The phone call you don't want to get
Saturday June 7, 2008
Categories: Family
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...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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Well, ours are hardwired AND have batteries and we check them regularly. (Because they make this obnoxious beep when the battery is low or out, but guessing the non-wired ones won't do that.)
Good advice. And glad that it turned out as it did. Poor little guy.
Ah Rod, we share the bad things happen at the best time cross to carry. This would have been a tragedy on many levels if it had happened when Julie wasn't there or outside involved in something to noisy to hear the detector.
I can't count the times I've had that flat, broke that appliance or tool, etc and so on when mintutes earlier or later would have been catastrophic. The last time I can think of at the moment was a couple of months ago when the truck tire mechanic didn't tighten the lugnuts on my truck after an alignment and rotation. Ten miles later as I was slowing down to about forty I lost both right rears. No one was coming the other way when my outside dual passed me and then lazily crossed across the highway to land in the biggest mudhole available.
Count your blessings, it's what we have to do more and more these days.
"Check the batteries in your smoke detectors"
change them annually or every 6 months which ever makes you more comfortable.
read more here
http://www.ehow.com/how_14126_change-batteries-smoke.html
Rod,
Thanks be to God you all are okay! I know another couple that had a similar situation a few years ago. It's actually one of The Things I Worry About.
Our new house has an annoying feature, the fire alarm talks. When it smells smoke (like when i cook), it beeps and says "fire,fire,fire" in a calm female voice. We call her Halle 9000. I'm so tempted to turn it off when I'm baking bread, but stories like this remind me of how dangerous that could be!
If you have an older house with "knob and tube" wiring, you should have it all replaced, ASAP.
I second the motion on checking batteries in smoke detectors, and on being sure that there are enough such devices in the house, and that they work.
My house fire happened in 2006, when I was on vacation. Some advice as a result of my experience:
1. Have adequate fire insurance - and pay the extra so that you have replacement value coverage, with inflation adjustment. (I did, fortunately).
2. Keep photos of the place, and of your possessions, in a safe place ... off-site. Do the same with an inventory of your possessions.
3. If you have a home computer with critical data, keep at least one recent backup off-site.
Lee
Was the smoke detector locally produced?
Gosh, how scary. Glad you're all okay and that the house wasn't too badly damaged.
I am so touched that your son's first instinct was to save the icons.
I'm sorry that happened to your family. Thank God you are all safe.
That sure can be a problem with older homes. Ours isn't that old (1966) but the previous owner fancied himself quite the handyman. When we first moved in, my electrician father-in-law came over to put in a light and found that the wiring was all cobbled up and very unsafe. He couldn't rest knowing his son's family was at risk, so he re-wired everything. That work doesn't come cheap, but it does seem like one area best left to the pros, outside of a few simple things that the average homeowner can tackle.
Thank God, your alright. I'll bet that drive home, as fast as you could was a pit in your stomach experience, till you found out things were all right. Those smoke alarms really do work. And let us all give thanks to the people who devote their lives, like fireman, and law enforcement, to protecting us. Your house still stands to shelter you another day, and your family is still here to hug.
Would you kindly place a "chip in" icon on you blog so we can help with the re-wiring?
Thank God you and your family are okay! And your home. Because, I know it's just a house, but it's your home. Your blogging family is out here praying for you and yours.
Would you kindly place a "chip in" icon on you blog so we can help with the re-wiring?
I can't tell you how touched I am by your offer. Many thanks. But we are blessed to have the resources to have paid for it ourselves (the electricians just left, and everything is back in order). Again, I thank all of you for your kindness and prayers.
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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