Last night after eating dinner the kids we BEGGING to go swimming -- they were SOOOO HOT. Bobby & I on the other hand seemed to be more tired from a fun filled weekend than we were hot, so despite all the whinning & pleading we settled in and decided to watch the Bachelorette (Bobby's FAVORITE show, hee hee hee). Bobby was so into the show that he fell asleep on the couch. All of a sudden, our smoke detector started going off. Puzzled, I woke Bobby up (or they did) and told him to investigate, we were done with dinner and I thought that the alarms were just being weird. Bobby unplugged the alarm on the main level and we still heard the alarm going off downstairs. He went downstairs and I heard him say something to the effect of "Oh my God". YIKES!! I quickly told the kids to go outside just in case...(they were STELLAR and went directly to the garage and stayed there). As I was getting the dogs out, Bobby yelled to me to get the other fire extinguisher. I ran inside, grabbed the fire extinguisher in the kitchen, ran downstairs with it and gave it to Bobby. He ran in again. The basement was full of smoke. I was so scared, but I kept telling the kids everything was ok and they were doing good. I think I was trying to convince myself that everything was ok. Bobby came out a few minutes later and the basement was so full of smoke I couldn't see him until he was at the door. He said the fire was out and threw some baskets on the ground. He doused his shirt with water and ran back in to open the windows. I really, REALLY didn't want him to go inside with all that smoke, but he said it was ok, put the wet shirt over his mouth and ran back in. I ran and got the phone to call the fire department during some point in this blur and must have done something to the phone, because it wouldn't work. Bobby said the fire was out, but we wanted to make sure that nothing else was smoldering and thought we should call the fire department. I put the dogs in my car in the garage (so they were safe), grabbed the kids and headed to the Arthurs next door. We barged in their house and I asked to use their phone. I called 911 and told them we thought the fire was out, but asked if they could still send someone to check it out. I went back home and the fire department came. Now, let me tell you.. the Namakagon Volunteer Fire Department is Amazing!!! They came right away and were so, so nice. I kept thanking them for coming and apologizing for interupting their holidays. They were all so gracious and said we definately did the right thing. I was also MORTIFIED that my basement is such a mess. I have really really been trying to clean down there and get rid of all the junk, but of couse, there was barely a path for them to get in. How embarassing!!!
Here's the deal.... in my cleaning mode, I put baskets of all sizes on the hearth, to put things in as I cleaned. I didn't thing anything of it and REALLY didn't think it was a danger. We never use that fireplace (a gas one), so I decided to use the hearth as a place to put things. stupid, Stupid, STUPID!!! Well, the kids were downstairs playing yesterday afternoon and must have turned on the fireplace switch instead of the light switch (they are right next to each other). So, the fireplace was going all afternoon and the wicker baskets and the cloth baskets must have gotten so hot that they caught on fire. I'm sure they were smoldering for a while and then caught fire soon before Bobby arrived in the basement, because they were the only thing that burned. Bobby said that when he got to the door, that he saw 2 - 3 foot flames. THANK Goodness that he reacted the way he did and knew where the fire extinguisher was. He stayed so calm during the whole thing. He really is our HERO!!!
If only we would have gone swimming (we were so close to going), our house would be gone! If he didn't react so quickly, it would have been sooo much worse! We definately were being watched over last night. Thanks Dad! and Thanks God for keeping us all safe.
So.....
THE BAD NEWS
The Good News
We had these ready to go and knew were they were!
Our smoke detectors worked and are hooked together throughout the house and were working.
Bobby reacted quickly, safely and didn't panic.
The kids were amazing and went directly to the meeting place, stayed calm and didn't fight once!
The dogs stayed right next to the kids and weren't crazy.
Lisa watched the kids for us while we made sure the house was safe. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
We caught the fire before it was out of control.
The only damage we have is to the fireplace (which is washable!) and mantle.
The SMOKE DAMAGE which is pretty bad, but hopefully fixable.
My basement will DEFINATELY be cleaned soon. (whether by me or the smoke cleaning people)
I swear I will definately be keeping things more organized!
(I REALLY don't want people to see things that way again!)
We learned a HUGE lesson without losing our house!
The Namakagon Fire Department has AMAZING People!!
Again -- I am SO Sorry for bringing you out, but THANK YOU for keeping us safe!!
You are all definately HEROES and we are eternally THANKFUL!!
and most importantly.....
We are all safe and sound!
love.....Mona
How scary. I am so glad that everything will be OK. The smoke people can do amazing things to restore smoke damage. What a little blessing from God that you decided to stay home.
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