Tuesday, September 16, 2008

I hope you dont smell smoke--EVER!!

Today I was home (usually home sleeping from the night's work) but I was home last night so I was awake doing dishes, washing the floor, mending some clothes (seriously I was!!) I sound like a 1930's wife!! LOL Logan was also home doing his thing before he heads off to his afternoon work. We live in a building with 5 other apartments and today we were the only ones in the building after a time. I had gone out to my car to get something and as I passed by one of our fellow neighbors' apartment I could hear what to me sounded like a loud beeping alarm clock. I thought maybe they were taking a nap and didn't hear the alarm clock or had set it sometime before and forgot to shut it off so that it wouldn't go off the next day...I'm sure we've all owned a loud alarm clock and know the story. After passing it a second time, coming back in, maybe they are in the shower or in the bathroom unable to shut the alarm off. All sorts of things were running thru my mind but did a fire run thru my mind? yes, but the alarm wasn't that convincing for it to be a fire alarm. It did smell like something was faintly burning but people burn stuff here and there and it wasn't a long time that I had gone downstairs and back inside again. Then, say, twenty or so minutes passed or less from the time I had come back in my apartment till Logan to leave to work. As we said our goodbyes he opened the door into the hallway and said it was smelled of something burning and get downstairs, Quick! So I took the phone down with me and we called the landlord, and told her we'd be calling the Fire Department next. I knocked on the door, yelled thru their open window, and nobody answered, and that dumb alarm sitll going off!! Nobody's car that belonged to anyone else in the apartment was around so we were the only ones who were home/inside the building!!! The Fire Department came and one of the guys jumped thru the open window and the next thing we saw was a pan being handed over smoking from being left on the stove! We waited outside. Soon our landlord arrived and she later came over and told us in addition to the stove being left on, that there were unattended lit candles in the house!!! I am so angry that this neighbor of mine would put us all under such a fire danger!!!! I don't want to know what would have come of our home if we hadn't been home!!! Truly, it would have been devistating knowing how fast this building would have gone up due to the age of our building!
I almost could have lost my home today because of someone's negligence on these matters. A stove, I think we all do leave things on by accident here and there, but candles.... it just isn't right!I hope this helps to remind everyone to keep the Fire Department off your doorstep and in the near holidays coming up, remember that we can prevent these situations by being more careful with cooking and with candles!!!