Fire Safety

Maybe in hindsight it wasn’t such a good idea hiding the lighter behind the fire flue out of the reach of children.

I thought I’d been murdered when it exploded sending pieces (and my dinner) flying across the room.

Home alone for the day I’d lit the fire and just sat down in front of the tele on Saturday with a lazy dinner for one (oven fries) when there was an almighty bang. Ears ringing I gingerly got up and started picking through the remnants of what once appeared to be a lighter, strewn across the lounge and into the nearby dining room.

It was then I became worried as to the whereabouts of the lighter fluid. Still half expecting an explosion I re-familiarised myself with the fire hydrant and stood there, finger on the trigger, waiting.

Between the fire and the last of the sun the room had heated up considerably. How was I to sleep that night knowing there was lighter fluid on the loose in such a hot room? I turned to the every-trusty Google but, apart from a few freaks youtubing themselves blowing up lighters, it wasn’t helpful so I called the Whangarei Fire Station for advice and the man said he’d send someone out.

“Oh it’s really not a big deal, I was just after some reassurance,” I started backing out.

Not long after, the kids came home and at the same time about six firemen descended the r.o.w spilling into neighbour’s properties trying to locate us. What must they be thinking? I wondered. Their new neighbours already setting their house alight.

Some of the men seemed slightly baffled as to why they were there.

“I really just phoned up for advice,” I spluttered.

Luckily one of them stepped forward and seemed to know why they’d been called out. Another used an infrared camera to check the heat radiation before declaring it safe and they began retreating back to the fire engine.

“You were already on duty weren’t you?” I asked their retreating backs.

“No, I was at home having a beer,” smiled one.

“I was at home having a cup of tea,” said another.

I felt like a right twak and almost offered them a beer for their troubles but wondered how they would all fit comfortably in our house, which I’d thought was big until I saw six large firemen in their bulky gear piled into the living area.

Despite feeling like a drama queen, they were good sorts about it and, needless to say, the kids were impressed. It was quite timely actually. Several weeks earlier a volunteer firefighter had come round for an assessment, mostly to show me where to put smoke alarms in our large, multilevel house. He was very efficient and left books, activities and a dvd on fire safety for the kids, which we watched as a family last week. The kids loved it and watched it over and over again all week. That night, after they went to bed, I heard them talking about a fire plan, which we acted out the following morning.

To have real life firefighters in the house, just made their day – that and gobbling up their mum’s scattered oven fries from the floor.

# Fire safety information can be viewed on www.youtube.com/thenzfs