Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Bright Orange Flames

My morning started out on fire - literally - ON FIRE!

It all started when I decided to make oatmeal for breakfast instead of letting the kids start their day off on a bowl full of sugar & chocolate. I started a pot of water boiling and soon smoke started rising from the coils and whatever it was that was trapped underneath. I remembered that a couple of days ago when I had used that same burner, there had been a lot of smokiness then as well. And I had told myself that I really needed to clean up whatever was in there.

I sprinkled a lot of salt on, hoping that would diffuse the smoking and mentally told myself that I REALLY need to get that cleaned up or we're gonna have a fire in here! Next thing I know there was a whooshing sound and flames - lots of bright orange flames under my pot of now very boiling water!

I panicked! Quickly I turned off the burner (I did remember from a video that that is the first thing to do in situations like this - THANK YOU Masterguard!) and then grabbed the phone and called Rick, who had just minutes before left for work.

"Honey! What do I put on a fire - baking soda or baking powder?!" I yelled as soon as he answered.

"What?" he calmly asked.

"Do I put baking SODA or baking POWDER on a fire?" I yelled again.

"Honey, I can't hear you," he calmly replied again.

WHAT WAS WRONG WITH HIM?!?! Our house was about to burst into flames and he COULDN'T HEAR ME?!?!

"THERE'S A FIRE!! WHAT DO I PUT ON IT?!?!" I screamed at him.

He heard me that time. Amazing. But he didn't know either. Baking Soda was his guess.
Panicking, I started looking for it in the cupboard, worrying that if I used the wrong thing, it would all blow up in my face. But Someone was watching out fo rme this morning.

The fire stopped. It just quickly died down. I was SO relieved and thankful.

So, what was #1 on my list to do this morning? I cleaned my stove, top to bottom, inside and out. I seriously think that something had died in my oven!! It was NASTY! And I have vowed to keep up on it now - as soon as there is a big spill it will get cleaned up - I hope. That is my goal anyways!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

ever hear of a fire extinguisher?????

Little Mama said...

AGH!! I would have freaked out!! I laughed while reading. I'm so glad you are all ok and that you have now vowed to keep the stove sparkly. I hate cleaning the stove. I'll check mine today to see if it needs a deep clean. :)