The plan was spaghetti. I put the pan on to boil water, turned on the burner and walked away for about 10 minutes. Obviously I turned on the wrong burner. Great. The ONE time I didn't think to move this stuff OFF the stove I try to burn the house down.
I come back with the kitchen filled with smoke and smelling of burnt plastic and cleaner. I yell at my kids to get out of the house as my biggest fear is the cleaner bursting into flames. I grab the bottle (good thing I didn't burn my hands) and toss it outside. I turn off the burner, open the windows to air out the house, and realize I don't know how to take care of the mess. Nothing is on fire, but the smoke and fumes are everywhere as it continues to burn. Water would spatter making it more dangerous and with cleaner all over, I realized this was out of my control. I called 911 and asked how to handle this. They said to get out of the house and they would send over the fire truck.
If you are asking why the smoke detectors didn't go off, it's because I took the batteries out several years ago. Everything would set it off, even water boiling. DH was working nights/sleeping days and it was continously waking him up.
The firemen took care of everything and because I couldn't stop coughing I got sent to the ER. My neighbor down the street took the kids and the cat (always keep a cat carrier for emergencies) while I went to the hospital. After the firemen left, she and my kids came back and cleaned up. Then she ordered pizza for everyone and picked me up from the ER since DH hadn't come back from work yet.
My lungs are fine and I was released about an hour later. The nice thing about living in a small town is that you don't have to sit in the waiting/hospital room for hours to get seen.
*Today I'm getting new smoke detectors as they said mine were ruined and I won't take the batteries out. I don't know how to buy a fire extinqisher but I'll Google it. I don't even know if I could have used it for this.
*If you have animals, keep a carrier or a leash near the door to get them out faster. I've read that you should have a piece of paper with all your animals listed the door for the firemen to know that you have them.
*Have a meeting place outside and how to get out of your house in different places. Mine is the big tree outside and I'm so proud of my kids for going there after I told them to get out of the house. My son was downstairs, grabbed the cat and carrier and went outside without me asking him.
* Know the different ways to put out small fires. If it had just been plastic, I could have take care of it.
*Sigh..and keep stuff OFF your stove.
Quilter Blogs & Store Search
5 comments:
i don't leave anything on the stove- a friend had a similar 'accident'...her husband left a dish towel on the stove (gas) and it caught fire from the pilot light...it didn't burn, just smoldered and their smoke detector alerted them. the firemen came and used those big house fans to get the smoke out..
i hate battery smoke detectors, my husband is an electrician andi had him install electric ones...much better. i don't change the batteries when the time changes, but i do test them.
sorry it happened to you- but you had a plan and having a plan in a scary situation helps!
Oh dear I'm so glad all of you are ok. Yes get that fire extingisher.
I keep a little jar of baking soda by my stove for just such occasions. It will smother the flames if you pour it on it. A few weeks ago our oven itself actually spontaneously burst into flames. Scared the heck out of me. Luckily I was in the room and had turned it on to preheat. I have a window in my oven and thought, "hmmm, I didn't turn the light on in there" then I looked closer and it was FLAMES!! I shut the oven off. What happened was the element was worn out, no food on it as the oven was relatively clean. The repairman told me that this happens when they get a weak spot in the coil and it happens quite often! How dangerous is that. Our oven is only about three years old and apparently this is what the new elements do. Scary stuff. I'm so glad you're okay and that your kids knew exactly what to do. We have that same problem with a smoker detector that's outside the bathroom door. The steam from showers will set it off so the batteries are out of it. We do have others though all around the house so we're fine. Take care and I hope life starts looking up again around there soon!
I´m glad that your and your family are ok.
You can pick up fire extinguishers at Costco or any hardware store. I keep one in my kitchen and one in the garage. We've had occasion to use both of them and they prevented damage both times.
You should get one that is rated for all fires, including chemical. Just check the label.
Post a Comment