Wednesday, August 20, 2008

A house fire, and lessons learned


I've had an exciting evening.

I was in my kitchen when I smelled smoke. I came running through to my study, from where I normally write my blog posts, to find a large 33-gallon plastic garbage can well ablaze, smoke rapidly making that half of the house uninhabitable.

I dialled 911 straight away, and got the fire brigade started, then I fought the fire. Very fortunately for me, I served for several years in the Armed Forces, and was trained in basic firefighting. I have extinguishers in every room, and buckets available to get water. I was able to douse the worst of the flames even before the fire department got here, and they (after ordering me out, coughing and spluttering) were able to put out the rest in short order.

My study's quite badly damaged, and I think my desktop computer is toast - it was running at the time, and its cooling fan sucked all that oily black smoke deep into its innards. When I try to start it now, it sits there and sulks. Methinks silicon chips and fire smoke aren't a good combination! I've lost about 200 books with charred spines, and one bookcase: another two bookcases show smoke damage, as does the rest of the room, of course. I'll need a new carpet in the study, the passage leading to the living-room, and probably in the living-room too. It seems that firemen hauling out ashes and debris aren't too worried about carpets, or about treading the debris into the carpet with their boots! (That's not a complaint, by the way. I'm very glad they did so!)

I'll have to get the insurers in tomorrow to see what they'll cover, but I'm already very grateful that things aren't worse. Another thirty to forty seconds without being noticed, and the fire would probably have reached either the wall or the ceiling - and after that, all bets would have been off. I'm very, very lucky.

Lessons learned:

  • Having a fire extinguisher (even a small one) in every room was a really, REALLY good idea. It saved my bacon. Even so, I found that two small extinguishers weren't enough to kill the fire, necessitating buckets of water to finish the job. I think I'll replace the small extinguishers with big ones!
  • Knowing how to fight a fire also helps greatly. I was able to get the worst of it beaten down before the fire brigade got here. They commented that if I hadn't been able to do so, they doubted whether the house could have been saved.
  • The fire department suspects the blaze started in a shredder. I kept it plugged in and on standby, the way the manual says to leave it. It appears that something in the motor shorted out, causing overheating, which set fire to the shredded paper in the bin beneath it. This burned through the plastic casing, setting fire to the large trash bin next to it. That was when I smelled the smoke and came running. I've kept the remains of the shredder and bin to show the insurance adjuster, and I rather suspect that my next shredder will be unplugged when not in use!
  • My computer was running, even though unattended. That's probably killed it, through smoke being drawn into the casing. Fortunately, I have a laptop as well, which was in another room, and wasn't damaged: but I've learned that it might be good to switch off the computer when I know I won't need it for an hour or two, just in case.

No more posting for tonight. I'll get the insurance assessment done, and start the process of getting quotes for repairs, then we'll see how things go.

Peter

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear the damage wasn't worse than it was, and more importantly, no one was hurt.

MadRocketScientist said...

Oh Wow! Glad to hear you are OK and your house is still habitable.

Good thing you have training, fire extinguishers, and insurance.

Keep us abreast, and if you need any books donated, let me know (I have something of a collection).

Ambulance Driver said...

Goodness, Peter! Thankfully you noticed it when you did!

Julie said...

wow ... sorry to hear this Peter, but i'm glad that you smelt the smoke when you did and managed to bring it under control before more damage was done. Hope things go smoothly with your insurers ....

Anonymous said...

WOW...very glad you and yours are unharmed!!
Fire extinguishers and other tools are vital to have nearby, but good awareness sounds like it made the difference here. Godspeed to a quick recovery!
Jon Howard

phlegmfatale said...

I am so thankful you are alright! Let me know if I can help in any way, dear friend!

Anonymous said...

I am sorry to hear about your losses. I am greatful you are ok.
I will pray for you.

Evil Transport Lady said...

OMG! Lessons learned indeed! I'm so sorry about your losses, but DAMN, you are still with us!

{{{hugs!!!}}}

Anonymous said...

Wow! Glad you got through that with a house left...

Excellent run-down of lessons learned. Some very good advice!

Take care... but then you did, didn't you?

MC

Anonymous said...

What about smoke detectors? You did not mention them but it would have probably gone off even sooner than if you smelled it.

Christina RN LMT said...

Wow! I'm glad you're fine and the damage wasn't worse. I'm sitting at my computer desk right next to my shredder, and the second after I click on "publish your comment", I'm unplugging it!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad things weren't worse than they are.

I've got a bunch of spare computer parts laying around if you've the skill yourself, or someone with the skill availible to figure out what's fried rather than getting a whole new machine, and if any of my stuff would be a fit, you're welcome to it.

Gene said...

Having gone through this situation myself a couple of years ago, you are going to be completely amazed at the cost of this cleanup. Ours was a candle flaring up and setting some silk flowers (~3 feet away) ablaze and my wife putting it all out with a dry-chemical extinguisher, the FD showing up and confirming it was out, etc. No structural damage.

The proper cleanup that our insurance company paid for was a top to bottom cleaning of the entire house with pretty much every item cleaned and much of the fabric stuff removed for professional work; every book in the house was taken and spent the night in their ozone room for deodorizing (and I have a LOT of books); my wife's purse collection went the same place (except for the two latex purses from the 30s, the ozone would have destroyed them). We have hardwood floors, so the rugs and large oriental carpet were taken away for cleaning; all of our clothes were sent out for either dry-cleaning or washing, pressing and folding/hanging; the living room was completely repainted as were the dining room and hall ceilings. The entire bill was ~$14,000.

I imagine your computer was put out of commission more by the dry-chemical than the smoke. All three of our computers and monitors were taken to the shop for cleaning and servicing as were the two TVs.

It's going to be uproar in your house for about a week or so. The companies that do this know their stuff, the best advice I can give you is to listen to what they say and just let them alone to do their job. If I ever have to go through something like this again, I'm sending SWMBO to see her parents for a couple of weeks...

BCFD36 said...

As someone previously said SMOKE DETECTORS IN EVERY ROOM!. I can't stress it enough. As for fighting the fire, good job. Good that you had the training. But you were lucky. One lung full of the black nasty stuff can take you out.

And you ruined the FD's fun. That is probably why they didn't put down salvage covers when they were doing overhaul. (That is what we do).

D. Scruggs

SpeakerTweaker said...

Holy CRAP, man!

I'm glad things didn't get worse. Good on you for having a plan.

I think I'll be investing in some extra fire extinguishers here soon.

And turning off my shredder RIGHT NOW.



tweaker

Anonymous said...

Very glad you are unhurt, and our sympathies - especially re. the books!

Home on the Range said...

Thankful it wasn't worse, I keep one by the bed, to use in getting out of the house, one in the garage, one in the kitchen and one by the computer. Overkill perhaps, but my brother lost his house to a fire, including the family pets. I'm so thankful you and yours are OK.

Peter said...

Thanks to all of you who've commented. Your concern and good wishes are very much appreciated. I've posted an update in a new blog entry.

Peter

ArkieRN said...

Glad you are ok! So sorry about your fire. It's a shame to lose so many books.