I fought a fire

The first time in my life that I called 911 was for an electrical fire in the wall of the computer lab of the school where I was principal. I used to schedule one drill a month (tornado in the colder months and fire in the warmer months). Some of those drills I told the teachers about ahead of time, and some were a surprise even for them (only my secretary and I knew). Well the day I called 911, the real fire was discovered only 5 minutes before a scheduled fire drill that I had announced to the teachers ahead of time, so they thought it was just a drill until the fire engines started arriving in the parking lot. Parents also started arriving because they had heard the news on a scanner, but we were able to go back into the building and finish out the school day (with the exception of staying out of the computer lab) once the breaker to that room was turned off and the wall temperature had come down. That fire was discovered by the smell produced from the outlet strip melting. Let me tell you I was nervous the next time I scheduled a fire drill and hoped it would only be a drill, ha ha!

Yesterday was the second time in my life I called 911. At 4:00 I started up the gas grill and a few minutes later put some hamburgers on it. A couple of minutes later I noticed there was a lot of smoke so I went out and saw the flames were much bigger than usual. I turned down all the burners to "low," and flipped the burgers. The flames just got bigger so I turned all the burners off. The flames still got bigger so I turned off the propane tank. When the fire raged on and started to spread below the grill, then I panicked (especially after I checked and saw the tank was definitely turned off). I started screaming HELP at the top of my lungs, but no neighbors were around. I ran inside and screamed for the kids to come down (they were upstairs) and go get their coats and shoes on and go outside. I was also trying to locate a fire extinguisher. I went out to the garage but couldn't find the one I thought was out there, and then I remembered we had one under the kitchen sink. I grabbed that one plus my phone. I asked Nadia to call 911 for me, but she was crying and unable to do so. I sent them out in the front yard, and took the phone and fire extinguisher outside and prayed that the house and deck wouldn't catch on fire. I struggled to get the fire extinguisher started, but I did part way through my conversation with the 911 operator. I kept asking him what I should do. I had gotten a big bowl of water but wasn't sure if this was the kind of fire you should use water with or not. He was not helpful in answering my questions but only kept repeating "help is on the way" and actually he hung up on me while I was asking him a question, which was surprising. The only advice he had given me was to move the grill farther from the house, but I told him it was tied to the deck by a bungee cord, and I would have had to put my hand through the flames to untie the cord.

I finally figured out the fire extinguisher and used up the whole thing on the grill. Earlier I had closed the lid on the grill because #1 I thought it might contain part of the fire a little better and #2 I thought maybe having less access to air would help slow down the fire (knowing fire needs oxygen to burn). In hind sight though, I should have opened the lid when I was spraying the fire extinguisher. I was shooting mostly at the fire under the grill and also in a hole on the side of the grill which was causing some to go inside the grill. I had never used one before, and I was not expecting the huge spray of yellow powder everywhere. Since I was talking to the 911 guy while doing it, I got a lot in my mouth and let me say the stuff tastes awful. Also, I had not closed the sliding door when I came out so the powder went all through the kitchen as well. The fire extinguisher had made the fire a lot smaller (stopped the part that was under the grill), but the fire wasn't totally done. At that point I thought there wasn't anything else I could do so I started gathering a few things from around the house just in case the house caught on

fire - I grabbed my laptop, purse, and camera and put them on the front porch. Then I checked the grill again, and the fire was done. Thank you, Lord! I started to call 911 again to tell them we didn't need the fire company's help, but Nadia told me they were already here. For some reason they sent an ambulance. If the house had caught on fire from the grill (the grill was just a few inches from the side of the house), I am not sure what good the ambulance would have been. The three who came in the ambulance came around back and inspected the grill and agreed the fire was done. He totally disconnected the propane tank just to be safe.

I called Paul and asked him to come home ASAP (although I knew he had a one hour commute). I spent two hours cleaning myself and the house (that yellow powder had been tracked various places before I realized what was happening and had the kids take off their sock and shoes). I had the kids eat in the dining room (we usually eat in the kitchen) while I cleaned the kitchen. Oliver dropped some of his ravioli an sauce on the carpet and on the white cushion of the chair (hence the reason we usually eat in the kitchen). Later he spilled his glass of milk, and I hadn't put away all the school stuff so I was cleaning milk off of the collection of rocks that Nadia had been using for her geology unit. Whew. When Paul got home he worked on cleaning the deck, and then when I left for choir he mopped the kitchen (first time he mopped in our home so I had to show him how to use our mop). He had planned to take the kids to Upward basketball for their evaluation last night while I was at choir rehearsal, but instead I will take them tonight. They didn't have AWANA last night because the church was having a business meeting.


I'm giving thanks that...

1. The fire extinguisher saved our house. God answered my prayers and saved our house. It had rained yesterday, and the wood on the deck was wet which I think also was a blessing in that the deck didn't catch on fire. I definitely want to buy another fire extinguisher. So
thankful that we had that one. I did later find the one in the garage. I also have a feeling it will be years before I ever use another grill. I will find other ways to cook things or let
Paul use the grill. I have used a grill for more than 20 years, but right now the thought of grilling anything would be too upsetting. Considering we don't usually grill in the winter, it's a good time to take a break from the grill. If we do start grilling again, I want us to move the grill so it's not so close to the house. I pray I never need to use another fire extinguisher again. I've still been cleaning up some of the mess today from the powder, but I know that's a zillion times better than if our house had caught on fire. I am SO thankful the fire didn't spread. I'm also thankful I didn't use the water I brought out as Paul said that would have made the fire spread.

2. The fire company got here in about 5 minutes. It's nice to know they can get here quickly although I hope we never need their services again.

3. Yesterday on Facebook someone posted about a deal on a website where if you donated $5 they would put together two boxes for Operation Christmas Child. I hadn't gotten started on that project yet, and if I bought stuff it would cost a lot more than $5 to fill a box so I opted to give them $50, which translated to 20 shoe boxes (I've usually done three boxes in the past). I am thankful that these people are making it possible to help more kids around the world.

4. Oliver's bug was just a 24 hour bug, and it seems the rest of us were spared catching his germs.

5. The kids enjoyed the art and science activities at the Children's Museum yesterday (wood burning, leather tooling, etc.).

6. I am thankful that Nadia and Ian can participate in Upward basketball
again this year. I am planning on taking them to their evaluation this evening.

7. Last night we started working on one of the Christmas anthems we will be singing in December. I love Christmas music! This Sunday we are singing a beautiful arrangement of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" in honor of Veteran's Day.

8. Some of the candidates I voted for on Tuesday won. I am praying for ALL those in government that God will guide and direct them.

9. I got my first free shipping code of the year for Shutterfly yesteray. Last November and December I got several of them. Usually all I have to pay is shipping when I order something from Shutterfly. With a free shipping code that means I can get some things totally for free. I am very thankful for this first code (from Wyndham) and hoping maybe to get some others along the way, but even if this is the only one I end up getting this year I am thankful!

10. I didn't have any nightmares last night about fires. I was
concerned I might because I found the whole thing rather frightening.

11. This morning Oliver and Ian woke up at their usual time for the first time since the time changed. I am so happy it only took five days for them to adjust their internal clock this time as in years past it has taken much longer than that. The worst was Monday morning when Oliver woke up at 4:45 am. This morning he got up at 7:15. Big improvement!

12. Ian finished the 1st grade math textbook last week and started the 2nd grade one this week. He's doing a great job! Nadia and Ian are making good progress with learning their multiplication tables. I think within a week we'll be done with all ten times tables!