Dozens of people die every year in house fires. Many lives could have been saved if there had been smoke detectors in the house. A fire is therefore already discovered when there is not so much smoke yet, and then residents have more time to flee. Smoke detectors will therefore be mandatory in every home from 1 July. Three practical examples about the life-saving function of the smoke detector.
For fire researcher Bertwin van Setten of the Central and West Brabant fire brigade, it is part of his daily work. When he walks into a house with his colleague, it is almost immediately clear. The man they find in the hallway is dead. Suffocated by the smoke, that is quickly the conclusion.
“A smoke detector probably would have made all the difference.”
The victim fell asleep while smoking in bed and has severe burns on the forearms. “He probably woke up from the pain and tried to get out,” says Van Setten. “He just didn’t make it and was stranded two meters in front of the front door because of the suffocating smoke. A smoke detector probably made the difference. But it was still in the cupboard in the packaging.”
“I didn’t cry,” said the firefighter. “I am a professional and there is no such need. You just hope that you do not encounter any family of the victim at such a moment. Because that affects you. We must all try to prevent this and something like that. That motivates me strongly to get started with this.”
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Ron (52) from Breda still calls it a miracle that he woke up on his own that night in January. Normally he falls into a kind of coma after a night out with a lot of beer, but this time he woke up for a while.
“I heard a strange noise from the living room, a kind of tapping,” says Ron. “But oh well, in such an apartment you hear more noises and you turn around again. After a while I went to have a look and when I opened the door to the living room, I was already getting no oxygen. The whole room was filled with black smoke and after five seconds I was completely black myself.”
“I didn’t have smoke detectors and I had a lot of trouble with that.”
Since the keys to the front door were in the living room, Ron had to smash a window to get out with his girlfriend. As he withdrew his arm, a sharp point of glass fell straight into his arm. The result was an arterial hemorrhage and four ruptured tendons. “I had surgery and my arm then had to be put in a kind of splint for two years. Because of this, I was rejected as a scaffold builder at the time.”
A broken plug of the television turned out to be the culprit. “I’ve had a lot of misery, but it could have turned out worse,” continues Ron. “If the living room door had been ajar and I hadn’t accidentally woken up, we probably wouldn’t have survived. I now have smoke detectors everywhere at home. Then I know for sure that the beep will wake me up in time. If If I had been there earlier, it would certainly have made a difference.”
“An observant neighbor heard the beeping sound and called the fire brigade.”
A housing association in West Brabant has been busy installing smoke detectors in rented houses and apartments for some time now. From 1 July, there must be one on every floor. In this case, the smoke detector came just in time.
“The housing cooperative had only hung up the smoke detectors for a week or a fire started in one of the apartments,” says firefighter Bertwin van Setten, who was investigating. “The resident was in bed at the time and had difficulty walking because he had just undergone hip surgery. So vulnerable.”
“The fire started in an old stove in the living room, but the smoke detector went off quickly. An observant neighbor heard the beeping sound and called the fire brigade. He then took action with the family so that the man was already out of the flat before the fire brigade was there.”
“This really makes a difference whether you survive a fire or not,” concludes Van Setten. “And luckily we hear those success stories more and more.”
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