Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Sirens at our house


Yesterday, the firetruck made a visit to our house. Hubby was out for a jog and I had turned on the oven to preheat while I made the meatloaf. As I got out the ingredients, I noticed a bright light in the oven and saw a fire through the oven door window. It was small, so first I got the spray bottle of water. Then, thinking it was a grease fire from gunk on the element, I tried smothering it with baking soda. I turned off the oven. I pulled the electric plug (which turned out to be the microwave's, the oven's is behind and not visible). Then, 10 minutes later and the fire still persisting and making smoke and sparks like a sparkler, I hit it with the kitchen fire extinguisher. It still wouldn't stop. So I called out to the boys to get their shoes and sweatshirts on, I got my purse and the dogs' leashes, opened the back and front doors, and called 911.
j
The firemen put it out with a chemical fire extinguisher after shutting off the power at the breaker box. It was an electrical fire and I had slowed it with the extinguisher.
j
So after the house aired out, hubby and I wiped down EVERYTHING in the kitchen, which had a fine coat of chemical extinguisher spray all over it. Except for the oven, which needed to cool off. Then we took the boys out to eat.
j
On the list today: call Sears and see if the oven (less than 4 years old) is under warranty and see if it can be salvaged. It may just need a new lower element, but who knows.
j
Not a big big deal, compared to my brother's Christmas tree fire a year ago. Praise God.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Omigosh, so glad you are OK! What a mess! I am impressed by how you really kept your cool.

We had a dryer fire in May: same deal with the extinguisher and then the call to 911. A home fire extinguisher really really helps! Kept our fire from spreading as fast as it would have. We replaced the spent extinguisher later the same day. Anyone reading this who does not have one, please consider it. Most hardware stores carry them.

Ali said...

Scary! (But I have to say, my boys would have got a huge kick out of the fire engine coming!) Glad you're all okay.

Anonymous said...

Wow....sounds like you handled it very calmly - good job!