Millhouse

I take the piss but a grab bag would make a lot of sense. I have copies of most things on file at work (passports, life insurance, credit cards, egates - even my parking permit etc) - My work insist on it.

That said, in the event of a fire the last thing I would be worried about is if I have a copy of my passport at hand. I'm not sure how much use it would be really - not unless I was going to re-register the car the next day.

scrubbedexpat141

Fire alarm went off here once.

I got straight out with the mrs and started down the stairs. Took us 7 minutes to get from 41 to 24 before it stopped and we got the lift back up. Crazy.

I was amazed at how many people put their head through the door to the stairwell and asked us what we were doing!

OriginalSunshine

Cos of course burglary would NEVER happen to you ... just people in baaaaad areas .... just keep the copies on your smartphone, which you keep in your handbag.

That way if your flat burns down, or even if it doesn't but you can't access the contents for X weeks, you can re-apply for all your essential documents.

Scamp's example of how long it actually takes to get down (and not even make it halfway!) is an excellent example of why I wouldn't want to live high up.

And you may call it paranoia - I call it being prepared.

scrubbedexpat141

It genuinely surprised me. I've got copies on email of everything.

**** it, if its your time to go...it's just your time.

jackthehat

Carry on Joking people!

OriginalSunshine

nope - I'm gonna be dragged out of here kicking and screaming.

On a side note, it's a conversation you need to have with your parents & (future) spouse. You need to have that living will conversation.

MrOS wants to be switched off in certain circumstances. My mother assumed that I would want the same, and I horrified her when I was 20-something by telling her in no uncertain times that I did not. Completely blew out her assumptions about me. This was a good thing, because as a hospice worker it made her have that conversation with all her staff and her patients, which she otherwise wouldn't have done.

al dente

For all your documents and photos:
Download a cloud service (such as Dropbox) onto your computer and every document/ photo is then set up to automatically be stored 'up there'. You can log on remotely from anywhere then and are not reliant on a piece of hardware at all.

The Dean

............ but whose decision is it? I'd like it to be mine.............

Bahtatboy

But not really. You'd like to make the decision only when faced with options you consider worse.

Bongoman2

We are in the Greens and very rarely hear the fire alarm, it is usually the other nearby buildings going off.

Altho last Tuesday night just as we'd put the kids to sleep we had the alarm start, then it quickly stopped. We had a little chat between ourselves about what we would take if we had to get out quickly, just then the alarm started again and it changed to the evacuate sound. We are on ground floor, so I nipped out the back way through courtyard and saw a security guard racing to turn the alarm off at the board. I then noticed him running back along corridor to an apartment with smoke billowing out. Bloody heck. I quickly told the wife to get kids and nip outside until we work out whats happening.

Turns out a bunch of guys were using a rice cooker to deep fry something or other and it caught on fire! The security guards were more concerned with keeping the alarm from sounding than getting the fire sorted. I had to help them get the fire hose to the apartment. Then fire dept came along and by that stage there was 'No Chief and too many Indians'

The whole time this was happening about 4 people came out to have a look-see. 4 people out of a 7 storey apartment complex!

Meanwhile my wife is wetting blankets to put at our front door to keep billowing smoke out and then ran out the back with 2 kids and our valuables folder.

If it was a serious fire and had of actually taken hold quickly I fear we would have been the only survivors.

It is weird that otherwise rational and intelligent people just leave their safety to chance here in Dubai. If anything you have to be more diligent, as no other ****** will be looking out for you.

scrubbedexpat141

This is the most concerning thing. Security guards just turning alarms off, then going to look what's happening.

Who ****ing cares if a building is evacuated at 3am for a false alarm?

the_red_sheep

The fire alarm went off in my building a few weeks ago. First time in 3 years I’ve heard it. I think it gets tested occasionally, but during the week when the building is at its emptiest. When the alarm went off at about 9am on Friday morning, it stopped after about 20 secs, this happened 3 times in a few minutes. I went to the front door and could smell smoke, went back in to grab keys/phones etc. The Mrs opened the door and the lobby was distinctly smokey. We headed down the stairs and walked round to reception. There was one other family who’s evacuated, they lived on the same landing as me and the smoke was coming from their neighbours, who’d had set their kitchen on fire. When we spoke to the receptionist, she just laughed at the fact we’d used the stairs and not the lift to evacuate, said everything was fine now and we could go back upstairs.

So there was a real fire, and as far as I could tell 2 out of approximately 160 apartments had bothered to evacuate, there was no organisation by the building staff, and they seemed to have little idea of what should and shouldn’t be done.

OriginalSunshine

everything else you can't control, but this you can.

I know you have kids, but ground floor appts get (a) squished (b) covered with debris that prevents you from escaping.

take the kids out as soon as you hear the evacuate sound - don't investigate first before returning for them, as you would not want to be the sole survivor of your family. get all of you out in one go.

Bongoman2

yeah sorry, maybe my post was a bit over the place.
Wife had got kids out and away whilst I investigated.

Agreed, take charge and put kids safety first

Blue Cat

get a fireproof safe for documents