We just had a housefire.

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Let me start this by saying, we are OK.

As some of you may know, I moved back in with my dad at the end of last year. Well. Earlier this evening, we had a housefire. It was actually pretty terrifying.

See, each year we cut evergreen branches to make a beautiful live garland on the mantle over the fireplace in the living room. When we take it down at the end of the season, we just put the branches into the fireplace and burn 'em.

The fireplace sucks. It doesn't radiate heat well and the flu tends to back up, plus we've had "chimney fires" before, so...we don't use the fireplace much. At all. Like, EVER, any more. So the branches from LAST year's Christmas/Yule season were still in there. We just haven't bothered to burn them yet.

Yep. PINE branches. Sitting there. In the fireplace. DRYING for a solid YEAR.

I've got midterms this upcoming week so I've been studying like eight to ten hours a day (my new favorite organ is the skeleton. No SRSLY IT'S AN ORGAN and my favorite bone is the Sphenoid. It is a facial bone SHAPED LIKE A BUTTERFLY!!! Next time you meet someone you don't particularly like, just remind yourself that they have a bone that looks like a beautiful white butterfly BEHIND THEIR EYEBALLS.) and so I have been super-distracted.

Tonight my dad announced, "I'm going to burn the old garland so I can take down the mantle tomorrow." I was all "sure, fine, whatever" and went back to trying to tell the cuneiform bones of the foot apart. He lit the fire, and for a moment all was well.

And then smoke billowed out of the fireplace. It isn't the first time, the flu sucks. I hollered "Dad, the fireplace is smoking."

And my dad in a voice of panick replied, "I FORGOT TO OPEN THE FLU."

He ran to the fireplace, reached in and grabbed the chain, and pulled. Nothing happened. Smoke was just POURING out, He pulled and pulled, and it wouldn't budge. I ran to the doors (there's a door to the back yard and a door to the garage on either side of the room) and threw them open to vent the smoke.............not that it did much good.

Then the pine really got going. Suddenly it wasn't just smoke billowing out, but flames. The fire was just suddenly this huge conflagration, and my dad was forced to back off. The flames were shooting like five or six feet out of the fireplace...I'm not exaggerating because there are things that are five, six feet away that CAUGHT FIRE when the flames reached them.

My dad told me to call the fire department, and he ran to see if he could find a fire extinguisher. I didn't even know we had one. Dad said a moment ago he was surprised it worked, it's so old and has never been maintained.

While I fumbled for the phone (within seconds of the fire bursting out of the fireplace, the room was so thick with smoke you couldn't see your hand in front of your face without crouching down under the smoke cloud!) my dad put out the stuff in the room that was on fire and then turned the extinguisher on the fireplace itself. He emptied it to get the fire to back off for a moment. We could finally see why the flu chain didn't move: it was wrapped around a peg and tied onto itself. By that point the fire had made the metal chain red-hot...I grabbed a towel and my dad used that to try and untie the chain but it was too difficult. The fire was coming back to life, the extinguisher was empty, my dad did the only thing he could think to do, he grabbed the chain with his bare hands and quickly untied it. The flu popped open and the fire went up instead of out.

I was choking badly due to smoke. We both went outside so I could hack up my lungs for a while and so my dad could put his hands in the snow. He got some nasty burns to his palms. I can't quite stop coughing, I sound like a smoker now. But it could have been much, much worse.

If my dad didn't have the extinguisher, we'd have lost the house.

I didn't even think about the dogs when I opened the door to the garage (and opened the garage at the same time). What if they ran out the door and were never seen again? Fortunately both dogs ran to their crates and hid in them, but what if they hadn't?

If it looked like we were losing the battle, I'd have grabbed my cats (they live in my room upstairs) and stuffed them in my car, and driven my car across the street. But what about my rabbits? They live in an outdoor lean-to but the lean-to is only about ten feet from the side of the house, and there's trees and bushes between them and they would have surely been affected. I have no idea what I'd have done to save them...probably stuffed them into a box and shoved them in my trunk. But I worry now.

Of note, NONE of our fire alarms went off. I know we haven't checked them like we should...we could pay for that with our lives if a fire starts while we sleep.

HOWEVER, we didn't lose and so the house didn't burn down...yeah I got some smoke in my lungs and my dad's hands are burned but we're really going to be just fine...the pets didn't get harmed or lost. It could have been SO much worse!!!

Methinks tomorrow while I'm at the college (ALL DAY, man oh man I don't get out til 9:40 pm) my dad will service the smoke alarms, and maybe get the insurance people involved since we're gonna need the smoke and fire damaged stuff cleaned. The fire department never actually came, lol. :roll: Thank goodness we got it under control ourselves!!!!

...............and the mundane reality that I still have to review synovial joints for a test tomorrow looms over me.

 

[Peach]

Glad to hear you are safe I remember when my friend's house lit on fire and I watched if burn through the woods of our back yard. Luckily, my friend just happened to wake up and saw that the "sun" was rising incorrectly. She alerted the house hold and everyone got out but the little terrier that ran up and under a desk in the master bedroom. She died from the smoke, but their big family of 7 and 1 hound dog got out and stayed with our family for a bit.

They were just renting the house and the home owner had failed to tell them the house had failed some testing with the electrical system.

Unfortunately, they were just not well off and couldn't really do much than leave with what could salvage because they couldn't afford insurance.

The important thing is that you are alive, but I can't believe the fire department didn't come

 

[ckcs]

So glad everyone is ok. Hopefully others if they do not already have a fire extinguisher will get one.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

Reminds me I need to check our extinguisher. but could use water also, on a fireplace fire.

 

[trinityoaks]

OMG, Kyle! So glad y'all are ok. Lots of "what ifs", but thank God none of those happened!

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Wow, glad you survived, Kyle! I need to get smoke detectors and such, but I guess we were really lucky. Last year about this time, we saw the cats go on alert to "rats in the walls" . . . and then my husband said he saw smoke curling out of the fusebox, opened it (giving a bit of oxygen) and flame rushed out. I grabbed my cellphone, threw open the front door as my husband beat the flame out on the fusebox after pulling the main inside drawer, then I knocked the cover off the outside box and threw the house breaker, then called 911. FIVE vehicles showed up, we are between the city limits and a county volunteer dept, and 2 hospitals. I was impressed and grateful! We only lost the boxes inside and out, but they crawled through the attic to ensure it hadn't gone stealth. Gained circuit breakers over glass fuses, so . . . and no animals were harmed (other than my having to stay at my mom's 3 weeks, and drive the great circle route from her house, to mine, for hubby to work on the cleanup, to my work, then back in the evening)in the filming of this fire!

 

[AmysMacdog]

Oh No!!! I'm so glad you and your Dad and pets are all ok. Thats the important thing. That sounded scary. My DH is a former fireman, he won't be to happy the fire dept. didn't show!

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

I am glad all are well and safe. Please be sure to get a fire extinguisher and alarms in working order. You just never know when they may save your life.

 

[Miss M]

I'm so glad y'all are safe!!!

My beloved Shay is a fireman's son and a fireman's brother... he should be suitably flabbergasted that the FD never showed up!

This reminds me... I don't think we've bought a fire extinguisher for the new house yet. :shock:

 

[Bad Habit]

That's so scary, glad to hear that you're all safe.

 

[SarahMelisse]

Thank goodness you are all safe!!! Sounds like that was a close call. Good thing that extinguisher didn't crap out on you! People say all the time that you should have an emergency plan for a fire or other emergency, but how many of us really do it?! Sorry the wake up call had to come in the form of fire... that sucks. But I'm glad to hear you are alright otherwise!

 

[Demamma]

I am glad you are safe and did not lose your animals or house. Thanks for letting us know. I think it is time for the kids and I too check our home for fire safety. Maybe fit a drill in also.

 

[Happy]

The skeleton is not an organ, it's a system. BONES are organs. The skin is the only organ that is also a system by itself. Not even the circulatory system counts because BLOOD is also an organ. Good luck on your clinicals, I failed mine with flying colors, but was studying ecology, so my overall B still counted.

Glad to read you're OK. If you want to keep using the fireplace, an empty soda can or a handful of potato peels will dry out any deposits in the chimney. Also, table salt will put out an active fire, so the extinguisher can still fail if you have salt handy. The gas from the salt will rise and put fires out, so you can use it for a chimney fire as well. Try not to breathe too much of the gas though.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

The fire department never actually came, lol. :roll: Thank goodness we got it under control ourselves!!!!

i've decided that if i'm anywhere and somethings on fire and i really need help then the 911 call would bo something like "please help! moonshine and weed and crack everywhere! fire got the whole house! ohmygod i dont know who is still inside!" yadda yadda. the absolute worst things i can think of and the address rattled off quickly. i know if nothing else the cops would show up fairly soon to try and snag any moonshine.

...............and the mundane reality that I still have to review synovial joints for a test tomorrow looms over me.

aint that the truth. i try to convince my animals that if they would just grow thumbs they could open the feed barrels and get their own feed in the mornings and i wouldnt have to go out in the morning when its 10*F out, windy, ~5inches snow and still snowin, and i have a cold....
oh wait... deja vu... i said this this morning to them! :roll:<br /><br />__________ Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:39 am __________<br /><br />

Also, table salt will put out an active fire, so the extinguisher can still fail if you have salt handy. The gas from the salt will rise and put fires out, so you can use it for a chimney fire as well. Try not to breathe too much of the gas though.

true that. my mom is [in]famous for her ability to catch stoves and ovens on fire. there is always one of those large things of salt either on the counter next to the stove, or on the back of the stove at all times.

 

[Mickey328]

SO glad everyone's okay, Kyle! I wouldn't "LOL" about the FD not showing though...you or Dad should call them tomorrow and have a little chat about that. What if the extinguisher hadn't worked, or you couldn't have got it out otherwise?? In general, I class fire fighters (and cops and EMT's etc) as extraordinary, every day heroes, but...that's just not right! Good golly, when I fell and broke my hip a couple years back, the fire truck was the first on the scene in about 5 minutes flat. And that, while incredibly painful, wasn't a life or death situation.

It's extreme, but a good wake up call to all of us...make sure we have the extinguishers and other equipment AND make sure it's in good working order. Since you've had issues with the fireplace before, it's probably a good idea to keep a large container of salt nearby, maybe a couple of old blankets to smother it as well. Make sure the flue is working as well, and clean that creosote out regularly. Growing up we had all wood heat and most available to us was pine, so we were prone to chimney fires from time to time. We got that stuff you can burn to clean out the buildup...don't remember what it's called right off hand, but it worked.

It gives me the willies to think how close you might have come....please, please take a few precautions! Would much rather think of you struggling with synovial stuff than fire!

 

[Jack]

Um, about the firealarms 2 things
PHOTO ELECTRIC (much different principle from ionizing)

Ionizing works great for grease/food fires (too good actually)
photo electric, yeah, um much better, and expensive

I go with anywhere there can be a fire, put a fire extinguisher, (and by that I mean I hang one by the sink)
got a little can next to the stove somewhere, one in the bathroom (dryer)

cheap insurance.

 

[MaggieJ]

Frightening experience, Kyle. So glad everyone is safe. Hope your dad's hands heal quickly.

 

[Devon's Mom Lauren]

Wow Kyle So glad you are all safe after that!! Thats just crazy about the FD not showing up!!!!

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

Baking Soda is ALSO a fire extinguishing agent.

Thanks for the heads up-- Every day, I look at the spot on a hall wall and wonder if the wiring still works-- yes, someone removed a wired in Fire/smoke alarm.

Fire extinguisher ratings-- the numbers tell yu hoew many secoinds of continuous spraying the tank holds-- so a 15 is fifteen seconds, a 30 is 30 seconds-- for hte fairs, one eyar the requirements changed--we were required to go from 15 to 30, so we bought a LOT of extra 15s, and stored them in pairs (the 30s were a bit heavy for some of us to wield easily)

Yeah-- i am using space heaters--Have them in wire dog crates to prevent tipping and close contact with them by children and animals. Will investigate a FE and a few battery alarms real soon-- like today!!

Tomorrow may be too late

I have seen several Chimney fires in the older homes around here-- Most burn the house down due to cracks-- the hot gasses escape, get between the walls, and suddenly flame out. Hoses where the chimneys are exposed to the weather are more prone to cracking due to the differences in temps. When staying with BigBrother, I learned how to purposely start a chimney fire in order to clean the stack. And he still had to use the brushes every few weeks--

 

[Frecs]

So glad you are both okay!

1. Get the fire extinguisher recharged and fix that smoke detectors (also get a CO2 detector if you don't have one).
2. Find out why the fire department never showed up! OMG, they should have come even if you thought you had it out -- there could have been some embers hiding somewhere to respark the fire later.
3. Review exit strategies -- good to have at least two ways to escape every room. Decide on a meeting place outside. Decide how to --and when to--rescue animals.
4. That is a cool thing about the butterfly shaped bone...