A friend is building a house themselves, nearly finished now.
They were living on site in a large wooden hut or shed so as to save money and be nearby.
This was recently totally destroyed by fire, and they were very lucky to escape with their life.

This narrow escape underlines the importance of taking proper fire precautions even in temporary structures.
No fire extinguisher was to hand, prompt use of such might have put the fire out.
The fire started near the only door, which was shut.
It was not easy in smoke and darkness to locate the door catch, fortunatly the door yielded to a good kick.
The only light went out as soon as the fire started. No flashlight instantly to hand, it was in a tool box under the bed.
The fire spread with great speed and hope would have been lost very quickly indeed.

The owners cellphone, car keys and wallet were lost in the fire, thereby stranding them without any contact or means of travel.
Even in the relatively mild climate of the UK, being stranded on a hillside without boots*, outdoor clothing* vehicle keys, cellphone or money could have had serious consequences, especialy if any injury had occured.
Fortunatly they were not badly hurt, and were "rescued" by a supplier delivering materials the next morning.

The partly built house provided basic shelter.

The nearest neighbour, about a mile away, saw the fire, but assumed it was intentional burning of rubbish.

Their dog also escaped, though with burns to the front paws. The animal is now reluctant to enter any shed, hut or similar small structure.
* Removed to relax after work and then lost in the fire.

Definitely one helluva close call. It's extremely nasty to find yourself on the ~inside~ of a kindling pile. Smoke can take you out with terrifying efficiency. Glad your friends made it out.

My DW (who really is okay) humours me a little as I put my wallet, phone, keys, leatherman, flashlight, and current data backup in a box beside the bed. Always. Home or travelling. But I've seen a fire progress, and anything that's more than three feet away might as well be on Mars. If in doubt, I'm going out the bedroom window; and when I do, I'll have the tools to deal with the next phase. So I sleep well. I hope DW never has reason to bless my preps.

Cheers,
-Doug

You have a really good habit. I hope you never have to demonstrate how useful it can be.

Yep, keys, wallet, phone, etc should always be with you or beside you when your sleeping. I've seen people put stuff by the front door or kitchen counter or coffee table or wherever and if for some reason they should ever wake to a fire they won't be able to get to it.

Keep glasses and shoes nearby, too.

Sue

I'm glad your friends are okay. They were very lucky.

When I go to bed, the pants (with belt) I'm wearing at the end of the day are laid across the arm of my dressing chair. They always have my current pocket knife, wallet, cellphone (unless it's charging), cash, coins, keys, lighter, and Wenger Pocket Tool Chest SAK, connected to an LED flashlight.

If the smoke alarm goes off while I'm sleeping, I can be dressed in about 15-30 seconds, and have everything I immediately need in my pockets. I can understand that for some people, emptying their pockets is an end of the day, or end of the work day ritual. The only time I empty my pockets is to load the pockets of the next pair of pants.

Women usually don't fill the pockets of their slacks, but put their necessary tools in their purse. So ladies, how far away is your purse when you go to bed? Just as important, do you keep it in the same place every night? Sue? You always have good comments.

My purse, keys and cell phone are on a shelf just inside the front door. They have to be, or I would never find them due to my ADD.

If I had to go out the back door (closer to the bedroom), I would have to leave them behind.

I guess I should make duplicates of all of them and hide/bury them outside somewhere, so I could at least drive away or have access to the stuff in my car.

Sue

Or do what I've done, put a dup in your BOB and keep your BOB beside the bed, so you grab the BOB while getting out of bed and it has at least an old pair of shoes, jacket/coat and car keys. Enough that you can cover up and get in the vehicle and back away from the house.

Glad they escaped, glad the dog is OK, also glad everyone has escape plans and sleeps with a BOB like they were in Ranger School.

But I am wondering what D-fool thing they did to start the fire.

Would not an ounce of prevention be worth not having to sleep with an Alice pack?

I'm glad they got out. People complain about fire codes, but they're there to save lives.

Some of the biggest fires I've ever seen were at apartment buildings under construction before sheetrock went up. All that wood framing standing straight up makes for great bonfires.

I once saw a case where some homeless people had built a shack out of wooden fence sections. A candle sparked a fire inside it and one quick-thinking guy just took off one of the walls and pulled out the burning couch and debris. So the quickest exit isn't always an existing door or window.

They were awake when the fire started.
It was caused by the dog knocking over an oil burning cook stove, either the stove fuel, or the cooking oil in the pan ignited and the fire spread rapidly in the dry wooden suroundings.
Had they been sleeping it is unlikely that they would have woken in time, though OTOH the stove would not have been lit whilst sleeping, and the dog would have been outside.

In retrospect, the stove should have been fixed down, or even better used outside.
The only lighting was from a 12 volt flourescent light screwed to the wall above the stove, it failed in seconds, presumably the heat broke the glass.

The financial loss was not that great,perhaps a few hundred pounds, but the potential risk to life was great.
They will be a lot more cautious in future.

The dog burnt its front paws, ears, and nose, though not seriously and is expected to make a full recovery.
The owner suffered from minor burns, bruises and small cuts, and has recovered.

Seems to me this is a pretty good example of how questionable practices, often a bit shy of outright error or outrageous risk, line up to allow a major loss.

Among those that might be listed:
1) Fire/evacuation plan was not established and practiced. (This would have influenced 3,4,7 and 10.)
2) Highly flammable temporary structure used for living.
3) No fire extinguisher present.
4) Building has only one exit.
5)Stove of questionable reliability and safety used for cooking.
6)Stove not fastened down or made stable.
7)Most probable source of fire located near the only door.
8) Dog allowed near unsecured source of fire.
9) Sole light source located over most probable location of accidental fire.
10) Reserve light source not readily available.
11) Second source of communications not maintained in safe location.

1) a formal evacuation plan is perhaps going too far
2) Most temporary huts or similar are highly flammable
4) such small buildings normally only have one exit

With the other points, I agree entirely.
WITHOUT the cookstove, the whole idea was very low risk, the owner does not smoke, and no flame based lighting was used in or near.
Had I been staying in such a hut I would have cooked outdoors, and then considered the arrangements acceptable.
I would also have kept basic supplies in the vehicle, and hidden a spare key to this.

The permanent house being built is being made as safe as posible from fire, recent events have concentrated the mind somwhat !

wow that was a near miss.

It always amazes me that caravans have the kitchen right next to the door, in my mind the kitchen should be placed as far away from the door as possible, especially if the dwelling only have one exit.

We can't do what Susan does over here in the UK. We have Millenium burglaries where thieves stick a fishing rod through the letter box
and steel your car keys. Mind you in the states you normally have external mail boxes so I suppose its not such a problem.

Old SOP's die hard for me, my clothes are kept as a pile next to the bed with keys, wallet, mobile and the like kept in the pockets. You never know when the mortar alarms will go off but you can bet its when you are in your deepest sleep. Out of bed into clothes and out the door or window which ever is safest and you have everything with you. Simples!

I think caravans (RV's) have the kitchen right next to the door because the bathroom, living room, sleeping area, etc are all right next to the door Not a lot of flexibility in layout.
I made the comment earlier about the car keys, I see a lot of people have key hooks by their door, or leave them on a coffee table or kitchen counter or wherever. A lot of organizational sites talk about having a landing zone where people come in and drop all their stuff next to the door. I always comment on those that its bad practice, things like keys and phone should be near your bed when your sellping on or your person.

A formal evacuation plan needn't be typed up, notarized, signed in the blood of a virgin, and registered with the UN. I used the word formal to imply that there is something more than a ten second assessment going on. What is needed is a careful and deliberately thought through and realistic plan. It should be talked about and walked through, to the extent practical, with everyone in residence.

A friend failed his first walk-through when she discovered that he window she was planning to jump from was directly above a Spanish Bayonet plant. She had pictured it as being under the next window down. This would have been a jolting discovery finding this out in the middle of a fire. Even worse if she had blindly jumped.

Most small buildings only have one door. But windows and, with a bit of kicking, and a panel that is by design or default weakly attached, it is often practical to have a second exit without resort to either window or door. Figuring out ahead of time where to beat your way through, and possibly removing a few nails or screws, makes it a much more viable alternative.

No need to get obsessive about it but if you spend enough time to sleep in a building spending a couple minutes thinking through the options could save the day when the time comes. It isn't just fire. A tree-falls and tornadoes have been known to trap people. In this day and age of industrial accidents and terrorism having options, knowing where the back door is, makes sense.

When I stay at a hotel I spend a few minutes locating the exits, fire extinguishers. If the path isn't dead simple I have been known to count steps to exits. In a smoke filled hall distances get confused. More than once I've done the same thing in an airliner counting rows of seats.

Also, a fire extinguisher needn't be a high-dollar commercial unit rated and certified. A simple bucket of sand and/or a heavy wool blanket can temporarily smother a fire. Toss it over top of the burning area and it keeps the flames at bay long enough to make an orderly withdrawal. An old garage sale blanket and an old galvanized two gallon bucket with liberated builder's sand can save the day.

A bit after the fact, it might help someone some day, is to remember that even simple wooden structures can be inexpensively whitewashed. This dresses up the exterior and lightens the interior. It also increases the fire resistance of wood. Once the wood catches whitewash won't stop a fire but it can cause the wood to catch and spread fire more slowly. Which buys you time. I've seen a whitewashed piece of wood take most of a minute to catch when thrown into a roaring fire.

Whitewash can be as simple as slaked lime in water, have chalk added to make it whiter, or bought as a commercial product.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitewash