Going Like A House On Fire!

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OH NO, THE HOUSE IS ON FIRE!

Yes, I'm shouting...wouldn't you if your house was on fire?

This post was born as I was replying to a message from Erin in which she was describing her adventures with a gas leak and dead water heater. I had responded that she was very lucky that the gas leak did not cause a fire with it so near an open flame. Here's how the story unfolds.



Our house had a basement garage, and we kept our camper down there. The gas tank on the camper leaked, and propane is heavier than air. The gas gathered under our furnace and exploded!


A TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE!

Yes, it was a terrifying experience. My son was about 3. (He'll be 40 in June). I was giving him

his bath when I heard a pop. I thought a car had backfired in front of the house.

When I went to look, I saw smoke coming though the heating vents. I grabbed Colyn, wrapped him in a towel, and ran outside. I was too frightened to even think to grab some clothes for the poor kid! My husband was so scared, he called 911 from a burning house!



Our next door neighbors had a little girl Colyn's age that he played with a lot. The neighbor gave me some of her daughter's clothes so he wouldn't be naked and wet standing outside waiting for the firetrucks to arrive.

Colyn still teases me about making him wear girl's clothes! He loves to make me laugh Do you suppose he might have inherited his mother's sense of humor?

We were so fortunate. The Red Cross put us in a motel that night, and the fire department decided that the house was safe enough to let us make one trip back into the house, which was all boarded up against vandals, to get essentials such as clothing and toiletries.

Our insurance company provided us with a furnished apartment for three months while the house was rebuilt. Most of the damage was from smoke and water with the exception of our bedroom, which was directly over the fire. They had to replace part of the roof and put a new floor in our bedroom It's probably a good thing that it was a brick house, or the damage would probably have been much worse. To this day, you can still smell smoke when you open the basement door, though! I must say, that's a most difficult way to get the carpet in the house replaced!

We were blessed. I'm so thankful that we weren't hurt and didn't lose anything we couldn't live without. Sometimes there are things I need to find (papers, etc.) that I never do, and I just write it off as something lost in the fire.


It was kind of ironic that we made money on some of the stuff that was in the basement. I had an old caned couch that my Dad had given me.It was nothing but the frame with all the caning gone. I wanted to get it recaned....I love antiques, and it was very unique. Dad paid $10 for it at a junk shop, and the insurance company paid us $1500 for it!

I also had an antique loom that I bought at a farm auction for $35. I really enjoyed that old thing. It was in the basement because it was the only place we had room for it, so it was too damaged to repair it. The appraiser said it was worth $1200, so the insurance company coughed it up! I would rather have had my loom, though.

Carol

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Recent Comments

68

That is really scary! You never know when something tragic like that will happen but you still have to keep moving forward.

It really was. We never know what life has in store for us, do we? We were very fortunate that we weren't hurt. Thanks for your reply. Sorry to be so late getting back to you. I somehow missed a whole day's replies. Carol

That was really a terrifying experience but thanks you are safe. Life continues.

Yes, it was, but we are so fortunate that we can laugh about it now! Sorry to be so late in replying to you. I missed your comment somehow. Thanks for your reply. Carol

You are welcome, Carol. There is always time for everything.

Thanks. Carol

thanks for sharing your experiences.

Thanks for reading and commenting!

The title is catchy, wasn't expecting to read about your personal experience with fire.Good to read that you are fine.

Thanks for your reply, Kav. That was exactly what I had planned when I wrote the title. Yes, we were very lucky that nobody was hurt, and that we were at home so that the losses were minimized.

Sorry about the late response to your comments. I think I must have missed a whole day's worth of replies somehow.

Carol

Thanks for sharing Carol,
Life does trow things at us. Its so good you came out of it and you are happy today.

Thanks for your kind remarks, Juliet. You are so right...life does throw us curve balls now and then. We were very fortunate.

Sorry about the late reply to your comment. I have been very busy with contractors in and out of the house getting it ready to sell, and must have missed a whole day's notices somehow.

Carol

What a traumatic experience .when did you tell you son about the clothes? You must have developed precautions after that experience.

You won't believe this one! I'm reviewing my posts looking for a specific one for someone, and discovered that I had missed replying to you ONE YEAR AGO! So sorry to be so tardy, but appreciate your response to my post.
Yes, it was a traumatic experience at the time, but there are also humorous aspects that are fun to recall.

My son was only three at the time, but he clearly remembers being taken straight outside from the bathtub wet and naked except for the towel he was wrapped in! He loves to tease me about having to wear girls's clothes because I didn't even pick up his pajamas that were waiting right there in the bathroom for him. I just grabbed him and the towel and ran outside. I'll never live that one down!

Oh my gosh Carol! How scary for you, especially with a little one too.
A good friend of mine not that long ago had a student living with her and the family, and the student left her laptop on the bed. The heat started a fire and the house burnt to the ground. Thankfully there was no one home when it happened.
I tell you what I NEVER leave any of our devices out now - they always go back onto the bench top after I heard that.

Hi, Mia. In looking for one of my posts to respond to another member of the community, I discovered that I somehow missed replying to your response to me ONE YEAR AGO! I'm so sorry for the looonnngggg delay!

Yes, it was very scary at the time, but nothing as bad as that situation you shared where the laptop burned the whole house down! That was REALLY HORRIBLE! Even though they lost everything in that fire, it's such a blessing that none of them were injured.

Carol

Wow! What a story Carol. I hope to God I don't go through what you went through. So glad everybody didn't get hurt my friend!

Yeah, I know about Erin's story. Yours were worst.

So glad to your son didn't get too attached to his neighbors clothes! lols...ohhh I'm just joking. People there is nothing there, I promise!


Frank

Hey, Frank, I'd better be careful, or I'm gonna lose my place in WA history as its resident comic to someone named Frank! (Loved your comment, by the way!) Yes, we were very fortunate. Carol

Don't know who you're listening to, he/she is lying you're the bestest! I'm a serious man, it just somehow don't come out that way.

lols!

Frank

It's always fun to meet another jokester, and to spar with them! Sorry to hear you're so serious, Frank! Carol

hee hee hee lols!!!

TeeHee! (That's my trademark belly laugh!)

Belly laugh???

This is a belly laugh "HO, HO, HO!"

hee hee hee

Naw, that's a Santa Claus laugh! Tee Hee! I'm just a dainty little thing...don't have a bowl full of jelly to shake when I laugh! Tee Hee!

Ohh I'm sorry to say you don't quality young lady!

So get that belly bigger my friend! Wish you well!

You need to work on it so you can HO,HO,HO!

Coach Frank

So I need to gain about a hundred pounds??

Sounds like things worked out for the best! Thanks for sharing.
Peace & blessings,
Marcus

Yes, we were very fortunate. Sorry for the late response to your comment. Must have missed a day's replies somehow. Carol

memory’s like these are sometimes something to laugh at, later in life but not so funny when they are happening thanks for sharing
Linda

You are so right, Linda. Sorry for the late response on this. Somehow I missed the notice about your reply. You are so right...they're not funny at the time, but it's good to be able to laugh at the situation from a distance, when all is well! Carol

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