April 20, 2007

Fire


Last week, I almost caught my house on fire. It was one of the scariest things I've ever experienced. One of the babies I watch drinks breastmilk so I have to heat the bottle up on the stove. I've done this about a hundred times and have never had any problems. I had put the bottle on because a friend called to see if I wanted to go to lunch and I wanted to make sure I had warm milk to take with me. After I put the bottle on, my sister called and we started talking. Then, I heard my friend honk her horn, so I grabbed the baby, a bottle, the diaperbag, my purse, got J and we headed out the door. After lunch we were going to go let the kids play at another friends' house but then I got a text from my little sis who needed to come over and use the computer. So, I told them I'd have to pass on the playing and needed to go home.
When I went to unlock the door, I heard the smoke detectors going off. My heart started to race and I felt sick to my stomach. When I opened the door, all I saw was smoke. My entire house was filled with smoke. I could barely see in. Then, being the smart and logical person that I am, I decided I better go in and see what is on fire. When I got to the kitchen I found the pot on the stove, with the stove on, and what was supposed to be a bottle. I had left it on the stove, and grabbed a different bottle instead. There were flames all the way up to the cupboards. I grabbed it off the stove, threw it in the sink with the water, turned the stove off, and opened a couple of windows, and then got the heck out of there.
I came out of the house coughing and gasping for air, just like you see people do in the movies. It was awful. My lungs hurt so bad. After a couple more minutes I went back in to open more windows and turn fans on. It was still smokey and the smell was horrible. I knew we wouldn't be able to go back in there for a while. Once the alarms went off I left to go get some air freshener. I used almost a whole bottle and it didn't do anything. I felt so dumb. I couldn't believe I left that on the stove. Now I'm paranoid to leave the house.
We hung out at a friends' house until about 10:30 that night and then went back to the house to assess the damages. Went we got there I couldn't believe what I saw. There was no damage. No damage. I don't know how that was possible. There were no black marks on the walls, the stove didn't need to be replaced, the microwave was fine, the cupboards were fine. The only thing that got ruined was the pot and the bottle, and there was that yucky smell.
I know we were being watched over and protected. If my sister hadn't texted me, there would have been a major fire in my house. While the whole experience was completely terrifying and awful, I feel so blessed that nothing serious happened. And that we were able to stay in our house that night and continue on with our life as normal.

8 comments:

Glass Half Full said...

Oh my!!! When I first saw the picture I was trying to figure it out. Possibly a molten cake with ice cream??? NOT!

Chellie said...

You handled the situation very well and I am so glad something that could have turned out so terrible had a happy ending (besides the smell). We all make mistakes-- don't blame yourself.

Amanda said...

Oh utmommy, that is so scary!!! I am so glad that it wasn't worse and that you are all okay. What a blessing!

Tori :) said...

Wow! That's so scary but an awesome ending!!
I nearly burnt down our apartment 5 years ago. It was a grease fire and our walls were black, the cabinet doors were black, it stunk... Ewww... And my step-daughters were there and never fail to bring it up every visit since. Ugh.

Mel said...

Oh, how scary! I'm glad everything turned out okay.

Lei said...

oh wow. that is so scary! you are very lucky there was no damage to your walls and that the smell didn't soak into to everything! blessing indeed!

nikko said...

Yikes! I'm so glad that everything turned out alright in the end.

:o)

Suzanne said...

Wow! I'm sure you had guardian angels that day! Thanks for sharing your story! :)