When we were moving into this adapted, accessible home, the housing team asked if we wanted a fire safety check of the home. I said no at the time because we were in the kitchen of a bare walled house in a terrible state. There was graffiti on the walls upstairs, no flooring and rough potholed walls throughout.
My amazing friends and husband sorted out the decorating and then we moved in and had our housing officer call over to complete a new tenancy check. He was amazed at the difference in the property and pleased to see people here now who will look after it. Goodness knows what was going on before here!
At that appointment, he asked about a fire safety check and ensuring safe routes for me to exit the property in case of fire, so I said yes please.
Cut to five weeks down the line and the fire service were due today between 8am and 5pm.
Around midday there is a knock on the door (today we have had two carers call, a cleaner, two deliveries, shopping home delivery, kids calling for our children to go out to play, the council called out about a leaking pipe and the care team OT called too). My son had to separate the dogs from the front door and then let the man in from the fire service. He was hiding around the corner from my room in the hallway, so I asked my son to show him in. My son knows I am uncomfortable with men so he stayed with me.
Well, what a waste of time!
For a start he looked at me sat in my bed (because the second carers had just left and we had been sorting out the house together so I was tired). He asked if we had known he was coming in a gruff tone, as if we had been given a precise time for his call and therefore should have been ready for him to arrive and walk straight in. That set the tone.
He asked for a chair.... Its my bedroom, so I offered his the shower chair to sit on that was next to my bed at the time.
He took details like my name and address, date of birth and ages of the people who live here, then talked at me for about twenty minutes, reading an A4 sized list of points to cover about fire safety. I coukdnt concentrate and so most of it went straight over my head (to be fair it was the stuff you are told in primary school anyway). At one point he mentioned about not putting water on an oil pan fire and my son said 'yes, because it will go whoosh' showing a big ball of fire with his arms. The man looked at him with a disapproving look, didn't even acknowledge him and then carried on reading the list!
He asked if anyone has mobility issues.... Hmmm... You are sat on my shower wheelchair and my bedroom is downstairs, the doors are all widened and sliding and I am wearing a lifeline. What do you think Sherlock?
Then if anyone was concerned about their health? Hmmm....
If anyone was on medication... Just a pharmacy's worth of it
If anyone woukd have difficulty getting out if there was a fire..... Hmmm...
Before telling me that if there was a fire i woukd have the easiest escape route because the back door is only 3 strides away from my bed!! Really?! For real?!
So, I woukd have to sit my bed up, wait until I didn't feel dizzy, put my feet over the side of the bed using my arms, then use the transfer board to get into my wheelchair. If it is the morning then you're lucky if I can even get that far. I certainly can't open the sliding door of my bedroom when my hands don't work in the mornings, let along self propel my wheelchair. Then there is the back door to open and get out of. I am sure my three children woukd be out of the window and waiting on the flat roof of the wet room before I even got into my wheelchair!
Seriously though. This man is going into the hones of vulnerable people and asking ridiculous questions in a mechanical way. There was far too much information spoken at me and nothing left with me in writing regarding advice or safety.
He asked about smoke alarms and I said they were checked when we moved in and I knew there was one downstairs. He asked me about upstairs so I said I didn't know, I can't get up the stairs!
He then chastised me for not checking the smoke alarms regularly!! I can only just reach the top of my own head, never mind a smoke alarm matey!!
I have had a check like this carried out before, by a different fire service, and the person was personable, helpful and friendly and left advice with me. Even my son was amazed at how the man behaved. It is not good enough.
#fireservice #staffordshirefireservice #chronicpain #chronicillness #chronicfatigue #wheelchairparenting #autismparenting #adhdparenting #fibromyalgia #ME #CFS #degenerativediscdisease #IBS #healthgrief #homesafetycheck #firesafety #smokealarms #notbothered #rude
Comentarios