Having seen, responded to and investigated a LOT of RV fires and accidents over my 33 year career I thought I’d list a few safety reminders. The number one rule is to be sure your RV is equipped with the three main alarms, smoke, LPG and Carbon Monoxide types. I responded to many where there were fatalities due to the lack of each listed above. The worst believe it or not is the silent killer Carbon Monoxide (CO). I responded to one particular incident where an entire family had died, a dad, mom and three young kids. Had they had a CO detector they would be alive today. Even firefighters can fall prey. I assumed all knew RV’s were required to have all three detectors and had lived in mine full-timing for a bit of time before I realized I had no CO detector and immediately got one as the pictures of that family kept flashing back at me. I even lost a cousin and her husband shortly after they were married to CO poisoning. Don’t roll the dice! The odds are NOT in your favor.
Here in the campground I have surveyed many of RV’ers who many actually had no CO detectors and many who had non functioning smoke alarms and LPG detectors. LPG detectors go off for basically three reasons. One, there is an LPG leak, secondly it goes off to indicate low battery voltage and lastly it can be due to a faulty detector. LPG detectors typically last only 5 years or so. Mine went out at 5 years and had to be replaced. What I found is a lot of people instead of replacing them as they are around $60 (or more) they simply disconnected them instead.
One RV’er said he had a smoke alarm. I tested it and nothing happened. It had a brand new battery that had a slip of plastic between the battery connections that had to be pulled out before it would function. He was shocked, but had he tested it periodically he would have known it didn’t work. He had owned the RV for 5 years!
When a smoke alarm goers off in an RV it means get out NOW! I’ve seen many of RV’s go from a small fire to totally involved in as matter of a few short minutes. Unless the fire is so small in nature your extinguisher can handle it then get out! Also beware you need to get far away if there is fire. Your propane tank can become a missile. Us firefighters call it a BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion) where the tank can be hurled up to 2500 feet of more. I’ve been on them and it is pretty scary.
Also a good preventive maintenance programs for your RV is needed, both in trailers and motor homes. Preventive maintenance goes a long ways. Many of the accidents I responded to were caused by lack of or no maintenance. Wheel bearings, batteries, electrical, fuel lines, brakes etc. and more. Preventive maintenance goes a long ways. Look at some the fire trucks that are 20+ years old and still look and run like new. Do yourself, your family and others a favor and check all your alarms for proper working order and make sure you have all three!
Make yourself a checklist. Firefighters use them. Break it down into monthly, semi annually and annually items. Some can even be weekly. Us the list, it’s like our “Golden circle” us firefighters perform before we move our rigs after they’ve been parked to prevent an accident of injury.
Check your fire extinguishers and make sure they are charged. If in doubt swing by a local fire station and they’ll be glad to tell you. Lets not push the safety envelope and make sure we all stay safe! A few minutes of your time can go a LONG ways. Feel free to chime in with your own reminders and tips!