RV Fire Exit (aka exiting Dukes of Hazzard style)

[ependydad]

We were parked in a field tonight with no one around and were playing with the fire escape windows to get air into the camper. We have been talking for a while about emergency planning with the fire escapes and practicing exits and whatnot. So tonight, we played around with the idea and frankly, I'm very sad and very afraid.

#1- I could get my kids out *if* I'm standing outside and able to "catch" them.

#1a- we didn't test it but my wife could catch my 3 year old son, but no way would be able to catch my 12 year old daughter (not without getting hurt in the process; but I guess if it comes to that- being hurt or kid dying, the decision is easy).

#2- neither my wife or I could make it out. (yes, bold, underline, and caps.)

Maybe we'll be willing to plummet face first to the ground in the event of a real fire. BUT- in practice, neither of us could force ourselves to do it.

Now, for the videos. My apologies for fat guy stomach hanging out of the bottom of my shirt.

Daughter came out. But notice it took 20 seconds and that doesn't include the couple of stutter starts to figure out the best way.
https://youtu.be/5NG6GEiSdgo

Son popped right out, but this was the lowest window. Would he come out IF he had to free fall a bit before I caught him?
https://youtu.be/FqBkp41R36w

And now, my 3 failed attempts. I gave up fairly quick because that was an option. But still- the idea of falling face first down 6' wasn't comfortable.
https://youtu.be/f5sv1WDEzeQ

https://youtu.be/KlZ0QCNkr2A

https://youtu.be/gKmmaVSSK2o

[Opie431]

I threw a pillow over the bottom of the opening and let myself down feet first. Hanging down I did not have far to drop.

[ependydad]

DSDP Don wrote:
I did fire investigation the last fifteen years of my career in the Los Angeles area. Even though there are not that many RV parks in Los Angeles County, not once did we get a call of a mobile home or RV fire where someone had to escape out of an emergency window. I think you would be hard pressed to find more than one or two stories where someone used an escape window for the intended reason.

With that said, RV's are required to have an emergency exit. You should know how it opens, by practicing once a year. As stated, 1100 degrees licking at your butt is quite the motivator to do the impossible. The idea is to escape with your life, not worry about cuts, bruises or broken bones.

About the only people who have a real issue are those who are handicapped, like someone who is wheelchair bound.

If you have an extinguisher, it's only use should be to get past the fire toward the door and then do what you can once your escape route is secured. RV's go up fast. A typical fire in a stick and brick kitchen can be fully engulfed in 6-7 minutes. An RV goes up even faster.

My escape plan is to get the wife out the window safely and then use her for a cushion when I come out. :B

Thanks for the thoughts, Don.

And the wonderful vision/plan of using my wife as a crash pad.

[DSDP_Don]

I did fire investigation the last fifteen years of my career in the Los Angeles area. Even though there are not that many RV parks in Los Angeles County, not once did we get a call of a mobile home or RV fire where someone had to escape out of an emergency window. I think you would be hard pressed to find more than one or two stories where someone used an escape window for the intended reason.

With that said, RV's are required to have an emergency exit. You should know how it opens, by practicing once a year. As stated, 1100 degrees licking at your butt is quite the motivator to do the impossible. The idea is to escape with your life, not worry about cuts, bruises or broken bones.

About the only people who have a real issue are those who are handicapped, like someone who is wheelchair bound.

If you have an extinguisher, it's only use should be to get past the fire toward the door and then do what you can once your escape route is secured. RV's go up fast. A typical fire in a stick and brick kitchen can be fully engulfed in 6-7 minutes. An RV goes up even faster.

My escape plan is to get the wife out the window safely and then use her for a cushion when I come out. :B

[ependydad]

austinjenna wrote:
I totally agree. You will have no time to get any fire ladder out to hook up and use it to gingerly set yourself down. The fire will spread a lot quicker then you think, at that point all bets are off and do whatever it takes to get out. These are trailers, not Ft Knox and I am sure I could push/bust out any door or window in there. Then toss out whoever is around. I dont care if I break an arm or leg doing it but at least we will not burn to death.

I think what I learned most is that getting out isn't intuitive. I'd hate to lose precious/extra time because I hadn't previously practiced exits.

[ependydad]

rhagfo wrote:
All this talk about fire extinguishers in a trailer? :h

Unless you are catching a grease fire on the stove at the beginning while cooking, good luck knocking one down let alone putting it out!!

Best to have a good set of smoke detectors, and get the heck out!!!

...

Ours is at the head of the bed, making far easier.

I absolutely agree- the first plan is to GTFO with early warning.

The plan is for a bunch of additional smoke detectors (one in our master bedroom, one in the upstairs hallway, one in the bunkhouse, possibly one in the rear 1/2 bath, and on in the basement. I also am thinking of an automatic fire suppression extinguisher in the area under the bathroom (electrical + water heater down there and no access to it without removing part of my basement wall).

However, in the unlikely event that I can't get out- my backup plan is to try an extinguisher to try and get us to a door. And the backup plan from that is to go out the window.

My front escape window has a shallow dresser (converted to desk) in front of it. My living room should never be used as the door is right there (which is also where the videos were filmed). And the bunkhouse DOES have a bed at the window, so it should help with getting out.

austinjenna wrote:
In the video it looks like your door is pretty much directly across from your escape window. I would just bust through that

Yep- realistically, I should never need to use that fire escape. I have the main door and a door to the bunkhouse with a separate door.

It just happens to be where we were playing around. It all started with us going, "we've owned this trailer for 4 years and have never opend that emergency window... does it fall out? is it hinged? let's find out."

Ductape wrote:
Thanks for reminding us of this topic. In our case we have a small escape window on one side and a large picture window on the other side of the bedroom. I'm going to secure a hammer by the picture window.

Check what kind of glass you have- you might need one of those special safety glass breaking hammers. Even with that, try the emergency exit going feet first- it's hella awkward.

ken56 wrote:
Just my 2 cents here...... a fire is not to be taken lightly, as in do not hesitate to GET OUT. Fire will spread quicker that you would ever think possible, even in your home, an RV will accelerate that so there is really no time to do anything else but get out. My RV has the foam panels in the walls, they will produce deadly fumes that in only a few breaths will render you unconscious. Its not the fire that kills you, its the smoke and fumes that kills you. Good advice to replace the poor excuse of a fire extinguisher that comes with the trailer with real ones placed in accessible spots so you can actually get to it if needed. People with the bunk house style campers, make sure your kids know what to do in case its needed.

All good stuff and that last line applies to me. We have a bunkhouse with kids back there. The plan is to practice and teach them to exit safely. They have a 1/2 bath with its own door, so hopefully the emergency exit shouldn't be needed. BUT that door is also right next to the fridge (which is a possible source of fire).

[zenbuck]

Good post to remind everyone to review your Fire plan....

[austinjenna]

Just my 2 cents here...... a fire is not to be taken lightly, as in do not hesitate to GET OUT. Fire will spread quicker that you would ever think possible, even in your home, an RV will accelerate that so there is really no time to do anything else but get out. My RV has the foam panels in the walls, they will produce deadly fumes that in only a few breaths will render you unconscious. Its not the fire that kills you, its the smoke and fumes that kills you. Good advice to replace the poor excuse of a fire extinguisher that comes with the trailer with real ones placed in accessible spots so you can actually get to it if needed. People with the bunk house style campers, make sure your kids know what to do in case its needed.

I totally agree. You will have no time to get any fire ladder out to hook up and use it to gingerly set yourself down. The fire will spread a lot quicker then you think, at that point all bets are off and do whatever it takes to get out. These are trailers, not Ft Knox and I am sure I could push/bust out any door or window in there. Then toss out whoever is around. I dont care if I break an arm or leg doing it but at least we will not burn to death.

[ken56]

Just my 2 cents here...... a fire is not to be taken lightly, as in do not hesitate to GET OUT. Fire will spread quicker that you would ever think possible, even in your home, an RV will accelerate that so there is really no time to do anything else but get out. My RV has the foam panels in the walls, they will produce deadly fumes that in only a few breaths will render you unconscious. Its not the fire that kills you, its the smoke and fumes that kills you. Good advice to replace the poor excuse of a fire extinguisher that comes with the trailer with real ones placed in accessible spots so you can actually get to it if needed. People with the bunk house style campers, make sure your kids know what to do in case its needed.

[Ductape]

Thanks for reminding us of this topic. In our case we have a small escape window on one side and a large picture window on the other side of the bedroom. I'm going to secure a hammer by the picture window.

[mfinnerty]

Seems to me a fire escape ladder that hooks over the window frame with steps on ropes/chains would be an option to consider to aid in getting to the ground.

[austinjenna]

In the video it looks like your door is pretty much directly across from your escape window. I would just bust through that

[mlts22]

The fire extinguishers are to buy me time to get anyone in my rig, and myself out.

However, this brings up a good point when choosing a rig. Most class "A"s have one door, with the exception of some like the Winnebago Via which might have a driver's door as an addition. A class "C" almost certainly will have the two cab doors usable, so at the minimum, that is three exits.

It is very wise to practice with the emergency windows. One caution, though: Some rigs have the upper hinges for the emergency windows attached with only some tape, so when unlatched, there is a good chance of the window coming completely off. There is also a good chance that the rubber seal adheres too well, making it very difficult to get out (might try talcum powder.)

[rhagfo]

All this talk about fire extinguishers in a trailer? :h

Unless you are catching a grease fire on the stove at the beginning while cooking, good luck knocking one down let alone putting it out!!

Best to have a good set of smoke detectors, and get the heck out!!!

As stated before fire is a great motivator!! Make sure your escape routes/windows are big enough to get out without squeezing. This would make going feet first much easier, dropping six feet is survivable, most likely going feet first the drop at most on a fiver would be four feet or so. Ours is at the head of the bed, making far easier. That said the refer, stove and furnace are located in/near the rear of our center door 5er.

[ependydad]

bukhrn wrote:
Try this, seems to work better than your system. http://www.macthefireguy.com/videos
Watch the one that says " Know your escape hatch"

I've suddenly become a cheerleader for Mac the Fire Guy. I've been reviewing his windows and plan on testing these ideas later this week.

CavemanCharlie wrote:
The daughter would have no problem. She is young could easily jump that far. Send her out first and then have her help her brother.

bukhrn 's video link shows feet first belly down and use a blanket to keep the sharp window ledge from hurting you. That looks like the best way to me.

But, my TT is so small I am not be worried about it. I can make it out the door. If I couldn't it would not make any difference because the emergency exit window is on the same end of the TT as the door. So it doesn't really help me.

That's the plan for my daughter and son- get her out and have him come down to her.

--

As for other comments, I do like our 2 door setup. BUT- I'm at one end of 40' and the kids are at the other. Between us is the fridge and stove (where I'm guessing most fires originate). The kids have their own 1/2 bath with a door to the outside- but it's right next to the fridge. If that's the source of the fire, then that's likely to block that exit.

My plan is for additional fire extinguishers and smoke alarms so that we have as early of a warning as possible.