My father opened the front door, and a small cloud of think black smoke flowed out as the front door swung back in its brass hinges. Father ran upstairs and I followed behind, scouring the downstairs with my older brother, we found a small flame flickering on the edge of the rim of the glass bowl on the front of washing machine in the utility room at the back of the house. Thankfully, the incoming water main into the washing machine has mostly extinguished the flames leaving a puddle of water a couple of inches deep complete covering the floor of the utility room. Thankfully, other than a burnt washing machine, a melted tumble dryer, and a lot of smoke damage, our family were completely unharmed. But even now, many years on, the subtle hint of burning plastic brings back vivid memories of the moment we walked into our house that Sunday morning to find our house full of smoke, smelling of burning plastic and eerily quiet. Over time, it just became an ever more distant memory.
Until 3 years later!
It was during a GCSE cooking lesson as I stood beside a classmate, the pan which he was using suddenly ignited, sending a huge flame over four feet in the air towards the ceiling. The two things that I will never forget was how fast the flame became so intense, but far more worryingly, was the sudden rush of heat that hit me from side on. In the panic, no one was able to locate the fire blanket, so the pan was carried outside and hosed off, extinguishing the flames.
Thankfully, again, everyone emerged unscathed. The experience stays etched in my memory for a number of reasons, but none more so than how fast the fire developed. One second it wasn't there, the next it was over four feet high! When we finally located the fire blanket, it was almost ten metres away and partially obscured by a cupboard and critically, would have cost precious seconds to retrieve.
In fire emergencies, “Seconds Saves Lives”. That's why I've embarked on a mission to mitigate injuries and fatalities resulting from accidental fires. It's worth noting that cooking appliances are the leading cause of accidental fires. To address this, I've designed a patented cooking apron equipped with integrated oven gloves, doubling as a quick-release, accessible, and efficient fire blanket to ensure people's safety.
