This Old House Part 1 / An Unexpected Renovation after a fire)

 

I've never been in a fire, at least up until two weeks ago.  I knew fire safety pretty well because my parents had been volunteer first responders down in Eudora, Mississippi when I was a child.  My dad always taught the classes for all the volunteers for rescue, house fires and other emergency situations.  Little did I know that many, many years later I would plug those lessons into a real situation.  We had a kitchen grease fire that started on my stove.  It went from cold oil to flames in less than 6 minutes, it took the fire department 15 minutes to get there.  15 minutes that seemed like an eternity, I kept hearing the sirens and asking my friends where the fire truck was, I honestly have no idea why it took so long but I knew if I didn't do something I was going to loose my house.

                As soon as the skillet flames up, I ran to the cabinet under my sink and grabbed our fire extinguisher, pushed the trigger...nothing.  Then I remembered the pin, "take the pin out" I remember one of the friends saying.  I angled myself so I wasn't directly in line with the flaming skillets and pulled the trigger of the fire extinguisher.  I can't describe how quickly that all the light disappeared in my house.

 It went completely dark and it was bright daylight outside, all I could see was the glow of the flames.  The extinguisher powder was like the most dense fog I have ever seen.  The fire went out but within seconds re-lite and flamed up even larger.  I sprayed the fire extinguisher again and it went out but a few second later it flamed up again, I threw three or four cookie sheets on top of it trying to muffle the flames and stop the oxygen supply but the flames just came up around the pans and cookie sheets.  I had to go outside to get a breath of fresh air but when I turned around the fire had flamed back up so much it was starting to catch the upper cabinets on fire and the wooden cooking utensils on the counter top.  I grabbed the extinguisher again and empty the last little bit realizing that I wasn't going to put this fire out and it was spreading quickly.  I had no baking soda but I did have a jar of flour.  I threw the burned cookie sheets off the skillet and dumped as much flour as I could on the fire.  It took the flames down a bit but still not out.

 
                  Still waiting of the fire department, still wonder why they aren't here yet, I could hear there sirens and I knew the station was close but they weren't there, WHY??  I told myself that if I didn't get the fire out soon, I was going to see my whole kitchen in flames very soon.  I made the split decision to grab a thick hot pot holder (Love me some William Sonoma Hot Pot Holders) I grabbed the handle of the skillet, flames rolling still and carried it to the back door and threw it.  The cast iron skillet shattered when it hit the concrete patio.  I turned around to see the kitchen utensils still burning and smoke rolling under the upper cabinet around the corner into the den.  I walked back grabbed the handle of the container and walked to the back door, flames and all and threw it out.  I remember the ceramic shattering everywhere but the flames went out.
               The fire was finally out!  I opened windows to get the rest of the smoke and extinguisher powdered out of the house, that is when the reality of what actually happened began to set in.  I walked into the dining room and saw all of the soot and powder everywhere. 

The beautiful red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting I had made that morning, covered in soot and powder, the crackers and other food completely covered in powder.  The beautiful fresh cut flowers and delicate antique dishes set out consumed in a layer of unforgiving soot and powder.  I looked down and saw my footprints in the wooden floor that my husband and I had painstakingly refinished years before.

I ran my finger across the glass topped desk and thought at this point I would completely fail the white glove test if Ms.Manners can knocking at my door.  I had just spend the better part of a month working on this house to get ready for this party and it literary went up in smoke in 15 minutes.  I walked into my bedroom and saw extinguisher powder even in there and realized really quickly there was no way I was going to able to clean this mess up.  I am very meticulous about my house when I entertain.  I love decorating and designing and making my home very personal and comfortable and to see it in this state was almost more than I could handle.

              I kept thinking I was in a nightmare, "Did that just happened", and then thinking my husband must have gotten the call from our security company because the alarms are all going off.  I grab my phone and see (missed call, missed call, missed call....)  I knew he is panicking.  He was in Atlanta for a week on business.  I call him and have to tell him there was a house fire, can you imagine how that feels to someone hundreds of miles away and knowing they can't be there to help.

         In the mean time the firemen finally show up.  I'm outside drowning my face in the water hose and coughing up smoke and powder.  I hear one fireman say, "who put out the fire", I hear another one say, "the home owner"  I think to myself, what choice did I have....  But I am relieved they are finally at my home and checking everything out.  They pull the range out and put it in my patio, it looks like a pathetic excuse of a once worthy kitchen range.  It looks so sad and useless and I am mad and happy all at once because I hated that old crappy range but it has given us some marvelous, scrumptious creations over the years.


                 They pull the vent-a-hood down to check around it and check the wall and socket for any hot spots.  I see them opening every window in my house and smoke pouring out of every possible crevices and crack.  My heart sunk when I saw my son's window opened because he has asthma and I know all that powdered and soot have covered his room.  How am I going to begin this clean up? How?  My once beautiful house looks like a sooty, dusty bowl that has been forgotten about on the top shelf of a china cabinet for the last 50 years.


                 This is going to change our lives, I know that but I also know I am so thankful my friends were not hurt, my kids were not home and I didn't have a burn on me.  God is good even in the midst of a disaster.  I say a silence pray of thanks that my home is still standing, how quickly it could have all been gone.   It certainly puts things in prospective, materialistic possessions are just that POSSESSIONS.  We certainly have enough of those.
                          The scary part is over in a flash of minutes, now the tough part begins.  I pray that the process goes smoothly, that I remain calm even when things seem overwhelming.  I pray that I show grace to everyone around me and most of all patience.  And so on a quiet Wednesday afternoon in the middle of a hot summer in Memphis I begin the long process of making this poor house look like a home again.

I can do this...........