Was meaning to post this earlier but got busy. This year at deer camp I went up to my buddies cabin just like every year. His “cabin” is basically a house on a lake – nothing rustic about it beyond knotty pine walls. I showed up late so I took the futon in the finished basement rather than being a 3rd or 4th person in another bedroom. A few nights into the week I checked out early as the mornings were getting harder along with the drinking. A couple hours after going to bed I woke up coughing in a room dense with smoke, which was not pleasant to say the least. Apparently, someone had come in to put a load of laundry in and also restarted the wood stove on the basement. The fire took, but they didn’t clear the flu and it was back drafting piles of smoke into the basement/house.
After escaping and the fiasco was dealt with I learned that there was no smoke detector in the basement, and that the one at the top of the stairwell (which would have been triggered quite quickly) had a dead battery. I am diligent with smoke/co detectors in my own house and ice house, but had never thought to think about when I am somewhere else. It might be worth a look if you’re out and about!
