Two Die in Caravan Fire

[Parksy]

A father and son have died in a touring caravan fire in the early hours at a site in Talybont near to Barmouth and two people were injured.
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It's not yet clear what caused the fire which is believed to have started in the awning.
My sympathies go out to the family of those killed and I hope that those who were injured make a good recovery.
The ground is very dry at the moment so smokers need to ensure that cigarettes are fully extinguished in a bowl or bucket of water if they smoke outside or in the awning.

 

[thursdays child]

OH MY GOD!! This my worst phobia. I do hope the little girl involved is not too badly hurt. I have nightmares about this very scenario and we are super careful regarding getting regular gas checks and keeping the fire blanket and extinguishers to hand. Having said all that the fear is still with me especially in the car and caravan. Just as I get a bit less paranoid something like this happens.Please let us be vigilant whilst out and about. I know everybody will be sad when they hear this very sad story. I have just read about how vulnerable to fire the aluminium is that our vans are made of.Scarey thoughts???"Pull yoursef together woman " I can hear some saying. I am trying.honestly.Please will some sensible person tell me how frequently these tragedies occur?
Thursdays Child

 

[Parksy]

Fires in touring caravans are a fairly rare occurrence thankfully Thursday's Child. There was a fire in a static mobile home some months back and it looks as though this tourer fire may have started not in the caravan but in the awning.
We see people sitting in the awning during the evening with candles, cigarettes and even small portable gas cookers and barbecues but after the driest spring for years the grass is tinder dry which increases the potential for such a fire.
We don't yet know what caused this tragedy but a carelessly discarded cigarette a candle left burning or any naked flame inside an awning could set light to dry grass.
It's vital to check before retiring to bed that there is no possibility of a spark turning into a flame.

 

[LMH]

Gosh, that is horrendous. My sympathies to the family too and hope the injured parties make a full recovery.

Once they catch fire, if the toxic smoke doesn't get you, the van will go up in minutes.

An acquaintance of mine, along with her partner were killed in a fire in a static in Lincolnshire years ago.

Lisa

 

[forestgump]

yes i see some people with the cadac in the awning and i said to mrs gump that the heat that rises is more than you think and if it whent up it will be a fire ball in seconds so i dont even cook out side with cadac or barby unless i am at least 4mtrs away from awning or guy lines.

 

[Steve L]

Our heart felt sympathies go out to the rest of the family and I wish them a speedy recovery.

My wife when she was a child was involved in a fire in their caravan. It was caused by the farmer stacking hay that was too warm. Her folks were working on the farm and living in their van. Since that she has been very weary of open fires and it does play on her mind, now that we are living full time in our van.
I have an extinguisher both in the van and in the awning, plus a fire blanket. Pop along to your local fire station and they can put you in touch with people who do basic fire fighting training, which teaches you how to use an extinguisher effectively.
Even better volunteer to be a fire marshall at work and get the training for free.
On the site I'm on, I gave the previous managers a hand to develope their site evacuation plan and to put in place a weekly inspection plan for the equipment.
All businesses are supposed to have at least 1 proper fire evacuation drill a year and record the time it took plus any short commingsthat show up. When I worked for hydro they had quarterly drills and we could get 260 workers out and accounted for in under 7 mins.
I wonder how many folks take the time to read the site fire drill sheet (usually on the office info board)?

 

[Dustydog]

Very sad indeed for the family. A terrible way to end a family holiday.
Thank goodness such occurrences are rare but horrific when they do happen.
Of little use in this case but a reminder it is essential to keep a fire extinguisher close at hand. also to the best of my knowledge the CC still like people to keep a bucket of water by the side of the caravan. Not many do that today. Smoke inhalation is the real problem and again a good smoke detector and a CO detector should be fitted.

 

[Steve L]

With you all the way Dusty regarding fire safety.
We have a very sensative smoke detector in our van. The darned thing goes off all the time when cooking. I very naughtily have fitted an illuminated switch so that, when the smoke alarm is switched off, a red light illuminates to alert us.

But given the lack of smoke alarms going off when I can clearly smell bacon and toast fumes wafting from other vans on our site, I can only assume that they have taken the bateries out.

Now before a certain someone rounds up on me for turning a smoke alarm off. I will clearly state :- I only do that while we are all awake and food is being cooked. Immediately after cooking and not even having eaten the food, we put the alarm back on.
Please do not pull the connector off the alarm battery and shut the lid. You will forget to put it back.

 

[Parksy]

On the C&CC rallies that we go to the majority of us keep a fire bucket filled with water at the front of the caravan and this habit continues with me on any site that we visit. For the most part the water provides a ready source of drinking water for campers dogs but this recent tragedy underlines the more serious purpose behind the placing of fire buckets.

 

[Steve L]

Agreed Parksey.
On our site despite my suggestions, they have just 1 extiguisher box with a battery operated opening alarm and just 1 extinguisher "nailed" to the tree by the rubbish skip.
I would love to do a fire drill on this site, It would realy open the proverbial can of worms !!!!

 

[Dustydog]

Agreed Parksey.
On our site despite my suggestions, they have just 1 extiguisher box with a battery operated opening alarm and just 1 extinguisher "nailed" to the tree by the rubbish skip.
I would love to do a fire drill on this site, It would realy open the proverbial can of worms !!!!

Steve in all my years of touring I cannot remember one single time when I was told about a fire drill or what to do in an emergency. Granted there are a few posters about but nothing brought to your attention in the same way they do on a plane or ship.
The water bucket does go back many years but perhaps it should now be compulsory that all caravanners carry a certificated CO2 extinguisher of a size sufficient to put out a small fire. I carry one but I admit it tends to live in the awning, not a good place perhaps but it is always visible.

 

[Parksy]

Our extinguisher is always in a cupboard, they are sold in large supermarkets, Halfords and most diy and accessory shops.
A powder extinguisher which might make the difference between getting out of a burning caravan or not can bebought for under twenty quid
It could be the best investment a person could ever make.

 

[JonnyG]

It occurs to me. that whilst having would a fire extinguisher on hand seems like sound advice do we know if in this case it might have saved those poor souls?
The other thing that occurs to me is my fire extinguisher has 2007 as its expiry date ! So even if you carry one, you need to regularly check it out to make sure its still in date.Something that i am sure is often overlooked.

 

[LMH]

Just a quick question -

For those of you who have extinguishers,

1. have you ever used one before?
2. If yes, was it used to put out a 'real' fire?

Lisa

 

[Parksy]

Hi Lisa
1 Yes

2 The fire was real enough for me at the time, the engine of a forklift truck caught fire.

 

[Joann]

We carry an extinguisher( mounted near the door) in the van and a fire blanket(mounted near the cooker) , I will be buying a fire bucket before my next trip after reading that story.
I thought that vans from dealers had to come with an extinguisher and a smoke alarm, was I mistaken?

 

[Beachball]

When we brought our van it had a smoke alarm fire blanket already in and we brought a extinguisher to be on the safe side but i will get a fire bucket before we go out in three weeks time .This is our second trip out my husband who is recovering from a stroke is looking forward going to Berwick Upon Tweed .

 

[Parksy]

Don't go paying £5 or more for a 'fire bucket' from a rip off caravan shop, just pop along to Wilkinsons or similar and buy an ordinary red plastic bucket

You can always write FIRE in black felt tip marker on the side if you are bothered

 

[Willi-Wonti]

Most people do not have a clue how to use an extinguisher
When put in a fire situation would panic
I am a fire service trained medic & have dealt with many critically injured & dead people, but I witnessed an RTC the other week between a car & motorcycle. I went to the aid of the motor cyclist & because I had witnessed the incident, I could feel my hands shaking & had to compose myself.
Just imagine its your caravan on fire & you decided to stay & play would you stay calm & collected

GET OUT STAY OUT GET THE BRIGADE OUT

Steve was it a dry powder extinguisher that you used
I would rather let my van burn than use a DPE because of the mess they make

 

[Beachball]

Hi Parksy That is a good idea buying a plastic bucket that would save paying out at caravan shops we use wilkinsons quite a lot and we would write Fire on it Thanks for your advice ........

 

[Dustydog]

Lest we all forget, please do not use the water from your fire bucket on a fat fire!!

 

[LMH]

Most people do not have a clue how to use an extinguisher
When put in a fire situation would panic
I am a fire service trained medic & have dealt with many critically injured & dead people, but I witnessed an RTC the other week between a car & motorcycle. I went to the aid of the motor cyclist & because I had witnessed the incident, I could feel my hands shaking & had to compose myself.
Just imagine its your caravan on fire & you decided to stay & play would you stay calm & collected

GET OUT STAY OUT GET THE BRIGADE OUT

Steve was it a dry powder extinguisher that you used
I would rather let my van burn than use a DPE because of the mess they make

Well said,

that was I was trying to say in a round about way, a lot of people think because they have an extinguisher, they'll know how to use it and won't faff around for a minute or two trying to figure out how to use it etc. I don't think people realise how fast a caravan goes up.

Lisa

 

[erica11]

what a dreadful thing to happen my heart goes out to the family. I,ve asked for healing from Archangel Raphelle for the family and for the Archangels to watch over them. God bless them.

I,m a medium..

 

[ProfJohnL]

My unreserved condolences go to the family and friends of those poor people.

Few of us realise just how easily a caravan will start to burn, and how quickly it will take hold and cannot be controlled.

I whole heartedly support Willi Wonti's post of

GET OUT STAY OUT GET THE BRIGADE OUT

Ther may be occasions when a really samll fire can be caught in time, but there is so muuch combustible material in a caravan you need to get outside as quickly as possible.

 

[Parksy]

Most people do not have a clue how to use an extinguisher
When put in a fire situation would panic
I am a fire service trained medic & have dealt with many critically injured & dead people, but I witnessed an RTC the other week between a car & motorcycle. I went to the aid of the motor cyclist & because I had witnessed the incident, I could feel my hands shaking & had to compose myself.
Just imagine its your caravan on fire & you decided to stay & play would you stay calm & collected

GET OUT STAY OUT GET THE BRIGADE OUT

Steve was it a dry powder extinguisher that you used
I would rather let my van burn than use a DPE because of the mess they make

I'm pretty sure that it was Graham, it was a long time ago at Beans Foundries if you remember the place.
The engine bay of an old forlift truck caught fire. None of us took much notice at first but the flames started to really burn so two of us grabbed wall mounted extinguishers that were part of the fixtures and fitting and struck the knob like it said on the side of the extinguishers. It looked to me very much like a sort of gas that came out of the spout, I was really surprised at the amount with the two of us but the flames immediately died back and went out.
We all had to go outside because of the smoke ( the seat had caught) and then Tiptons Finest turned up with blue lights flashing and the forklift truck ended up being towed to the back of the yard until it was taken away by a scrap merchant and they hired one instead.
I've never had a go with an extinguisher since but ours in the caravan is in case there was a fire near to the door which prevented our exit. (I'd never make it out of a window)
There is one in the overhead locker on one side of the door and the other inside a floor cupboard at the end of the tv cabinet on the other side of the door.