Fear of Fire
A long, long time ago, back when I was an undergrad, I was living in an apartment complex about a mile or so from campus. A lot of students lived there but a number of the units had been converted to condos so a lot of faculty lived there as well.
In the middle of winter, I was awoken one night to someone banging on my neighbor's door screaming "Jim! Jim, goddamit, wake up! My building is on fire!" It was the word "fire" that woke me up. Somehow I had slept through a number of fire trucks screaming past my windows. I hastily dressed and went outside to make sure it wasn't my building on fire. Thankfully it wasn't as it was the one on the far side of the complex. Mesmorized by the flames, I stood there in freezing temperatures watching as the fire spread from one apartment to another. Then it spread to the attached townhomes where a number of faculty lived. We had over 10 towns worth of fire trucks in the parking lot as they failed to contain the blaze. In the end, the whole building was destroyed along with four or five townhomes. There were several small fires in that building after the main fire was put out. Mainly people moving mattresses and discovering that they were still smoldering. It was two weeks before there were no longer any fire trucks, inspectors, insurance agents, or police around.
What bugged me the most was the situation that caused the fire. Supposedly, one of the tenants had their electricity turned off for not paying the bills. He/she was burning a candle for light and the candle was on top of a towel which was near a curtain. Can you see where this is going? Candle fell over, set the towel on fire which in turn set the curtain of fire. The idiot ran out of his/her apartment and left the door open. That caused the flames to spread into the hallway, and you know the rest.
From that day forward, I've had a fear of fire. Not the paralyzing kind. More of like what would happen if I came home and found my home had burned down to the ground? My biggest concern was not my stuff. That could always be replaced. It was the kitties that I was mostly worried about. Heck, I view them as my children. For many years, I developed a severe OCD of checking the stove to make sure it was off and I did not even keep candles in my house. I would even have minor panic attacks when fire trucks went passed. One time I did come home to find the fire department surrounding the midrise I was living in a few years back but thankfully that building had cement between the floors and proper fireproofing between apartments. The worse I had to deal with was smoke damage and even that was minor. The OCD is now under control and I do burn candles but in very safe locations. We even have a fireplace and one of my favorite things to do on a winter night is to curl up on the couch with a fire going.
So why am I mentioning this fear? Last night, I heard the town's fire sirens going off. It is something I don't normally notice any more. It has been almost twenty years since that big fire. Heck, even hearing the fire trucks going by didn't worry me at first. We live in a very large condo/townhome community and there are occasions when a fire truck goes by but only one or two so it's no big deal. Last night, however, it was more than two. I started to freak out a bit but the trucks were going to the other side of the community so the fire was not near my home. I still had to take a sedative because I felt a bad panic attack coming on.
This morning my fears were confirmed. There was a major fire in our community. An entire building with eight condos was destroyed. I drove past it this morning after my neighbor told me the news. It was bad. The building was still standing but the upper condos were completely gutted. There were people milling about and I could tell that they were the ones who lost their homes. I immediately left even though my heart wanted to stop and help these people somehow, even if it just meant lending them a shoulder to cry on. Two things stopped me: 1) I was already late for work and 2) I'm too empathetic to be in those sort of situations. I would carry their grief with me for a long time. For the sake of my sanity, I had to leave.
So what started this fire? According to my neighbor, it started in the dryer vent in one of the condos. Ugh. That is something that is so preventable. When I get home later today I'm calling up the management company and having someone come by to clean out my dryer vent. I know we had it done when we moved in but it is better to be safe than sorry. From the destruction of this fire, I know there aren't fire walls between the condos (I wonder if this was a code violation or not). Once again, it's not my stuff I'm worried about. That's what homeowners insurance is for and stuff can be replaced. My husband and the kitties are another story. They cannot be replaced.
Moral of the story: if you have a dryer and you haven't cleaned the vent in a long time, please do so. Get your husband, significant other, handyman, or do it yourself. Take the time to avoid what I saw this morning.
In the middle of winter, I was awoken one night to someone banging on my neighbor's door screaming "Jim! Jim, goddamit, wake up! My building is on fire!" It was the word "fire" that woke me up. Somehow I had slept through a number of fire trucks screaming past my windows. I hastily dressed and went outside to make sure it wasn't my building on fire. Thankfully it wasn't as it was the one on the far side of the complex. Mesmorized by the flames, I stood there in freezing temperatures watching as the fire spread from one apartment to another. Then it spread to the attached townhomes where a number of faculty lived. We had over 10 towns worth of fire trucks in the parking lot as they failed to contain the blaze. In the end, the whole building was destroyed along with four or five townhomes. There were several small fires in that building after the main fire was put out. Mainly people moving mattresses and discovering that they were still smoldering. It was two weeks before there were no longer any fire trucks, inspectors, insurance agents, or police around.
What bugged me the most was the situation that caused the fire. Supposedly, one of the tenants had their electricity turned off for not paying the bills. He/she was burning a candle for light and the candle was on top of a towel which was near a curtain. Can you see where this is going? Candle fell over, set the towel on fire which in turn set the curtain of fire. The idiot ran out of his/her apartment and left the door open. That caused the flames to spread into the hallway, and you know the rest.
From that day forward, I've had a fear of fire. Not the paralyzing kind. More of like what would happen if I came home and found my home had burned down to the ground? My biggest concern was not my stuff. That could always be replaced. It was the kitties that I was mostly worried about. Heck, I view them as my children. For many years, I developed a severe OCD of checking the stove to make sure it was off and I did not even keep candles in my house. I would even have minor panic attacks when fire trucks went passed. One time I did come home to find the fire department surrounding the midrise I was living in a few years back but thankfully that building had cement between the floors and proper fireproofing between apartments. The worse I had to deal with was smoke damage and even that was minor. The OCD is now under control and I do burn candles but in very safe locations. We even have a fireplace and one of my favorite things to do on a winter night is to curl up on the couch with a fire going.
So why am I mentioning this fear? Last night, I heard the town's fire sirens going off. It is something I don't normally notice any more. It has been almost twenty years since that big fire. Heck, even hearing the fire trucks going by didn't worry me at first. We live in a very large condo/townhome community and there are occasions when a fire truck goes by but only one or two so it's no big deal. Last night, however, it was more than two. I started to freak out a bit but the trucks were going to the other side of the community so the fire was not near my home. I still had to take a sedative because I felt a bad panic attack coming on.
This morning my fears were confirmed. There was a major fire in our community. An entire building with eight condos was destroyed. I drove past it this morning after my neighbor told me the news. It was bad. The building was still standing but the upper condos were completely gutted. There were people milling about and I could tell that they were the ones who lost their homes. I immediately left even though my heart wanted to stop and help these people somehow, even if it just meant lending them a shoulder to cry on. Two things stopped me: 1) I was already late for work and 2) I'm too empathetic to be in those sort of situations. I would carry their grief with me for a long time. For the sake of my sanity, I had to leave.
So what started this fire? According to my neighbor, it started in the dryer vent in one of the condos. Ugh. That is something that is so preventable. When I get home later today I'm calling up the management company and having someone come by to clean out my dryer vent. I know we had it done when we moved in but it is better to be safe than sorry. From the destruction of this fire, I know there aren't fire walls between the condos (I wonder if this was a code violation or not). Once again, it's not my stuff I'm worried about. That's what homeowners insurance is for and stuff can be replaced. My husband and the kitties are another story. They cannot be replaced.
Moral of the story: if you have a dryer and you haven't cleaned the vent in a long time, please do so. Get your husband, significant other, handyman, or do it yourself. Take the time to avoid what I saw this morning.
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