Fire

1/16/08 Wednesday
It was a great day because I was able work all day and I love to be able to work. The temperatures are going down to about twenty degrees tonight so I laid the usual fire just the way I always do. As we watched American Idol I smelled something burning so looked in the backroom where the stove is. I could see the light flickering from fire burning outside. “The chimney is on fire” I yelled and grabbed whatever was handy, running outside with my boots untied. It wasn’t the chimney, it was the wall. I had unhooked all the hoses because it’s going to freeze so screwed one back on in the dark and turned it on. Then I sprayed water on the fire and was glad to see it went out fast but soaked everything real good just to make sure the fire wasn’t traveling inside the wall.

Cherie called Janie to pray during all this and then was going to call 9-1-1 but I told her not to because I got it. Besides it would play hell with our insurance. For one thing they don’t know we have the wood stove because it wasn’t here when they inspected. I went up in the attic to make sure there was no problem and it seems to be ok. I think the problem is because I used the old place my grandfather had put the chimney way back when. The device that is used to protect the wall from the heat of the chimney (Can’t think of what it’s called right now) is probably thirty years old. That is where the fire started. We’ve been using this since last winter and it gave us no problem.

All I can say is it could have been much worse. It could have happened while we were asleep. Or I might not have noticed till it was so bad I couldn’t put it out with a garden hose. The house could have burned down with everything we value in it. So many possibly worse scenarios but...we are blessed. Now we have a big problem. A big hole in the outside wall with much of the siding burned and the drywall inside is burned through. You can see through to the outside. We will break out the electric space heaters we used when we first moved in and put the blanket down over the doorway to keep in the heat. No more fire till all that gets fixed right.