Fire in the Hole

What started out as an uneventful Sunday quickly turned exciting and frightening.

Saturday night, Trinity had gone to bed with some tummy issues that we were going to 'monitor' and see how she was doing come morning.

Doug headed to the airport at 4:45 am.

Upon waking, Trinity complained of a sore throat.  Not all to surprising seeing as how many in the family have had colds and similar symptoms.

I made the decision to keep her home so as not to share our germs with other members of our church family.

Next was to figure out what to do about the remainder of kiddos and church.  Bethany had stayed at her friend's house and needed a ride home after church, the kids wanted to go to the morning church services, so all of us staying home just wasn't an option.

The alternatives we did have:  I could drive them to church and return home with Trinity, having Jacob drive them all home after..... Jacob could come out and pick the kids up and return with them after church..... or Elijah could even stay home and I go in with all the kids to church.

Decisions, decisions.

Jacob said he didn't mind driving out to get the kids; Trinity would prefer being home with me instead of just Elijah just in case her blood sugars went wonky; and admittedly, if I was staying home anyway, I didn't REALLY want to drive 60 miles to drop kiddos off.

So.... she and I decided to stay home.

As we waited for Jacob's arrival - with the kids heading to church sitting outside as he was to arrive any moment - there was a loud crash.

It startled both Trinity and I.

I assumed something had fallen.

Crashed to the floor would be a more accurate description.

It sounded like a large cabinet had toppled over or a closet shelving unit had caved in.

An explosion really.

I began walking through the house to determine WHAT had caused the loud boom we heard.  (I'll admit, my first thought was the rabbit hutch had somehow crumpled or been tipped over.)

Still, I glanced in every room as I passed.

Kitchen.... looked fine.

Bathroom.... it looked fine too at first glance, but.... I smelled smoke immediately upon poking my head through the door.  A slight glance around the door at the hot water heater closet and I saw a glimmer of flame.

It wasn't something collapsing or falling we heard, it was the fire igniting in the closet from the propane water heater.

YIKES!

I ran to get the fire extinguisher only to remember it had 'died' some time earlier and we had not yet replaced it.  I then grabbed a pitcher and began filling it with water.

Once it was 1/4th full, I ran back and began dousing the flames with the liquid.  Using the bathroom sink to refill the pitcher for subsequent splashes, I continued my quest to quench the flames and protect our little mountain abode.

I won't even pretend that I wasn't freaking out.  I heard myself squeal when I realized the fire extinguisher was gone, "I don't know what to do."  It was at that moment I knew I needed water and began scanning for ANYTHING to fill.  Luckily the girls had left the pitcher on the counter after watering the rabbits and chickens in the morning.

Meanwhile, as I had yelled to all the kids that there was a fire, they began trying to figure out what to do as well.

Elijah, who knew I couldn't find the inside fire extinguisher, ran to the camper for the one there, but didn't recognize it b/c it's wasn't red.

He then told the girls to get the hose.

All this was going on while I was closed in the bathroom throwing a few buckets of water on the flames that were rippling across the closet floor and under the water heater.

As I heaved the last pitcher of water on the extinguished flames for good measure, I noted water flowing IN under the bathroom door.  I had noticed water there earlier but thought it was just streaming back from my splashing the water into the closet to snuff out the blaze.

I tugged open the door only to have Elijah thrust a garden hose gushing with water into my face.

WHAT??

My brain spun a few minutes as I registered what this meant.

Yes, Selah had pulled the hose - turned ON - from the front sliding doors all through the house to the bathroom door before passing it off to Elijah.  Filling the front school room, living room, dining room, and hall entrance to the bathroom with a lake of water.

Ha.

Apparently he told Selah to grab the hose. She complied and turned it on immediately then proceeded to drag it through the whole house to the bathroom where Elijah stood waiting to help me.

Now not only did I have fire damage and the water to clean up there, but also a 'flood' throughout the rest of the house.

Admittedly I might have scolded the children in the heat of the moment about bringing a hose full of running water THROUGH the house, but... I was a little freaked out from the explosion, the fire, the flood.

After all was said and done, I think I determined that a basket fell off a shelf that held a container of freeze wart remover.  The container appeared to have exploded, igniting the fumes from the propane powered gas water heater.  Resulting in the loud boom we heard and the fire that erupted.

I praised the kids for their smart thinking and fast action.  If the fire had gotten any bigger that hose of running water would have been a HUGE help.

Many towels later and a garbage bag of singed items, the house is pretty much right as rain.

Just a couple char marks on the linoleum floor, several wet towels to wash, a bit of smoke smell in the aforementioned bathroom, and a bunch of items to put away once I have the hot water heater checked and some new storage options worked out.

I praise God for Trinity's tummy troubles and sore throat.  For Jacob being willing to drive out to get the kids.

Without these logistics working out as they did, our home would have most likely continued to burn.

Without my presence when the fire erupted, the numerous flammable items in and around the bathroom would have also ignited, giving great fuel and acceleration to the fire as it grew unchecked.

The other terrifying option could have been Elijah and Trinity home alone when the fire began.  Elijah is a very capable young man, but I'm not sure either kid would have thought to look for the source of the sound initially, allowing the fire to grow hotter/bigger with a ready supply of propane fueling it from the hot water heater.

Dealing with a fire was flustering for me - a full-grown adult with many years of life experience under my belt.  I'm not sure what a 16 year old and an 11 year old would have done.

God protected our family and had the engineering of this day worked out.

I was home, sitting in the front room when normally we would have already been in the car and heading to town.

I heard the 'kaboom' that had me immediately searching out the source.

I was able to quickly smother the flames and protect our home and pets.

God is truly amazing how he orchestrated - will always orchestrate - the details in our  lives we often take for granted.