Thoughts On Setting One's House on Fire.

Never mind how it started, let’s just say that cold evenings inspire shortcuts. But I found myself standing in a ring of fire ignited from a small kerosene spill. I was stomping on it and it wouldn’t go out, but grew from under my shoes and spread. Dry brittle leaves blew through it quickly blazing and carrying their newly lit fire into a pile of lumber under my deck. It was intended for shelves in the basement, but now stood stacked upright like rifles (or firewood). A large pile of dry brittle leaves had blown in under this stacking over the past weeks and now those newly lighted leaves bounced into the midst of that pile of lumber and leaves where they lodged and flared, fanned by the wind, rising quickly into a blaze. Cold night swiftly coming, sun already down, darkness falling quickly, wind rising out of the north - 25 to 35 miles per hour, eighteen degrees. Hoses are disconnected and carted away. No water available, the ground is frozen, no earth to throw on the fire which is now doubling in size every five seconds. I can call 911 but that help is still 20 minutes away. I go into the basement and come out seconds later with a fire extinguisher, I pull the saftey and fling it away, aim the nozzle at the base of the roaring fire, pull the trigger and the fire vanishes. A huge cloud of dazzling white fog swirls around like a little tornado under my deck and vanishes, whipped away into the cold night, which is now suddenly quiet. I come out every ten minutes and inspect the lumber for the next six hours, finally declare it out. The remaining two fire extinguishers in the house now sit inside the basement, on alert.
Next morning I go to Lowe’s and buy five more Kidde fire extinguishers. All designed to use on Class A, B and C fires; $10.95 each. Now they are scattered around the house ready for use should some cold fool strike again Also, the camcorder tape of our household inventory is taken out of the truck, recorded on a VHS tape and taken to the safe deposit box. My writing is already backed up monthly on two discs, one of which is always in the safe deposit box. The precious things given to us by our now dead parents and relics from our children’s past are mostly still in the house though, guarded by seven red fire extinugishers. So, you who read these words, before you cast sparks at me, go check your own fire extinguishers and make sure they are ready - and HURRY!! If it takes more than 30 seconds to find them, forget it! You lose – everything.

© John Womack, 2006. All Rights Reserved.