Following Victoria’s lucky escape from a house fire, her mother says people must make sure their smoke detectors work.
When Victoria Rowlatt woke up to the piercing sound of a smoke alarm last October, she instantly knew something was horribly wrong. Running into the kitchen and living room, she saw smoke blanketing the ceiling. She quickly woke up her boyfriend, Brent, and the pair started searching for the source of the fire, not realising how little time they had to get out.
The fire had already rapidly travelled through the house and was inside the roof. Victoria said that Brent poked his head up through a manhole and “started screaming out for the water”.
“I was in a panic searching through the kitchen looking for big bowls to fill up with water,” she said.
“Suddenly Brent stopped yelling for water and said ‘we just have to get out of the house’.”
Victoria raced out the back door and Brent ran back into the bedroom to grab some belongings but by then the bed was alight and flames were falling from the roof. He rushed out, feeling burns on the back of his neck, and the young couple watched as the roof of the house fell in.
Victoria says she can’t believe that it happened so ‘very, very quickly’.
“We had a maximum of five minutes from the time we woke up to the time we abandoned the house and ten minutes from the time we woke up to the smoke alarms to the roof collapsing,” she said.
When asked what she thinks might have saved her life, Victoria responds “100% the smoke alarms.”
“I would have never of woken up in time otherwise and would have woken up to the roof falling on my bed. Brent didn’t even wake up to the start of the alarm.”
Victoria’s story is being used to remind people to change the batteries in their smoke detectors and ensure they are in working order.
A campaign from Australia’s fire and emergency services together with Duracell are encouraging all Australian households to change the batteries in their smoke alarms in line with the end of daylight savings on Sunday April 6, and for states without daylight savings, on April Fool’s Day.
Victoria’s mother, Kim, says that their smoke alarms were hard wired but that she, like many others, were unaware that the back-up battery supply needs to be changed every year.
“We were unaware of the maintenance that is required for hard wired alarms so feel very fortunate that our smoke alarms were working when the fire occurred,” Kim said.
She also says that they did not realise that hardwired smoke detectors still require regular monthly testing.
“I would definitely urge Australians to act now before it is too late. Me and my family were very fortunate that no one was injured, but it is clear that we were not proactive enough with fire safety at home before the fire so it could have been a lot worse. Given we were not doing enough to protect ourselves should a fire occur, I am so thankful that nothing happened to my daughter.”
The fire and emergency services together with Duracell, are urging all Australian households to change the batteries in their smoke alarm this April.
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