Smoke in our room!!

[linzbear]

That's your prerogative. Whether people do it or not, the safety advice with appliances is that they be unplugged when not in use. This is an absolute with a heat generating appliance. I hardly think it is being harsh or insensitive to point out that the OP's failure to unplug the toaster contributed to the problem. BTW, I hope you never have a terrified child come bursting into your house because his house is on fire caused by failing to unplug a small appliance--I have had it happen to me, and I can assure you that both our family and his family have learned the lesson quite well. Again, I am sorry this happened to the OP, but I hope it is a lesson as to the dangers of leaving appliances plugged in. BTW, it is very possible that the the toaster wasn't even on. It may very well have shorted or arced if a wet towel was placed on it.

I believe the question here should be: Did you unplug your toaster after use before this incident happened to you?

I'm betting that along with most people, you hadn't. That's because it's not well known safety advice. I'm from a generation that had more safety classes than anyone else I know - water usage, environmentalism, fire hazards, you name it. And I've never heard that toasters/coffee makers/etc should be unplugged while not in use.

Now, am I going to follow this procedure in the future? You betcha. But don't assume that people have this knowledge. Instead of attacking people for not following safety procedure, tell them that they should follow it. You'll get more positive responses.

 

[fireman17]

I'm so sorry to hear of this incident happening to you and I hope you and your family are okay.
I am sure to the moment you opened the door and was greeted by smoke is a very scary experience for anyone and you'll always remember that.
Now, onto the points of fire safety as I have been a firefighter for over 25 years now. On the topic of room smoke detectors, most if not all are what we call single station smoke detectors. What that means is if it activates it only activates in the room to alert the occupants of a smoke condition in the room. The smoke may have to activate a second detector to activate the entire alarm for the building but, the activation should have appeared at the main fire alarm panel indicating an activation. I'm not sure why that didn't happen.
Second and this is very import to all, anytime a smoke detector activates or you see or smell smoke PULL THE FIRE ALARM!!!! Most time people do not do this thinking someone else will. The minute you pull it it gives others a chance to get out also if you are in your room when an alarm goes off check the door for heat before you open it, if it's not hot open it slowly and crawl under the smoke to the exit.
As for you exit what I and my family will do every time I check into a hotel is have a family fire drill and count the doors until you come to the fire exit, this way if there is a fire and we are crawling all we need to do is count how many doors we have passed and know which one is the fire exit.
I know when something like this happens we all don't think correctly right away and you correct in getting your family to safety first.

 

[Pluto4Pres]

It took me a while to understand how this happened. The op stated the towel was left on the toaster - I thought how would that catch fire? Then someone stated that toasters spontaneously catch on fire if they are left plugged in - and I thought that had to be an unbelievable coincidence for the toaster to spontaneously erupt just at the time someone left a towel on it. Then finally someone suggested that the towel was wet, and that caused water to drip on the electrical components causing a short? That makes sense now.

I think pulling the fire alarm in this situation is good advice, but I can't place where they are. Are they in the room? Out in the corridor? I usually stay at OKW and I couldn't tell you where they are. It's like hiding something in plain sight. Does anyone know? I'll be sure to note where they are on my next trip.

 

[bpmorley]

I'm done with this conversation. Doctor P, you are out of your mind!!!!

BTW, I'm a firefighter.