Near-disaster

[jay]

Whew. That was *this* close to a very serious, life-threatening problem....

16-year-old James was babysitting his brothers, who had gone to bed at the time that patgreene and I had gone out for Thai food for dinner (9pm), leaving James up. Afterward we swung by the Krispy Kreme drive-through, drove around a bit and returned home around 11pm. And... I smelled smoke. In the hallway... stronger at one end than another, which together with the kind of smell (more like burning paper, than wood) caused me to think it wasn't a neighbor's fireplace.

The nursery door... was closed.

I went in, there was much more smoke, looked up and saw yellow coming from David's upper bunk, leapt across, I struggled to grab the quilt (which I thought was on fire )and pull it and David down and apart.

It was smoldering, but not aflame. A light -- a wall sconce -- had fallen down off of the wall and on to his blankets, and the heat of the bulb had burned/melted through two charred holes eight inches across. What I'd thought were flames was the light from the bulb. I'm thankful for the 1970s laws that mandated flame-retardant materials and treatments for children's bedding -- the charred quilt was a old toddler-era Peter Rabbit cover that we hadn't gotten around to replacing. Had it burst into flames, David would at the least have been badly burned, and the whole house might have gone up (we have mahogany wood panelling on the walls, not plaster).

James was aghast and ashamed, blaming himself... he'd blithely assumed a neighbor's wood-burning fireplace was the cause, and hadn't looked into his brothers' bedroom. I'm glad that Pat and I weren't out longer on our date!

Comments

[hot-turkey.livejournal.com]

Wow. So glad to hear you're all ok. *hugs*

When I first moved to San Francisco in 1974, the house I lived in almost caught on fire because the guy downstairs fell asleep with a space heater much too close to a foam mattress. We smelled smoke, broke in, put out the mattress, and got him out of the toxic cloud that was filling the room, but it was a near thing. Scary.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks! We've likewise moved them out of their bedroom for the night.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Wow, I'm really glad for you all, and I know that you will reassure James that it's not his fault -- accidents happen. I'm so so so so so so happy no one was hurt.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

On closer inspection, David may have pulled the sconce off of the wall, and himself put it under his blanket in order to read without being detected by James (likewise the closed door). Then fell asleep with it still lit...

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Poor kid! I can sure remember MANY nights as a kid when I sneaked a read under the blanket.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Probably with a flashlight, though, not a 100W light fixture?

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Oh, sure!

(Though I could probably list you dozens of other errors in judgment that I perpetrated on myself and those around me when I was that age. Oy. It's a wonder I lived this long.)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(nods) It is easy to get to a despondent-parent, "how can I ever anticipate every danger to my kids?" state, after stuff like this happens. But, well, one can't. IMO, it's a bit like workplace safety... I just hope that I set up enough safeguards and good practices to catch minor problems before they become major ones.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

Yeah, exactly. There's this weird thing with individuation. I mean, I still feel terrible about the time my kid was bitten by a dog when I wasn't there to protect him. But then again, I'm so happy that he dealt with it, did what he could to help himself, and came out of it without being terrified of dogs. Now he knows he can deal with some really scary stuff without a grown-up to save him, but I still wish I'd been there to save him, you know? And I *know* my mom feels the same way about the time I was stabbed when she was a block away, asleep in her bed.

[elgecko.livejournal.com]

Oh, I did it with a 60W. Boneheaded move and I'm lucky I didn't trigger something like this. I am so happy to hear everything turned out all right!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks... here, it didn't help that the shade had come off, so it was bare-bulb-on-cloth.

[spicy-turkey.livejournal.com]

Whoa! I'm sure glad to hear things are ok. Very scary. HUGS.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(hug) appreciated. :)

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Scary. Glad you're all okay.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

A bit unsettling... I think that patgreene was more shaken.

[archway.livejournal.com]

Good heavens...!~stunned!~

I'm thankful for the 1970s laws that mandated flame-retardant materials and treatments for children's bedding -- the charred quilt was a old toddler-era Peter Rabbit cover that we hadn't gotten around to replacing.

See, even procrastination can be a very good thing...~S~

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

LOL... yes. Had we been well-organized and stylish and gotten them new adult or teen-styled bedding, instead of the worn and frayed Peter Rabbit preschool quilt (for a 12-year-old...), we might have had much worse problems. So our procrastination and economizing were beneficial, here! :)

[trinker.livejournal.com]

WHEW!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(nods fervently)

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that everyone is okay.

I really like the idea of flame-retardent quilts, and I'm going to look for one.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Adult bedding is not required to be treated or constructed to the same flame-retardant standards as for children's bedding (and pajamas), so one has to look for it specifically and pay a bit more.

OTOH, it should be a requirement in smokers' households...

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

Oh gods. Thank goodness he's ok. That they're all ok. Really, James probably couldn't have known and being 16 doesn't necessarily have the life experience/knowledge to know. Poor guy. Poor all of them. Oh I'm so glad they're ok. *hugs*

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

It was *scary*... we could have lost all of them, had things gone differently. I've tried to reassure James.

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

Oh I can only imagine. Well, actually, I can know. We were living in Burns, OR (often the coldest spot in the nation) and we had an oil furnace. We awoke in the middle of the night to the fire alarm going off and we could see bright orange and red and smoke and we had two babies at the time......turned out that one of us had left the box of matches on top of the furnace and it had gotten hot enough to ignite them. They would have done nothing but smoke damage, thank God, but man was that scary!!!!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Speaking of smoke damage... know of any good ways to get rid of the lingering smell? All of the actual smoke is long-since aired out of the kids' room, but it still reeks in there.

[deedeebythebay.livejournal.com]

Wash everything. Wipe down the walls. Open the windows. Use a spray with a "pretty" smell that everyone can tolerate (or better yet like) and spray the mattress and carpet. Often places like Trader Joes, Berkeley Bowl and/or Rainbow have natural products that are good at getting rid of the .... chemicals (?) .... that are left that are causing the odor.

That, and time.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

This means that David and Kevin will actually have to clean out and pick up their room, in order to *see* the carpet... not a bad thing. ;)

[shadopanther.livejournal.com]

Freebreeze is also good at getting rid of odors (eg: spraying on a mattress).

I am very glad to read that no one was hurt and you were able to rescue the situation in time!!

*hugs*

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

Yikes. I'm glad everyone is okay.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks... the house is a bit smoky, and we're still a bit unsettled, but we're going to be OK.

!!!

[charlottesmtms.livejournal.com]

Poor James ... twas not his fault - he can't predict everything!

I'm just glad that it didn't get WORSE, and that everyone is okay :-)

Re: !!!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Leaving their bedroom door closed, when babysitting, was a mistake on his part... but nothing else was. And it turned out okay.

[tenacious-snail.livejournal.com]

wow. Scary. I'm glad that everyone is okay. I can totally see why David would want to read...and why James wouldn't have known that the smoking thing was *inside* the house rather than outside.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

David denies that he pulled the sconce off of the wall... so perhaps it just fell down after they were asleep (they often leave it on as a night-light, too). And I can distinguish between types of smoke, but I can't expect James to know that.

[runeshower.livejournal.com]

:-O Oh my gosh!!! So glad everyone's okay. *trembles*

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

Oh dear gods... I just now saw this. I am so relieved that all turned out ok... *hugs you*

[dandyloo.livejournal.com]

SO glad to hear that this didn't become a disaster. Yay for flame-retardant bedclothes!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(nods fervently) We will be certain of getting a flame-retardant replacement quilt...

[simplykimberly.livejournal.com]

((big hugs)) I'm SO glad everyone is okay! Very scary! ((hugs))

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

(hug) appreciated.

[flavoroflove.livejournal.com]

Holy God. Things like this are every parent's nightmare. Thank God everyone's OK.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

And one can't anticipate something like this...

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad no-one was hurt, and damages were minimal. Phew!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

A near-miss, apart from the cleanup... :)

[geekchick]

Eek. I'm glad that everyone is okay.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks, dear... I'm still a bit stressed, but you can help me with that soon, if you liked. (hug)

[weirdodragoncat.livejournal.com]

Oh crap! I'm so glad everyone is ok!

I remember sneaking a flashlight in my bed to read past bedtime too (dragonchild42 seems to have picked up on this habit as well). I suppose kids could have worse habits.

*hugs* to everyone!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

A flashlight would have been okay... even a fluorescent lamp, as long as he didn't break it.

[vokzal.livejournal.com]

Yes, lots of hugs to you all!