ONE night around 12 years ago, my teenage daughter decided that it would be a really good idea to light a candle in her room and place it in a plastic container.

Unfortunately, when she settled down in bed and went off, the candle didn't and continued burning until the room started to fill with acrid fumes.

Along the corridor, my wife and I slept peacefully on while our eldest daughter was snoozing her way to death.

When the smoke alarm in her room went off, she woke up unable to breathe and in the seconds it took me to wake up and lead her from her bedroom, I was choking and covered in black, toxic residue.

So, for me at least, it beggars belief that there are still people out there who do not have smoke alarms in every single bedroom in the house, especially those where their youngsters sleep.

Am I alone in having eight smoke alarms spread around the house, one in each bedroom, in the kitchen, two downstairs rooms and the utility area?

Do people really only have a couple of them strategically placed where they think fires might start and risk the rest to luck.

Listen to the words of chief fire officer Darren Gunter, someone who knows - and has doubtless seen - how deadly smoke can be.

If you do not have a smoke alarm in your bedroom, it's the fumes from a fire that will overcome you a lot quicker than the flames.

Watch the video on our website and tell me you are not shocked to see just how quickly lives can be taken by fire.

And then, at the very least, go and check the batteries on your smoke alarms if you still don't think it will happen to you.