I live on the 3rd floor, which is the top of the building. There are 4 apartments on the 3rd floor and an 'open' staircase and landing whereby you can see over the banisters into the second floor. I am the top of the chimney, so to speak.

At 4am last night I awoke to the sound of my smoke detector, the one outside the front door. I got up, threw on some clothes and opened the front door expecting nothing but an even louder noise. False alarms have occurred in the past but never in the middle of the night.

SMOKE - lots of it. Clearly visible against the roof in the light from my external light. Not choking amounts or any hinderance to sight, but clearly visible and smelly. It was not moving, more lingering as if it was building up. There was no sign of the source on my floor or the second floor, so I assumed it must be from the first or ground floor. The detector did it's early warning job well. Here we go...

I went back inside, got some more clothes and shoes on and got my 'go bag' (bank cards - passport etc), my phone and my torch; 30 seconds at most.

I went back outside into the smoke to see one of the neighbours opposite (barang - unknown to me) open his door with less than a pair of pants on. "FIRE!" I said. "Where?" he said. "HERE!!" I replied. At that moment my other smoke detector in my hallway went off as the smoke was now getting inside the apartment. This is not a dream, this is real, time to get going, I thought.

I banged on next door's metal door (there is a family in there that I know) and then went down the first flight of stairs, torch in hand. My external light does not illuminate the second floor so without the torch I'd have no idea of smoke density.

On the second floor there was much less smoke, it was very obvious. Down one more flight - nothing. The first floor apartment has an external light that I tripped. No smoke visible. Down to ground floor, still nothing. What the fuck is going on here?

So, against all the rules of "get out and stay out", I went back in. By the time I got back to the third floor the smoke was still present but it seemed less than before. The smoke detector still blaring. Nobody seemed to care. I took it down, opened my front door and threw it under the quilt to shut it up. The inside one had stopped and did not restart.

Back out into the hallway I now went searching for a third floor source of the smoke. I couldn't find anything despite a good 15 minute search under torchlight of all the crap left outside the various apartments, including the apartments on the second floor. It couldn't find anything. There is a building next door with a ventilated wall (deliberately missing bricks) which could be a source of smoke drifting in, but there was no sign of anything still coming through.

By this time the amount of smoke outside my front door was so much reduced it was obvious that whatever caused it had stopped. I tentatively went back inside, with great reservation. I re-installed the now silent smoke detector back outside and it remained silent, a good sign I thought.

It was now 4.20 ish and I wasn't very sleepy by now. I put the radio on and layed on the bed. Now my eyes were stinging, the smoke had got right inside my apartment and into the bedroom. After an eyewash I checked outside again and all was normal although there was still a residual smell of smoke.

I layed in bed until about 5am when I gave up, got up, and put the kettle on. I checked the landing again and it was smoke free. The bedroom smelt worse.

At 6.30am the next door neighbour opened up his very loud and clunky front door so I went outside to try and talk to him. I explained what had happened as best I could. He had no idea what had gone on, it seems that the racket of the smoke detector either failed to wake them (almost impossible) or they were completely unaware or incurious of what it was. Not even me banging on the door made a difference. Baffling.

More surprising was the fact that the barang from across the hall was never seen again! . By the time I got from the ground floor back up to the 3rd floor during the 'emergency', he was not outside and never made any attempt to find out the source of the smoke. Maybe a bit of smoke in the hallway was not enough to get him to enquire further. In fact, nobody in the building even stuck their noses out of their doors at the sound of the smoke detector. In the event of a real fire I doubt my early warning system will do anything for them and, in the event of a situation of increasing levels of smoke and heat, I will not be stopping to knock on doors.

So, the big mystery; where did that smoke come from and is the source of it still there and waiting to have another go?

Any suggestions of how a source of smoke starts and then stops on its own will be gratefully received. Also, any suggestions of how to sleep tonight will also be very welcome.

Your neighbour probably burned his toast.

Never considered having a smoke alarm outside my house before. Maybe move it inside for less hassle?

Brody wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:52 pm

Doc67 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:23 pm Also, any suggestions of how to sleep tonight will also be very welcome.

Is that stairwell your only exit?

Maybe think about getting one of those emergency chain or rope ladders that you can unfurl and attach to your balcony railing and escape that way?

Just a couple seconds of inhaling toxic smoke will put you down before you even realize what's going on.

Yes, only way out is via stairs. There is a building next door which can be accessed over a 5ft wall, but it has mesh fencing between the top of the wall and the roof. I was thinking of some bolt cutters just in case the stairwell becomes inaccessible.

Where can you buy a rope ladder in Phnom Penh. I was going to get one years ago but it got forgotten about. Seems like a good idea now.

Jerry Atrick wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:47 pm Your neighbour probably burned his toast.

Never considered having a smoke alarm outside my house before. Maybe move it inside for less hassle?

Way too much smoke for toast and it was 4am. A kitchen fire that was put out would explain it, but again, 4am and the building was asleep.

It is staying outside, early warning is the key to getting out. By the time smoke seeps through the front door the stairwell will be inaccessible.

Edit. The Smoke detector is a Fire Angel model which is 'Toast proof' - it is designed to reduce nuisance alarms such as food burning. It sometimes goes off when they start burning the fake money in the bloody stairwell, and I am more than happy that it does.
This smoke last night was something very different.

Brody wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:52 pm

Doc67 wrote: ↑Sun Dec 13, 2020 1:23 pm Also, any suggestions of how to sleep tonight will also be very welcome.

Is that stairwell your only exit?

Maybe think about getting one of those emergency chain or rope ladders that you can unfurl and attach to your balcony railing and escape that way?

Just a couple seconds of inhaling toxic smoke will put you down before you even realize what's going on.

I looked into this once. You can buy a 25 foot fire escape rope ladders on ebay for about $120. CamboQuick would ship it but the fees depend on the weight.
I spoke with a firefighter in the West. He didn't like the ladder idea and advised me in strong terms to get smoke alarms instead. Ideally linked ones, with one outside the apartment door and one inside.