Started innocently enough ... Mel and I decided to dye our hair ... and during all that, Melanie used the blow dryer in the bathroom and blew a fuse. Stefani ran downstairs to ask J to turn the fuse back on ... and he switched two fuses on by accident.
Little did anyone know that the second fuse was for the stove in Nicole's room (it's an "in-law suite") that we all believed to be unplugged. Add to that ... the fact that a month ago, Nicole and I had been cleaning out her cupboards and had stacked a whole pile of pictures and papers on the stove for sorting at a later date.
So ... Mel calls out to me and says, "Mom ... how come it smells like burnt toast?" ... I don't really notice anything and neither does Dave who's watching sports in the bedroom. She mentions it again ... and I get a whiff of something burnt. My first thought? That the furnace had finally kicked the bucket ... so I go down into the furnace room to investigate and come upstairs to shut the furnace off for good measure.
By this time, Dave is up ... and says ... that's no furnace smell. He races downstairs and discovers the fire on the stove. The kids and Peanut Butter go outside ... and Dave's calling from downstairs but I can't make out what he's saying ... but I do notice that the smoke is thick and black billowing up the stairs. What do I do? Call 9-1-1, of course.
While I'm still on the phone ... Dave comes up to say that the fire has been extinguished ... but the fire department has a duty to come regardless (you can't "uncall" a 9-1-1 call). So ... it took them about 1 1/2 hours to blow out the house ... but the house still smells like the bottom of a campfire.
We all feel incredibly lucky ... as we realize that we were seconds away from not having been able to put out the fire ourselves ... and in the time it would have taken the fire department to set up and get in ... the house would have sustained some serious damage.
As well, the time that all this happened is traditionally Dave's "gym time" ... I mean, everyday ... but he'd gone earlier because we were planning to go visit Leanne at the hospital who was just recently diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Had Dave not been home ... I would have probably shut the door to Nic's room ... called 9-1-1 ... and been lamenting the damage sustained.
Couldn't get over Dave's reaction last night ... he was really shaken. Would you believe that our house insurance had lapsed and wasn't going to be in "re" effect until February 15th?
So no monetary help for the smoke damage ... though that's really no big deal ... I'm sure I'll find some way to clean the house.
Wow ... it was a close call ... so how was your night?
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