Phone rings at my desk yesterday afternoon. It's Julie.
"Our house might be on fire. I've called the fire department. Come home." Click.
When I careened in my Honda around the corner of our street, I expected to see my house in cinders. Fire trucks clotted our street. The house was fine. Firefighters were coming out the front door, drenched in sweat, carrying a couple of strips of burned insulation from the attic. Bad wiring, overloaded on a sweltering day.
We were very, very, very lucky. Spent the night in a hotel last night, because we had no electricity, and it was miserably hot. Sweet little Lucas, who didn't understand that the house was fine, thought we were moving out. He grabbed his icons off his bedroom wall and started to cry. "I'm going to miss this house," he sobbed. No, no, baby, we're just going to a hotel for one night, we told him.
So I'm writing this from the hotel. Julie's at the house with the electricians, who are rewiring the place. This is all going to cost us a lot of money. But: our house didn't burn down. Thanks be to God. And thanks be to the Dallas Fire Department, who got there lickety-split.
My message to you readers: Check the batteries in your smoke detectors. If the upstairs smoke detector hadn't gone off, the fire would have been far more advanced before anybody downstairs noticed it, and we probably wouldn't have a house today.
Really, don't put this off. Check those batteries today. Everything you own, and the lives of your family members, are on the line.
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Wow, thank God everyone is okay. Believe me, coming from a family of firefighters, I know all too well about the necessity of fire alarms. Their importance cannot be overstated.
I'm glad everything is okay and Lucas is back in his loved home. These disruptions are so hard on little kids, and they're so poignantly brave. I'm sure you all gave each other some big hugs. Nice of you to take time out to remind everybody else to check the smoke detectors, too. Mr. Sig checked ours, since I'm a bit laid up at present. He ended up cleaning and replacing the battery for the one in the basement. Thanks! ; )
Once again, the LORD has faithfully cared for the Dreher family. Since school has let out for the summer, I have had the time to peruse your blog looking for updates on your family. And look what I found! Yikes! I'm glad that you and your home are safe. Tell Matthew, "Mrs. Windrick misses him!"
Scary stuff. Glad you and your family are safe and the damage to your home wasn't too serious.
If you had any sense, which is periodically up for review, you'd call be whenever you need local services...in this case re-wiring. I have contacts that are better than Eliott Spencer's black book. For home repair pros. Why dredge the pond when there's a yellow fin in the tub?
Glad this has a happy ending.
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