jay: (equipped-for-bear)
jay ([personal profile] jay) wrote2006-11-26 11:49 pm

Near-disaster

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 [profile] 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!

[identity profile] brian1789.livejournal.com 2006-11-27 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] deedeebythebay.livejournal.com 2006-11-27 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] brian1789.livejournal.com 2006-11-27 07:35 pm (UTC)(link)
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. ;)

[identity profile] shadopanther.livejournal.com 2006-11-27 09:35 pm (UTC)(link)
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*