After my home fire
gvf
Registered Users Posts: 356 Major grins
Several years ago while living in NYC, my roommate and I walked into darkness, horribly arid fumes, smashed windows, water all over - firemen had just left. The Super was there, most of the fire was in my bedroom and when I asked him what started this he said "YOU!, you left a fan on!" I was sure I hadn't but was so overwhelmed I accepted this as all my fault.
Next day I went in to try to get some of my things. I could only stay 10min, my lungs felt like they were on fire. But I saw the fan, the top of it melted. The switch was melted in the OFF-POSITION. An old plug-strip, the landlord's was the cause, it had a short, and the fire worked itself backward along the electric line into the outlet, then inside the wall which the firemen had chopped into with axes until there were no more burned-area. (Fires can start again)
Later, I showed these photos to my brother-in-law who was a firemen & asked what would have happened if the fire was a few hours later when I was sleeping. He asked if I had a smoke-detector in there. I said no but there was there was one in the next room. He then asked if I slept with the door open or closed. I said closed.
He said: "You would never have woken up again"
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I've been around fires or their result twice, but way too often. As a young man in my 20s I drove a friend of mine home one night. As we turned a corner we saw a house a mass of flames, like when you light a kitchen match. No Fire Dept was there yet. A boy was collapsed on the front lawn. We ran to up him, he said: "My mothers in there". Me and my friend ran into the backyard to try to get in the back door, the front was ablaze, but we couldn't even get close to the house. All the way to the back of the backyard it was hotter than hell. The Fire Trucks came, we yelled someone was in there - they all made a mad dash towards the front door with long poles with hooks on them, axes, anything they could yank of the truck fast. And then, as one, they all recoiled back, the heat. Then they went into a very calm and deliberate and business-like mode as they began to battle the fire.
In that one failed charge, they knew she was dead. She was.
3 weeks ago someone I've known 40 years, who later became a family member thru marriage, had gone to a shed in his backyard. No Fire Report yet but so far what happened is a mystery. He was home alone. The neighbors saw the flames and called 911. What they couldn't know was that Jim was in there. He was horribly, horribly burned, 70% - 90%. He died 6 days later in a Trauma Unit Level I in the Burn Treatment Center there, his family and a priest with him as they turned off Life Support.
I can't believe it still...and his wife and children
Next day I went in to try to get some of my things. I could only stay 10min, my lungs felt like they were on fire. But I saw the fan, the top of it melted. The switch was melted in the OFF-POSITION. An old plug-strip, the landlord's was the cause, it had a short, and the fire worked itself backward along the electric line into the outlet, then inside the wall which the firemen had chopped into with axes until there were no more burned-area. (Fires can start again)
Later, I showed these photos to my brother-in-law who was a firemen & asked what would have happened if the fire was a few hours later when I was sleeping. He asked if I had a smoke-detector in there. I said no but there was there was one in the next room. He then asked if I slept with the door open or closed. I said closed.
He said: "You would never have woken up again"
[IMG][/img]
[IMG][/img]
I've been around fires or their result twice, but way too often. As a young man in my 20s I drove a friend of mine home one night. As we turned a corner we saw a house a mass of flames, like when you light a kitchen match. No Fire Dept was there yet. A boy was collapsed on the front lawn. We ran to up him, he said: "My mothers in there". Me and my friend ran into the backyard to try to get in the back door, the front was ablaze, but we couldn't even get close to the house. All the way to the back of the backyard it was hotter than hell. The Fire Trucks came, we yelled someone was in there - they all made a mad dash towards the front door with long poles with hooks on them, axes, anything they could yank of the truck fast. And then, as one, they all recoiled back, the heat. Then they went into a very calm and deliberate and business-like mode as they began to battle the fire.
In that one failed charge, they knew she was dead. She was.
3 weeks ago someone I've known 40 years, who later became a family member thru marriage, had gone to a shed in his backyard. No Fire Report yet but so far what happened is a mystery. He was home alone. The neighbors saw the flames and called 911. What they couldn't know was that Jim was in there. He was horribly, horribly burned, 70% - 90%. He died 6 days later in a Trauma Unit Level I in the Burn Treatment Center there, his family and a priest with him as they turned off Life Support.
I can't believe it still...and his wife and children
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Comments
That's horrible.
Something misterious is happening, don't you think?
All I know is I'm very spooked, nervous all the time... don't sleep more than about 3 hrs a night since it happened...
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