Halloween super fan slammed for ‘dangerous’ house decorations & warning for anyone else making their house look spooky
A WOMAN has blasted her neighbour for taking Halloween decorations too far after he covered his house in fake flames.
Whether it’s carving a pumpkin or putting fake toy bats around your home, we all have great fun getting ready for Halloween.
But it seems that one person, whose identity remains unknown, has taken things too far, leaving fellow residents of the neighbourhood – presumably in America – concerned.
According to one of them, TikTok user @34yfhml, the man had decorated the porperty in what at first glance looks like real flames.
As shown in the now-viral video, which has been viewed over 35million times, the three-storey house, including the loft, appeared to be on fire.
Those, who like @34fhml, were simply walking past, would’ve been in for the shock of their lifetime, as every single window was beaming in bright orange light.
To make the decorations even more realistic, there was also constant flickering and what looked like smoke swirling up in the air.
However, upon entering the home, the neighbour could see the sick joke for herself and what really was going on.
Behind the curtains had been placed a special machine that was both shining in flame-like light, as well as blowing out airflow for the fire effect.
According to the woman, she had initially been so worried she ”almost helped him put out the fire” – and people on social media were outraged.
Close to 9k TikTok user raced to comments to blast the neighbour, horrified by just how realistic the ‘flames’ appeared to be.
There was also criticism by those who insisted that the decorations would be ”wasting the emergency service‘s time” in case concerned bypassers would dial the 999 – or 911 for those living in the USA, where the incident is believed to have taken place.
As one angry viewer put it: ”That’s not Halloween decor. That’s trying to get 911 to your house every five minutes.”
Someone else agreed, warning: ”What happens when your house is actually on fire and everyone just says ‘Oh, that’s just Halloween decoration’.”
”It looks very real. Problem is if someone calls 999 and fire brugade turns up, it’s taking the fire brigade away from a real fire somewhere else.”
”The way I gasped,” a fourth was horrified.
False fire alarms – the risks and consequences
According to research, more than a third of all emergency calls in the UK are false or unwanted – and this costs the UK over £1 billion a year, Call Systems recently reported.
The data gathered by the Home Office found that in the year 2021/22, fire and rescue services attended over 233,000 false alarms in England alone, amounting to 40 per cent of all callouts.
Not only do false fire alarms put a strain on local resources, they also are a danger to the public, especially in cases where there is a real emergency that’s left unattended.
Testing your fire alarm
It’s also a perfect time to remind readers to test their fire alarms regularly.
According to government statistics, in England between June 2020 and June 2021 the Fire and Rescue Service attended 149,779 house fires in England; of these, there were 249 fire-related fatalities.
To test your smoke alarm, Aico recommends pressing the test/hush button on the unit for up to 10 seconds until the smoke alarm begins to sound.
This tests the sensor, electronics and the sounder. The alarm will stop sounding when the button is released.
Pressing the test/hush button simulates the effect of the smoke and/or heat and is therefore the best way to ensure the alarm is operating correctly.
Most smoke alarm manufacturers will have different recommendations on how often a smoke alarm should be tested.
As a general guide and to be on the safe side, we recommend that you aim to test it weekly.