It started, as they say, as a normal day.\u00a0\u00a0Rob was up very early and went out to go hunting.\u00a0 I got up around 6 am, and sat down with my coffee and Hay Day app (what a fun time waster that is).\u00a0 Our three daughters (ages 11, 9, and 9) were up around 6:20 and began their school day rituals – the elder one showered, the younger two lazed around wishing it was Saturday.<\/p>\n
Just before 7, the girls started to get their breakfasts.\u00a0 Typical morning – reheating homemade frozen waffles, getting juice, etc.\u00a0 We noticed an odd smell.\u00a0 An electrical smell.\u00a0 I shut off the heat (it had been a very cold night, but I had turned on the heater a few times that week so it wasn’t that ‘dust on the coils’ smell), and went down to the basement to do a ‘sniff test.’\u00a0 I didn’t smell anything unusual down there, so I went back upstairs.\u00a0 I sniff tested the two upstairs bedrooms, and found nothing odd.\u00a0 The girls were concerned about the smell, so I opened the top portion of the window near the kitchen table.\u00a0 I kept going around the living room and kitchen area looking, and I remember motioning with my hands in the air saying, “it HAS to be right around here, but I can’t find it!”<\/p>\n
I wish I had taken it more seriously right then and there.\u00a0 I keep thinking that if I had, I could have saved more.\u00a0 I could have gotten my cat out.\u00a0 I could have done….better.<\/p>\n
Right after I said that I couldn’t find it (the source of the smell), we saw smoke coming up from the corner heating vent in the living room.\u00a0 The smoke alarms started going off, upstairs and downstairs.\u00a0 I believe that was the point when my cat ran for the basement….his favorite hiding places were all downstairs.<\/p>\n
I told the girls to grab a coat and get outside and get in my truck.\u00a0 It was around 32 degrees that morning, I think.\u00a0 One of them asked, “should we get our shoes on?”\u00a0 Emily, 11, yelled, “NO!\u00a0 We have to GO NOW!”\u00a0 And out the kitchen\u00a0door they went.<\/p>\n
I went to the corner of the living room, and realized that smoke was now also coming up through the vent next to the door.\u00a0 I ran out on the porch and saw that the girls were indeed in the truck, then ran back into the kitchen.\u00a0 I saw flames coming up through the vent in the corner.\u00a0 I said, “oh SHIT” and grabbed the fire extinguisher from beneath the kitchen sink.\u00a0 Thank goodness the use of an extinguisher is simple and ingrained: pull the pin, extend the nozzle, squeeze the handle.\u00a0 I aimed for that\u00a0corner vent, thinking what a mess this was going to be to clean up.\u00a0 I got the flames down, then saw flames coming up through the vent next to the door (both vents were located on either end of the couch in the living room).\u00a0 I started using the extinguisher on that vent; then looked over toward the corner.\u00a0 Flames had come back up and the living room curtains were on fire; it looked like the couch was starting to smoke.\u00a0 I realized then that I could not possibly get this fire out with\u00a0the extinguisher.<\/p>\n
I grabbed the phone from next to the table, called the dog out with me and went out the kitchen door to the porch, to call 911.\u00a0 The phone was dead.\u00a0 I put the extinguisher down and ran back in, and got my cell phone from the kitchen counter and dialed 911.\u00a0 I quickly told the operator my house was on fire, the address, and please hurry.\u00a0 I know I kept saying that…please hurry.\u00a0 Please hurry!<\/p>\n
While on the phone, I went back inside and made it as far as the kitchen table.\u00a0 The black smoke was awful, and was hanging in a thick cloud several feet down from the ceiling.\u00a0 I turned around and got my purse off the hook by the door, and picked up a large\u00a0envelope from the top basement step.\u00a0 It was full of documents I had needed earlier in the week for an appointment, and that I meant to return to the bank safety deposit box: passports, vehicle titles, birth certificates, and so forth.\u00a0 I remember being on the porch, kneeling in the kitchen doorway.\u00a0 Watching the smoke and flames consume our home.\u00a0 I wish I had the presence of mind to call my cat, to try to get him out.\u00a0 But I couldn’t think.\u00a0 It was so awful.<\/p>\n
The 911 operator told me to get away from the house, and when I got to my truck and put the dog in with the kids\u00a0she said that a first responder was on site.\u00a0 There was a woman at the bottom of the driveway, and she told me to move the truck down on\u00a0to the road and away from the house.\u00a0 When I did that, we could see flames shooting out of the corner of the living room.\u00a0 The girls were in hysterics, and I wasn’t any help to them at all.\u00a0 All I knew then was that they were safe, my husband was presumably safe in the woods, and I had my dog with me.<\/p>\n
I’m thinking that was probably around 7:10 am.<\/p>\n
In retrospect….<\/p>\n
I sent Rob a text after I moved the truck.\u00a0 I didn’t call him because my thought process was that he was in the woods, and therefore he wouldn’t answer the phone.\u00a0 But I should have called, so there would have been no question in his mind that the kids were ok, from the first minute.<\/p>\n
It all happens so quickly.\u00a0 Have a plan.\u00a0 It isn’t pleasant to think about something like this happening, but if you talk about what to do ahead of time then you’ll be better prepared to react IF it does happen.\u00a0 No….my going back in the house wasn’t a part of the plan; the plan was to get the kids safe.\u00a0 After that I was winging it – and not very well.\u00a0 It was a stupid move to go back in, but this was our home and I had to do SOMETHING.<\/p>\n
Good Lord, I miss that cat.\u00a0 He was my fat buddy, and I fervently hoped and prayed that he ran back\u00a0upstairs and out the kitchen door, and was hiding someplace.\u00a0 Over the next several days, we searched the barn, we called for him whenever the kids were not with us.\u00a0 Rob and I both so badly wanted Spooker to have gotten out alive.\u00a0 I am thankful that Rob continued to search the rubble until he found Spook.\u00a0 It was such a heartbreak for us, but at least then we knew.<\/p>\n
Our little house wasn’t perfect, but it was home.\u00a0 It’ll be a long while before someplace feels like home to me again.<\/p>\n
I have always loved our daughter’s school – the faculty and staff there are wonderful, and I knew that before.\u00a0 However, that morning several people from the school came to check on us, give us hugs, and encourage us.\u00a0 They genuinely care about our children and our family as a whole, and I appreciate them more than I know how to express.<\/p>\n
So many others also came to see us – neighbors, friends, strangers.\u00a0 All came with condolences, kind words, hugs, and offers of assistance.\u00a0 The amount of support we have received from our community has been amazing.\u00a0 Our kids have all recognized the kindness and caring of our community, and have expressed gratitude to be a part of it.\u00a0 From 9 and 11 year olds, that’s pretty awesome.\u00a0 God has shown us a lot of wonderful things during this experience!<\/p>\n
While we have lost a much loved family pet and all our possessions – we have so much for which we are thankful.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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It started, as they say, as a normal day.\u00a0\u00a0Rob was up very early and went out to go hunting.\u00a0 I got up around 6 am, and sat down with my coffee and Hay Day app (what a fun time waster that is).\u00a0 Our three daughters (ages 11, 9, and 9) were up around 6:20 and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-homesteading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/halfastfarm.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}