fire safety

i love fire. i love making fire, sitting around fire, cooking over fire, feeding fire... did i tell you what i got for christmas? fire. yep, our once dark and desolate fireplace now boasts a toasty, homey gas fire with the push of a button. not wood-burning, but that's ok. some fire is better than no fire. 

as soon as the weather breaks, we'll be in the backyard almost nightly with our fire pit, roasting marshmallows and watching teenagers roam the alley. after the baby comes, there will be beer and fire. 

but my love for my fire is not unconditional as i recently discovered when we had the fire department over for a visit. i do not love fire when fire shows up uninvited. (some would argue that cooking a pound of bacon on a sideless cookie sheet and allowing the grease to just sort of drip is, indeed, an invitation to fire but that's neither here nor there.)

it was a weeknight like any other. frozen pizza night. (yes, i do sometimes cook.) the oven was preheating, the boys were in the basement. it was about 6 pm. 99% of the time, davidrussell is home at 6 pm, but tonight of all nights, hadn't even left work yet. i noticed the oven was starting to smoke a little. i turned on the stove fan and opened the back door. i started fanning the smoke alarm as a precaution (don't tell me i'm the only cook that occasionally has to wave a towel at the smoke alarm) and called dr. 

"hello?" 

"hi. are you on your way?"

"i'm packing up now." MERMP! MERMP! (enter smoke alarm)

"ok. i gotta go." 

i wave harder. the smoke alarm stops. but i notice the oven is looking a bit chimney-ish. i look in the oven window and see flames. i'm thinking "ok. that's fire. hmm." then the boys come up from the basement.

"mommy, when's dinner? wow, it's smokey." 

"boys, put your shoes on and go on the porch." 

pause: this part is important. we always think we know what we would do if a situation arose, but then when we're actually in it, we don't always do what we thought we would. i should have immediately called 911, but just an ounce of self-doubt will talk you out of a sound decision every time. i was thinking, "well does this count as a real fire? it's only in my oven." i've known many people that hesitated to call 911 b/c it seemed "dramatic" or "silly." i even wondered for a second if it cost money... crazy. 

ok, so i call davidrussell. 

"hello." 

"the oven is on fire. what should i do?"

"ok. look in the cabinet... there's a fire extinguisher. you'll have to read the directions or look at..." 

"i don't have time for this." click. i dialed 911. 

i grabbed the boys' coats and go on the porch. "put your coats on and go to mr. drew's house. tell mr. drew the oven is on fire." they go. and i decide i'd like my shoes. so i run upstairs and grab my sneakers. while i'm upstairs, i hear my neighbor, drew, downstairs calling "kelly? are you ok?" 

"yes. my oven is on fire." 

"ok. i'll get my fire extinguisher." in the distance we hear sirens. i come downstairs.

"ok, thanks." i'm sort of giggling at this point b/c me and my neighbors love action on our street. i knew they would be peeking out and i'd be like "it's me, gang. i called 'em." 

so i'm standing on my porch and drew comes running back with his extinguisher. with him is sweet newlywed neil, another neighbor, with his fire extinguisher. neil says, "david called me." i say, "ah, that was sweet." now the trucks are coming down the street. i ask neil and drew, "can you even use fire extinguishers on a grease fire?" and as the 3 of us contemplate this on my porch, 3 fire trucks, the fire chief's pick-up, 3 police cars and 2 ambulances gather on my block. drew checks my oven and discovers the fire has burned itself out. the fire chief is on my porch, "is it out?" 

"yes. thanks for coming." 

"no problem. we'll do a walk-through, check things out and set up some fans to get rid of this smoke." 

"thank you."

all of the above took place in about 5 minutes. 

now, i'll mention this was one of those days when i went to the gym that morning and never had a chance to shower and change. so here's me with the "pregnant stale gym" look at 6 pm, and as it turns out, all fire-fighters are hot. and apparently, it doesn't matter if they are 25 or 55, they're just hot. i'm just sayin'... can a girl be prepared to receive guests? put on some mascara or something?

drew and neil stood on the sidewalk with me while the fire-fighters went through my house. sweet Iraeli neighbor, miri, comes out on her porch and calls to me in her adorable accent, "Kelleee, are you ok? don't worry, i deed the same theeng. thees ees why i don't cook french fries."

the fans are super industrial and super loud. the boys were in drew's house with his wife, anita, staying warm. later i heard mac came out and asked the fire-fighters, "is my mommy ok?" they were all very professional and kind. as they were leaving, we stopped one and asked about fire extinguishers and grease fires. as it turned out, neither mine nor neil's would have been safe to use and drew's was so old, it didn't even words on it. 

the trucks left, the "smoke cleared" and i went to drew and anita's house to get the boys. we talked for a bit and then here comes davidrussell. he missed the whole thing. we did all get some birthday cake out of it as it was drew's 30th birthday. 

i could sit in embarrassment over my lackadaisical approach to grease in my oven, but i'm not. on the contrary, i feel pretty excited about what happened. it was a learning opportunity for me, my boys and even my neighbors. we were able to see how we handle emergencies and talk about what to do. and i actually did a few things right as i'll be happy to point out below. 

To Put Out a Cooking Fire in Your Kitchen (from firesafety.gov):

• Call the 911 immediately. 
  
• Slide a pan lid over flames to smother a grease or oil fire, then turn off the heat and leave the lid in place until the pan cools. Never carry the pan outside.
  
• Extinguish other food fires with baking soda. Never use water or flour on cooking fires.
  
• Keep the oven door shut and turn off the heat to smother an oven or broiler fire.
  
• Keep a fire extinguisher in the kitchen. Make sure you have the right type and training. For kitchens, you need Class K.
  
• Keep a working smoke alarm in your home and test in monthly.
  

ok, so all in all, i wasn't a complete idiot. i called 911 semi-immediately. when i saw smoke in the oven, i opened it a couple of times to see if there was fire. i think that might have actually helped fire along. but once i saw flames, i did not open it and i turned off the oven. i didn't bother with the fire extinguisher b/c i didn't feel confident about it and i really felt like it was a bad idea to open the oven door (Spirit thing, for sure). 

some other takeaways:

1. get a cookie sheet with sides (i did).

2. say "no" to self-doubt, especially in emergencies. 

3. never hesitate to call 911. no matter how silly you think it might seem. 

4. if you have Christ, his spirit lives in you. Flesh would have you panic or doubt yourself, but the Spirit will make good decisions. you don't have to have some big conversation inside about what to do. live in the Spirit. 

5. keep making bacon wraps. 

sing it! "be cool about fiiir-ya safety..."