"Dave Liquorice" wrote in message
idual.net...

Corded landline on your route out that you can grab as you pass with
enough cable to be used from outside is a good idea.

That only works if there is a phone socket near the normal exit route (all
our phone sockets are in a dead-end part of the house). For me, a mobile or
a cordless phone that I can take with me as I flee the building is less
risky.

Main thing: in the panic of an emergency, remember your postcode to direct
the emergency services. And pray for a 999 operator who uses the information
you give them rather than asking for other info that you don't have (*).

Don't even think about fighting the fire.

I would say that it's worth trying to put a fire blanket over a chip-pan
fire, and at the very least turn the gas/electricity off that is heating the
pan. And if it's a trivial fire (the stereotypical fire in a waste-paper bin
or a coal ember that's spat out onto the hearth-rug) at least chuck a bit of
water on it, because if it works, there'll be far less damage than if you
wait for the fire brigade.

But... know when to quit after trying simple low-risk things.


(*) The worst example was when I called 999 on a motorway to report a crash
on the other carriageway, and I gave the "M1 A 123.4" sign but the police
operator kept asking "what's your postcode". Postcode, on a motorway? I
offered to stop to read the info on one of the 100-metre marker posts, but
the operator said she wouldn't know what to do with that information either.
I emailed the police force when I got home because that was a lot of extra
training needed. I had a reply saying they'd located the recording of the
call, and I'd been very clear and concise in my location, but "more staff
training was evidently needed to handle the information I'd given".