Kitchen Fire

After only 24 hours of living in our brand new house (brand new to us, but a previously owned), we had a kitchen fire. Here's what happened: It was a beautiful Sunday late afternoon and I was beginning to think about what to fix for dinner. We had a leftover lasagna in the fridge Anthony's mom gave to us, so I figured I would pop it in the oven to get nice and warm while the girls and I would hop over to the park for the first time. When we would return, it would be hot and ready to go. I do this ALL THE TIME. So much so, that I didn't even tell Anthony these plans...just went about my business. He was resting, about to get ready to go to his guitar lesson. The girls and I left and the moment we arrived at the park, Anthony called. I picked up the phone and it was him just frantic yelling, "Come home! The oven is on fire!!!" Naturally, I said, "What!?!?! On fire!?!?" "Yes, there are flames coming out everywhere!! I just called 911, come home!" So, I grabbed the girls and we ran home. I could hear the sirens of the fire engines just down the street as I rounded the corner to our little cul de sac, and people had already started to gather, curious as to what was going on. The first thing I remember noticing is the front door to my new house wide open and seeing a haze of black smoke filled halfway to the ceiling and pouring out into the outside air, from both the front door and back door. My heart broke in that moment. What was going on? We just moved in and now our house was on fire? Would we be homeless? Was it something I did to set it on fire? I specifically remember checking if there was plastic underneath the foil, and none. The fire engines arrived, fighters uniformed pulling hoses directly into the house. I started to cry holding my Olivia and watching this unfold before my eyes. She took hold of my face, her little 3 year old concerned eyes looking into mine and her voice quivering saying, "Mama, is the fire going to go out? Mama, why are you crying? Is the fire going to get us?" I turned to see our entire neighborhood just standing around watching and waiting, and I feeling so helpless, like there was absolutely nothing I could do. And there wasn't. The fire was out in 15 or 20 minutes or so, and in the meantime, I met practically all our neighbors, whom were all very friendly, and while I appreciate the gestures, I was too distraught and confused to be present in most of those conversations.

*Sidenote: Can you imagine how bad it would've been if Anthony hadn't been home? Or had left when we did? Again, I, on many many occasions have been away while the oven was on and cooking dinner so that when we arrived home, it would be ready. We literally would not have a house if no one was home. So PLEASE be careful when considering doing this! Another possibly helpful tidbit for you: The fire marshall said 80% of house fires are caused by gas dryers that are drying clothes that have food grease/oil stains on them and they ignite at the high heats.

Anthony said he didn't know what made him go into the kitchen when he did. He said he might have subconsciously smelled something but couldn't remember. He said there were flames coming out of the bottom and top of the oven and he can't believe that his gut reaction was to immediately turn the oven off- just reaching out and touching the knob without even considering if it would burn his hand. He said he remembered it was pretty hot, but didn't burn him thankfully. I had just unpacked our entire kitchen the day before we stayed the first night and so I had seen the fire extinguisher in the very top of the pantry. He however, did not realize we had one. It was two feet to the right of the oven. But, of course, we are just glad he and EVERYONE is safe and no one was injured. Or that it didn't happen in the middle of the night or anything!

Later that evening, we were back at Anthony's parents house, for an indefinite amount of time. A few days later, we opted to stay in a hotel so that we could have our own space and then 2 months later, we were able to move back in and finally make our house a home, with a brand new kitchen (minus the oven, which still didn't come for a month after we moved back in...*note: never do business with AJ Madison). It was so nice to do! I still feel very unorganized and have yet to unpack a lot. I think subconsciously, I want to start fresh and decorate to the decor trends now. I feel like a lot of what I have is dated. We did without all of it for SO long living in the hotel, there is a part of me that just doesn't even need or want it anymore. So most of it is still just sitting in the garage, where I'm waiting to decide if it goes to Goodwill or will stay in the garage. The girls had to share a room in the two bedroom hotel "apartment", so they learned how (after 2 very long weeks) to sleep in the same room. This was a blessing in disguise since I am pregnant with the 3rd and our house only has 3 bedrooms. It was inevitable that they would have to share anyway. So they are still in the same room and it's working pretty good! We are SO glad this is all behind us and now we can move on and concentrate on feathering our new nest! Next post: Kitchen Remodel, Before and After!