Fire and Water

May 7, 2008 will go down in the annuls of our family as the day that our house didn't burn down. Let me set the scene. Carter is asleep in his room and Haley is playing in hers. I am standing at the window with the babies, watching a torrential storm outside: sheets of rain and hail accompanied by lightning so close that you hear the thunder at the same time that you see the light. How much would it suck if my house was struck by lightning and I had to get out with all of the kids? I think to myself. Then I sit down to play with the babies.

Not ten minutes later, the smoke detectors go off. All of them, all at the same time. Are you kidding me? It's really happening! Haley comes tearing out of her room, screaming, "Is the house on fire?" I get up to investigate, and I smell a strong electrical burning smell, so strong that I can taste it in my mouth and it's starting to make me cough. I grab the phone and dial 911. "My house is on fire," I say. Haley panics. She grabs her shoes, screaming and crying, running from door to door, trying to decide from which one to escape. The babies are now crying, scared by all the noise. I go upstairs to get Carter and find that the burning scent is stronger up there and the air looks hazy. Now I'm getting really worried; I'm sure that the house has been hit by lightning and something is smoldering in the attic. Carter starts crying. I'm yelling my address at the top of my lungs into the phone because the dispatcher can't hear me over all the noise. The babies are crying. Haley is crying and screaming at Carter, trying to drag him out of the house. Carter is screaming and trying to resist Haley, because he's only half awake and he doesn't want to go outside into the storm. He doesn't even have shoes on. Since I'm holding both babies and trying to grab some shoes for Carter, I drop the phone and the battery falls out when it hits the floor. At this point, I give up and abandon ship.

So now the five of us are outside in the downpour with no umbrella, Carter still in his stocking feet. Which of my neighbors who speaks English might be home? I have to get the kids out of the rain, and I have to call 911 again before the house gets really damaged. All four kids are really crying now. I notice my neighbors down the street getting into their car, so I start yelling. "STEPHANIE! STEPHANIE, HELP!" Sweet neighbor Stephanie runs over and takes the babies from me and tells her husband to call 911. We all go into her house, shivering, soaking, kids crying. Finally the fire department comes, so I head back over to offer what information I can.

We go inside my house, and now I feel stupid because it has not burned down, nor does it even smell like burning anything anymore. The firemen walk around, checking the attic and the furnace, taking batteries out of screaming smoke detectors. Finally they find the problem: our roof leaked during the storm, causing one of the smoke detectors to get wet and short out. This explains the burning wires smell, and is the reason that all of the detectors went off at the same time. Five minutes after the fire department arrived they are gone, and Chris is pulling into the driveway looking confused about why his house is still standing when I'd just called him to come home because it was on fire.

So ... we had a crazy afternoon. I think that poor Haley may be scarred for life and will probably have relapses every time she hears a smoke detector go off. As for me, I'm just glad it was a false alarm. I thought that I was holding up pretty well during the chaos, but when the firemen found the problem and I realized that everything would be fine, I got dizzy and actually thought that I might pass out. I hope we never have to go through something like that again! And now, I'm going to go and make our neighbors a huge plate of cookies.