summer 2011

summer 2011

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012

Paul and I, all 16 kids and Ashley, Benjamin's wife...Christmas 2012
family

Monday, September 28, 2009

call 911! the house is on fire!.

Always keep your hair clean, always keep your kids in cute pajamas at night, because you never know....what starts out as an ordinary day can sometimes turn crazy...

Abigail was teaching the kids a nice song from her songbook...they were all mellowed out for bed...


(I just had to sneak this one in here, Camille in the basket)
We got the two little girls tucked in, then the bigger kids....then! The dryer was on fire! It happened so fast, the black smoke was billowing out the doorway, Paul grabbed the fire extinguisher (ALWAYS have one on hand, it saved our home. We literally would be homeless right now if we didn't have them, he actually used two).....he yelled to call 911, and I started yelling for all the kids to go out the deck door to the front yard, RIGHT NOW! I ran for Camille in her little green bed, and flagged down Mirielle to get Charlotte. Samuel was downstairs pounding on the bathroom door, Margaret was taking a shower. He was yelling for her to get out fast, the house was on fire...and Benjamin was lying in bed, half asleep, thinking Sam was just mad. It is not unusual for Sam to pound on the bathroom door. Anyway, we got out to the front yard, and I was counting, and panicking because I kept getting 15 kids....who is missing? And all the kids were yelling things like, "I'm here, I'm here", and "MOM, we are all here!"....then someone reminded me that Emily is in Norway. Okay. We have the right number. The fire engines started coming, there were at least 8 or 10, and about 40 firemen, plus the ambulance. The first thing they asked was if everyone was out. It's funny, because I did not even think of one thing I wanted to grab. The kids were out, the dog was out, and I just didn't even care at that point about the house, (or sorry kitties, you didn't even cross my mind). I was just glad the kids and Paul were safe. Our across the street neighbors and our next door neighbor came over, glad too that everyone was okay. It took a good ten minutes for the firemen to arrive, we live out in the country. At least 4 different fire companies came. If Paul hadn't used that extinguisher, our house would have been engulfed by then. Especially with the number of clothes that were in that room. When the ambulance people arrived, they came over and got the kids to wait in there, and gave them Gatorade and little Beenie babies. Jon, however, was in Abigail's car with her, and was terrified. He was hysterical, and did not want to get out of the car. Benjamin sat in his truck with Rosie, or she would have been nuts.
So, now all that bedding that was stacked up to be washed is in the living room and kitchen, mixed with other hampers that were dumped....there were clothes in there literally on fire, and the firemen brought them out to the front yard and dumped them, smoldering. I think one thing was my good gray bra, just washed and hanging in there. Rats. So they moved the hampers out of their way by dumping them out....and they used the firehose in there...oh, what a mess.


Here is my living room....




And here is my kitchen....






This is my laundry room...






They chopped a hole in the wall to make sure the fire was out. All the clothes that are still in there, like those jeans, are covered in soot and smell like smoke. The whole house is covered in fine black dust....





Evelyn took a picture of this shirt...


So now we have our work cut out for us. I have to call the insurance company in the morning and see what our deductable is. Because our dryer is literally toast. And all the clothes that aren't ruined will have to go to the laundry mat. Or wouldn't it be nice to throw them all out and start over? I just bought the girls some things today at Target, 75% off, but really nice, and they are hanging in there covered with soot. fun. But when I started pointing things out, the kids all started in on me, saying, "Mom, just be thankful we have our house, be thankful we are okay." Oh, how quickly we forget. We are such hardheaded people, how quickly we forget.....







16 comments:

The Father of Five said...

I am a Police / Fire dispatcher (and the father of what I "used to call" a large family - my five dwarf your 16) - so I found this story intresting...

The best line I found was at the end, whe your daughter said... "Mom, just be thankful we have our house, be thankful we are okay."

Isn't it great when our kids remind us of what is really importiant in life??

Glad to hear everyone was ok!

Good luck with your repairs.

Father of Five.

Book Lover said...

Oh my goodness!!! I just felt a prompting to check your blog one last time before bed, and THIS
!! Thank God you all are okay. I wish I lived close to help you. Please blog with any needs you have. I want to help!! You have my prayers this evening, but I want to send you a care package:) Your blog has helped me in sooo many ways. Blessings

KIm Chrisman

Cassandra said...

Oh My gosh Della, I am soooo glad you are all okay, How very scary!
Do they know why the dryer caught on fire, I know they are prone to it and i always worry, I try to never leave the dryer on when we go out but sometimes i forget....
Anyway i am so glad you are all okay :-)

cassandra xx

Tereza said...

Oh my gosh..I'm so glad you're all ok!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That must have been so scary!

cheryl said...

Of course I am extremely thankful everyone is okay, and your house is still standing. And my heart bleeds for those piles.. I wish you could wiggle your nose and have everything straightened out!! And I was reading your previous post, and you were struggling with laundry.. I hope the insurance helps.

lee said...

i had a housefire 15 years ago. you can't get soot smell out! you are better off claiming all the clothing on your homeowner's insurance and starting over! you will need to count them by type and size range. figure out what it will cost to replace at full price- not 75% off! did they give you 75% off on the insurance premiums, haha!

funny fire story- after the fire i was walking aorund in the rubble and ran across my clothing from the closet. i got excited because all i owned was what i had on at the time of the fire and some scrubs my mom gave me. then i picked the clothing up and the left arm was burned off of every item! i got a laugh out of that!

Karen said...

Thanking God that you are all safe! And will pray for patience as you negotiate with insurance and cleaning up. :-)

Anonymous said...

how awful!! what a fright you must have all had. Poor little Jon, my little boy would have been the same. So glad you are all ok. Maybe you can get a new dryer AND washer with the insurance money haha

Jennifer said...

I am glad that you all got out and that there and damage was not to bad. how scary

Enola said...

I am SO glad you are okay. I can't imagine your panic as you stood there counting kids. Huge kudos to you for having a fire extinguisher, having someone that knew how to use it, and having a plan. To evacuate a house like that is great.

I'm sorry about all the stuff. But your children are right - you are okay and your house is okay. Clothes are replaceable.

A free legal tip - for what that is worth. Use that camera of yours to take a ton of pictures. Itemize all the clothes, costs of everything - washing them, cleaning them, laundry mat fees, everything. Submit it all to the insurance company. If you choose to clean the clothes and keep them, you deserve to get reimbursed for the laundry fees.

Anonymous said...

oh wow! glad everyone is safe! It reminds me of my first year in the US, the kids at the afterschool program were bringing home fire practice to do with their parents, to decide of a place to meet, how to get there from 2 different ways... It was new to me, but so smart! You can avoid many tragedies when you have good reactions.

I guess it's time for a new dryer...
Maybe you could look for a second washer too!

Anonymous said...

So glad to hear that you're all okay...

maureen said...

Della, I am so glad that you and Paul and all of your kids are ok! And Rosie too! I got a terrible chill up my spine when I started to read your post and started to tear up at the end.

I am so sorry for the extra work ahead of you but grateful to God that you are all physically ok.

Please let us know what you need. (Probably a lot of that Febreeze stuff! Does that work on soot and smoke smell?) I would love to help in some way.

Maureen

FLmom7 said...

Oh, I'm sorry about the fire but thank the Lord you are all safe and your home is safe. I know it is such a mess to clean up, and such a pain to have to buy the new dryer and clothes and whatever else has been ruined... but there is a blessing in that it could have been much worse. I'm just glad you're all okay.

AUTISMOMMA said...

Thank you for posting this. This is a great reminder that it's not enough to just be home when the dryer is on (NEVER leave it on when leaving the house), but that someone is AWAKE as well. I am guilty of throwing clothes in the dryer and then going to bed.....but I won't be doing that anymore.

Glad everyone is safe and that it caused as minimal damage as it did!

Mrs Marcos said...

Oh my goodness! So scary, such a relief you're all ok.