every thirty seconds. Okay?
[speaker001:] Or be aware that the pips could happen when Is it on, on you're on holiday. [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] Pardon?
[speaker001:] Or be aware that the pips in our case happened when we were on holiday.
[Jack:] Yes. Mm. Mm.
[speaker001:] It cold doesn't it? Can trigger them off. This Mm. has happened to us several times. been away at
[Jack:] Yeah. Sometimes can get a cold
[speaker001:] winter, in the winter.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and we've come back or in fact
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] our son had been in to check the house
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] and the thing was going so [cough] taken the battery out.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And he thought the battery you know was running down but in fact it wasn't
[Jack:] Mm.
[speaker001:] it, it's the cold.
[Jack:] Yeah. Sometimes
[speaker001:] But
[Jack:] you can get those a little bit offset with temperature.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] That will affect them b
[speaker001:] This happens every time doesn't it?
[Jack:] Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes you will get a er a little bit offset with temperature but it's only a minute thing. I'd rather have that than nothing at
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] all.
[speaker001:] Yeah. It's cold that's affecting the battery.
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And if it and if, if instead of putting the ordinary zinc and, and carbon battery in you put a NiCad battery in, it'll stop it doing that.
[Jack:] Okay? So
[speaker001:] Right.
[Jack:] try that. Expert advice there. Okay? Right. The other thing is ladies and gentlemen, I don't know whether you know or not, but it is now, if you're having a new home built, fresh build as we call it, okay? But it's now, in order to comply with the building regulations nineteen ninety two, it is mandatory for you to have an electrically operated smoke detection system in your home. So if you are thinking, cos you are now finishing work and you're going to retire somewhere nice. Okay? In this country anyway at least, in the U K and you're having a new dream cottage built, okay, to your needs and satisfaction, okay? Please remember
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] that in order to conform to the current building regulations it is now mandatory to have a proper er electrically mains operated smoke alarm system installed in the home. Otherwise the tt building will have deemed to not comply to B one of the building regulations which I don't want to go into too much detail but basically what it is that with effect from nineteen ninety one the smoke alarm smoke detector bill came into er operation and it was brought in into the nineteen ninety two building regulations when they were amended from the nineteen eighty five regulations that states now [reading] any new build homes shall have and be fitted with a mains operated, with battery backup, smoke detection system []. And in fact in some parts of the country there have been experiments tested with having sprinkler system fitted into the home.
[speaker001:] How long do
[Jack:] Okay?
[speaker001:] the batteries last if the mains are off while you're away?
[Jack:] About er twenty four to thirty six hours.
[speaker001:] Because part of the condition of your insurance policy in some cases, if you're away more than X number of days, the mains should be switched off.
[Jack:] Yeah. Yeah. That's something obviously
[speaker001:] You go abroad for
[Jack:] Yeah You'd
[speaker001:] a month.
[Jack:] you'd take with your insurance company to make sure you were still covered if anything untoward happened while, you know. But er normally your battery on a mains system will last forty eight t thirty six to forty eight hours....
[speaker001:] That's thirty six to
[Jack:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] forty eight hours worth of noise?
[Jack:] No. It's thirty six to forty eight hours of standby
[speaker001:] Cover.
[Jack:] cover. So if your mains goes off through an electrical storm or something like that or your power is cut off because the E the M E B is digging the road up down and they say that your electric will be off for the next
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] X number of hours then your battery will take over and it will operate the fire al your domestic system for a period of thirty six to forty eight hours.
[speaker001:] What about the batteries in a battery operated one then? How long do they last?
[Jack:] Well in the normal battery operated one they
[speaker001:] For years.
[Jack:] they're not affected at all. They wi they will last at least twelve months.
[speaker001:] Ah. Yeah. It does seem self-defeating if one authority requires you to have a mains operated system and another authority says turn off electricity if you're going away. And the gas and the water.
[Jack:] Well Yeah. Well yes. What it is le let's just sort of get things, as I say in a new build situation if you were having a new house built
[speaker001:] [cough]
[Jack:] the building authority anywhere in the U K, even in Scotland and Northern Ireland, will require you to have a built in smoke detector system, mains with battery. Obviously
[speaker001:] [cough]
[Jack:] once a building has been built and you've got that in it's under you then to maintain it. Okay? If you are going away on holiday like I go away on holiday and probably some your colleagues and you're going abroad for two three weeks, it makes commonsense to try and protect your home as soon as you possibly, as much as you can by isolating the risk. So the first thing you do is turn off your gas. You turn off your water and you turn off your electric. Because there's nobody going to, unless you've got somebody watching your house, unless you get a, an enforced entry or, or unlawful entry into your home, nothing's gonna happen because you know alright you've left, you've your fridge and freezer switched on. Okay? So you've got to have your mains for your fridge-freezer haven't you? Basically?
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] So you're gonna leave your, your mains on anyway for fridge-freezer. So there's no great problem really. Providing you're, you are correctly fused and your wires are okay then no problem. I I can't see er you're gonna have any particular problem with your insurance company cos you've got to leave your fridge-freezer switched on haven't you?
[speaker001:] Mm.
[Jack:] Otherwise when you come back from a month in Malaya or Singapore or wherever you've been you know or Matlock
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] whichever takes your fancy, you're gonna have a right mess in your kitchen aren't you?...
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[Jack:] So if I were you I would just have a word with your insurance company and make sure that everything's okay but you're obviously, they must know that you've got to leave your er fridge-freezer switched on, so you've got to have your mains electrics on.... Okay? Are you alright on that? Or have you got a
[speaker001:] I wouldn't trust anything this government does so [LAUGHTER]
[Jack:] Well it's not, it's not the government that's doing it anyway.
[speaker001:] It's the Yeah.
[Jack:] Okay? Any questions ladies and gentlemen? Before we se now hopefully it should bring us to about four o'clock. Now this video although it's American based, ignore that fact that they've got tower block apartments, and that'll mean we've got high-rise buildings i in the city of Nottingham and places like that. Okay? But try and look at the fundamental basis of what they're trying to put over to you on the video, okay? That's the main thing and then if you've got any questions afterwards hopefully we'll still have time to go through a few questions. Okay?... [break in recording] It is essential that we plan to get out alive, ladies and gentlemen. Okay? So if you have a if you live in er er a two-storey house, okay? Make sure that all r eve even if you're in a bungalow, make sure that all your doors are closed at night, okay? Get everybody, preferably, into the front of the house in the bedroom upstairs, get some clothing or some packing, bedding at the base of the door to stop the smoke filtering through the bottom of the door Okay? Go to the window shout and make it, make your plight known to your neighbours because normally there's somebody passing, policeman on his beat or somebody who'll make your plight known. Okay? If it becomes necessary the