Yesterday, work ground to a halt when a fire broke out in the kitchen. Shane was off on an errand and Michelle was doing a bit of sewing when I got a whiff of something burning, a familiar scent ingrained from all the scorched rice I’ve managed to ruin over the years. Of course my first thought was for my precious sewing machine and when I looked over at Michelle, that’s when I noticed through the lattice work surrounding the kitchen, smoke barreling out from under a large box that was on top of the stove.
Now I hate to say I told you so, but I’ve preached for years about not putting things on the burners other than a pot of water to dye wool! It isn’t a desk or a table and freaky shit happens. Well shit happened big time!
A delivery guy had just dropped off Shane’s new super duper pooper scooper computer monitor, some kind of high speed, instant refresher gaming monitor for his home computer. Busy at his counter he put the box on the left side of stove over two burners. The box was fairly large and must have been pushed back enough to connect with the burner controls, pushing it in to engage the ON function and moved it ever so slightly to the right for the lowest setting. Then it was just a matter of time.
Slowly the heat built until the cardboard started to smolder. By the time I noticed the haze of smoke, it had burned a hole the size of the burner through the bottom of the box and had eaten its way through the plastic and foam wrappings and scorched the monitor front that had been face down in the box.
I hate to brag but I’m the person you want sitting next to you on an airplane in an emergency. I don’t panic, use a clear mind to do what needs to be done and then fall apart later when the what-ifs creep in. I’ll get the door open instead of sitting six rows back waiting on someone else to not lose control so that all the bodies aren’t trapped inside of an toxic off-gasing inferno, piled up in the aisles five and six feet deep. That’s why I demand a seat near or next too an exit door when I fly. The elderly and blind people aside, they will designate pretty much anyone with the charge of opening that door and I sure as heck don’t want my life hinging on the ability of a stranger when I know I can do the job.
So back to the fire. In one felled swoop, I turned off the burner, grabbed the box, turned it upside down to dump out the monitor on the work counter. I noticed the box flaps weren’t taped down so Shane must have examined it after it arrived or I wouldn’t have had the time to get it out of the box.
Once the smoldering box was removed from the burner and the air got to it, there was a burst of flames so now the top of the box is on fire. After the monitor was out, I put the box on the floor and grabbed the wet cloth used for wiping up dye water slosh and covered the flames trying to suffocate it first. I know that pouring water directly on a fire can make it spread faster so once the wet cloth was in place then I ran the tap to fill up a pan, opened the window to let the smoke out and poured the water over the cloth and killed it cold. Some flames had been licking up around the edge of the cloth but they quickly sizzled out.
Then I noticed the screen had debris stuck to it so I wet a cloth and wiped it clean to stop the smoking and further damage to the monitor. I could see a nasty couple of stains in the glass or whatever coating material they use. When Shane arrived back and plugged it in, the spots lit up like a moon and stars right in the middle of the screen. We’ve sent it back to see what they can do, or if there’s any hope. It might be an expensive error, with $400.00 down the crapper.
By now Michelle and I are coughing from the thick acrid smoke so I tell Michelle to open the back door and I ran to the front of the shop to throw that door open and gulp in some clean air. I now understand why people perish in a house fire, found demised just inside the door and so close to escaping. Smoke is certainly quick to stop you in your tracks and is blinding to the point of disorientation. This little fire, no bigger than a baseball, filled the shop with caustic smoke from burning cardboard and melting plastics and clawed at my eyes and throat.
From the time I discovered the problem and sprang into action about 20 seconds passed. My only regret is that I didn’t pick the box up off the floor immediately after the fire was out because some of the singed cardboard dropped off and burned one hole directly through the vinyl flooring and left a few scorch marks around it.
The fire had to be dealt with in the kitchen, moving through the shop to get it out the back door into the breeze of the day could have caused the fire to burn faster and I might have been more injured than a few singed fingers. The discoloration on my skin and fingernails makes it look like I’m a heavy smoker with a nicotine stains. I can still smell the smoke on them even after doing dishes and having a shower this morning.
The entire shop now smells of smoke, not that it will last. After a bit of airing out and dyeing wool the steam and vinegar should displace it. In all this I hope a lesson has been learned. I don’t ever want to see anything on top of the stove again other than dye pots and lunch heating!
Then to add salt on the wound, the sewing machine crapped out shortly after, what a day! Never a dull moment around here and it sure would be nice for a bit of the doldrums!
Now I hate to say I told you so, but I’ve preached for years about not putting things on the burners other than a pot of water to dye wool! It isn’t a desk or a table and freaky shit happens. Well shit happened big time!
A delivery guy had just dropped off Shane’s new super duper pooper scooper computer monitor, some kind of high speed, instant refresher gaming monitor for his home computer. Busy at his counter he put the box on the left side of stove over two burners. The box was fairly large and must have been pushed back enough to connect with the burner controls, pushing it in to engage the ON function and moved it ever so slightly to the right for the lowest setting. Then it was just a matter of time.
Slowly the heat built until the cardboard started to smolder. By the time I noticed the haze of smoke, it had burned a hole the size of the burner through the bottom of the box and had eaten its way through the plastic and foam wrappings and scorched the monitor front that had been face down in the box.
I hate to brag but I’m the person you want sitting next to you on an airplane in an emergency. I don’t panic, use a clear mind to do what needs to be done and then fall apart later when the what-ifs creep in. I’ll get the door open instead of sitting six rows back waiting on someone else to not lose control so that all the bodies aren’t trapped inside of an toxic off-gasing inferno, piled up in the aisles five and six feet deep. That’s why I demand a seat near or next too an exit door when I fly. The elderly and blind people aside, they will designate pretty much anyone with the charge of opening that door and I sure as heck don’t want my life hinging on the ability of a stranger when I know I can do the job.
So back to the fire. In one felled swoop, I turned off the burner, grabbed the box, turned it upside down to dump out the monitor on the work counter. I noticed the box flaps weren’t taped down so Shane must have examined it after it arrived or I wouldn’t have had the time to get it out of the box.
Once the smoldering box was removed from the burner and the air got to it, there was a burst of flames so now the top of the box is on fire. After the monitor was out, I put the box on the floor and grabbed the wet cloth used for wiping up dye water slosh and covered the flames trying to suffocate it first. I know that pouring water directly on a fire can make it spread faster so once the wet cloth was in place then I ran the tap to fill up a pan, opened the window to let the smoke out and poured the water over the cloth and killed it cold. Some flames had been licking up around the edge of the cloth but they quickly sizzled out.
Then I noticed the screen had debris stuck to it so I wet a cloth and wiped it clean to stop the smoking and further damage to the monitor. I could see a nasty couple of stains in the glass or whatever coating material they use. When Shane arrived back and plugged it in, the spots lit up like a moon and stars right in the middle of the screen. We’ve sent it back to see what they can do, or if there’s any hope. It might be an expensive error, with $400.00 down the crapper.
By now Michelle and I are coughing from the thick acrid smoke so I tell Michelle to open the back door and I ran to the front of the shop to throw that door open and gulp in some clean air. I now understand why people perish in a house fire, found demised just inside the door and so close to escaping. Smoke is certainly quick to stop you in your tracks and is blinding to the point of disorientation. This little fire, no bigger than a baseball, filled the shop with caustic smoke from burning cardboard and melting plastics and clawed at my eyes and throat.
From the time I discovered the problem and sprang into action about 20 seconds passed. My only regret is that I didn’t pick the box up off the floor immediately after the fire was out because some of the singed cardboard dropped off and burned one hole directly through the vinyl flooring and left a few scorch marks around it.
The fire had to be dealt with in the kitchen, moving through the shop to get it out the back door into the breeze of the day could have caused the fire to burn faster and I might have been more injured than a few singed fingers. The discoloration on my skin and fingernails makes it look like I’m a heavy smoker with a nicotine stains. I can still smell the smoke on them even after doing dishes and having a shower this morning.
The entire shop now smells of smoke, not that it will last. After a bit of airing out and dyeing wool the steam and vinegar should displace it. In all this I hope a lesson has been learned. I don’t ever want to see anything on top of the stove again other than dye pots and lunch heating!
Then to add salt on the wound, the sewing machine crapped out shortly after, what a day! Never a dull moment around here and it sure would be nice for a bit of the doldrums!
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