MaineCourse

Two Alarm Fire

At 3:10 this morning, Diane and I awoke to the sound of two screeching fire alarms, an entire house full of smoke, and Matt’s room so thick with it you couldn’t see his bed. As I screamed, “Fire, Get Out, ” Matt hollered from downstairs, “We’ve got it covered.”

What happened?

The in-house fire reconstruction team determined that Matt’s friend, sleeping in Matt’s loft, knocked over an incandescent light which caused the mattress fire, which woke up Matt, who along with his friend, raced downstairs with the mattress, which by the time they hit the yard, was fully engulfed.

Little did they know that the down comforter was also on fire, still in the loft.

Had it not been three in the morning, I am certain we would have called the fire department immediately, not after we’d put out the fires and tidied up.

Even the men from our local fire department were impressed with this sight. One muscular guy with a Fu Manchu suggested sending the back pack back to LL Bean. "Lifetime unconditional warranty," he said.

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Thank God this fire was contained.
I hope the emotional reactions are as easily resolved. Love, Ginger

Posted by Ginger.

I was awake at 3AM. Worrying. Now I know why...
Anything you need?

Posted by Karen.

Drew's an idiot

Posted by Hannah.

Otoh, if Drew and Matt hadn't run down the steps with the burning mattress, we'd be house hunting today.

Posted by michael.

Did your smoke alarms wake Matt & Drew up?

Maybe you should exchange your incandescent bulbs for low-wattage fluorescents. They'll be less likely to start a fire if tipped (not to mention saving electricity). We've changed all of our downstairs bulbs.

Posted by rakkity.

Matt saved our house and probably our lives by waking up first. I don't know why he snapped awake, because the fire was above him, and it had failed to knock his friend out of dreamland. The fire alarms didn't go off until the boys opened the bedroom door to drag the mattress out to the yard. My bad, for not having one in the loft. I might add, though there was no choice, dragging that mattress put them both at great risk. You should smell Matt's burnt hair.

Thanks for the offer, sleepless on Central St.. We'll think of something, like a glass of wine on one of our decks. After you get back from the heartland .

Posted by michael.

just amazing..........

Posted by goose.

We used to call it doobie, herb, smoke, reefer, maryjane, grass, doob--later my children would call it twerb or tonic-- I've never heard it called incandescent lightbulb!

Posted by old smoke.

The lamp burnt through, with the burnt shirt and jeans that had been attached, attached by remaining fragments into infinity. An occasional kid, who wants the light on all night, may not have figured out yet that he can't have that and lamp as hanger, too. All ye of little faith and bountiful personal history, that is the rest of the truth of the matter.

Posted by whole story.

Posted by Michael at August 16, 2005 08:19 AM