A dad has shared photographs online from the devastating fire that ripped through his baby son's bedroom in the middle of the night.
Fire safety precautions in the home and, as the post shared to Reddit by a father writing under the handle u/Gubble_Buppie highlights, can be the difference between life and death.
His family might not be here today had it not been for the precautions they took. In a series of photographs taken after the fire was put out, the Reddit user highlighted the extent of the damage done and why he and his family were lucky to be alive.
It's a picture of devastation with the walls turned an ash-black color, while the ceiling has been ripped away and what's left of his son's cot is little more than charred railings.
The dad, who lives in Canada with his family, estimated around $21,000-worth of damage was done by the blaze though, thankfully, their insurance covered it. He told Newsweek the fire began in a humidifier that was in his son's room. He's also keen to stress that the fire wasn't down to any fault with the appliance either.
"The fire started from unnoticed damage to the electrical cord," he said. "No fault of the manufacturer and no lawsuit was pursued. We had recently moved into the house and it's very likely the cord was damaged during the move. Could've been any appliance."
He added: "It looked like something cornered like a filing cabinet had been placed or dropped on the cord."
The fire might have gone longer without being noticed were it not for the smoke alarms installed in the house. Smoke alarms represent an essential purchase in any home.
The National Fire Protection Association found that 59 percent of deaths in reported home fires in the years running from 2018 to 2022 came in properties with no smoke alarms or where smoke alarms failed to operate.
Thankfully, that night, the smoke alarms were in full working order. "We awoke to the smoke alarm at 2 a.m. and that's when we found the unit smoldering in his room," the Redditor said.
"Because the door was closed, the fire smoldered on the unit for some time and ended up draining much of the oxygen from the room. When the door opened, the room re-flooded with oxygen, very quickly causing a backdraft-like event."
He said his son was asleep in his crib when it caught fire. Though he was rescued, he was "not unscathed," which is part of the reason why he chose not to share his name for this article.
He still remembers how quickly the blaze spread, but praised the efforts of the local fire department in controlling the blaze. "The fire was bad enough that my efforts to extinguish it were abandoned in about 40 seconds," he said.
"The fire department arrived very quickly though and managed to contain the fire to the one room. Smoke and water damage were throughout the house though."
Now a little older and eager to share his family's experience, the dad said that since that night they have made two significant changes to the way they live.
"I've definitely learned to appreciate smoke detectors," he said. "We have one in every room now and we also unplug any and all unnecessary appliances overnight." He added: "We survived thanks to a working smoke alarm. Check yours today... It could save a life!"
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