I came home almost three weeks ago, went upstairs past the bathroom door and turned on the computer. My normal routine, checking email and such. I was just getting everything running, when I realized something smelled like burnt plastic, so I assumed the computer was overheating.... Well, a few minutes of sniff testing revealed it was NOT the computer so I followed the smell downstairs, only to find flames shooting out across the space under the stairs in the bathroom (where the hot water heater, washer, and dryer live) and lapping at the ceiling. Somehow in the ensuing confusion, I managed to shut the bathroom door, call 911, run back upstairs and rescue the computer, call for kitties who were in deep hiding and having NONE of this rescuing, turn off the main breaker, and decide it was time to get the H*LL out due to smoke.
It was an... interesting... evening. The fire department got there, eventually made it in and got the fire out, pulled one of the cats out from deep hiding hissing, spitting and generally attacking anything and everything. She calmed right down when I got ahold of her, thank goodness, and the other kitty came out of hiding after the first round of commotion was over and I got back in and popped a can of food.
In round one, for those keeping score, the fire department broke out the bathroom window and tossed a bunch of stuff out the window, knocked out the fire, then assured me it was out according to their fancy thermal scanner, and I was safe going back in after things and kitty #2.
BUT... they forgot to check the stuff out the window. Round two was that pile (mostly clothing and books) going up in flames on the OUTSIDE of the window. This resulted in another session of flashing lights, strange noises, and half the town watching my underwear burn as the ancient Doug firs and side of the equally ancient barn I live in got toasted by flames shooting up the side of the building.
Insurance is a good thing. It means everything I own is being removed from my house, sorted, cleaned, and returned in boxes. Let me tell you, 20 years of less than stellar housekeeping, plus various other moderately good excuses, can lead to a lot of clutter. So help sorting is going to make a huge difference going forward, but meanwhile back at the ranch, misery.
It was an... interesting... evening. The fire department got there, eventually made it in and got the fire out, pulled one of the cats out from deep hiding hissing, spitting and generally attacking anything and everything. She calmed right down when I got ahold of her, thank goodness, and the other kitty came out of hiding after the first round of commotion was over and I got back in and popped a can of food.
In round one, for those keeping score, the fire department broke out the bathroom window and tossed a bunch of stuff out the window, knocked out the fire, then assured me it was out according to their fancy thermal scanner, and I was safe going back in after things and kitty #2.
BUT... they forgot to check the stuff out the window. Round two was that pile (mostly clothing and books) going up in flames on the OUTSIDE of the window. This resulted in another session of flashing lights, strange noises, and half the town watching my underwear burn as the ancient Doug firs and side of the equally ancient barn I live in got toasted by flames shooting up the side of the building.
Insurance is a good thing. It means everything I own is being removed from my house, sorted, cleaned, and returned in boxes. Let me tell you, 20 years of less than stellar housekeeping, plus various other moderately good excuses, can lead to a lot of clutter. So help sorting is going to make a huge difference going forward, but meanwhile back at the ranch, misery.
I'll update soon, the first two weeks were a lot of hurry up and wait, and oh, the cleaning people need to go for training for 3 days so only one real day of digging out happened the first week. We've managed to dig almost everything out in the bathroom now and it looks, if anything, even more... yecky... with all the smoke shadows on the walls.
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