Fire!!!

Pop, pop, poppity pop! Everyone in the FH office abandons what they are doing and runs to investigate the noise. The source of the sound is an electrical cord sparking and smoking. Turning off the breaker proves ineffective, so the sparks grow into small flames. In the meantime, chaos takes over. The reactions range from panicking people running around and screaming, thereby adding greatly to the already mounting chaos, to the few, paralyzed with fear, just staring at the flames from a distance, while still others are busy removing vehicles from the burning area. Rather than using the preferred method of using dirt to put out the flames of the electrical fire, it is getting doused in water (for those of you who didn’t take fire safety: electricity + water = a bad thing). In the mayhem, the cord is severed with a nearby broom, putting an end to the excitement. To our surprise we noticed the doctor, from our office, taking people’s blood pressure making sure the fright of the event wasn’t causing serious health problems. I kind of chuckled as I thought this was some sort of joke, but quickly realized that this scenario was taken very seriously.

Now let me bring it up close and personal to an experience two weeks earlier. One morning before work while enjoying a shower I start to notice a strange smell. Mind you, bizarre smells are common in our bathroom, so I didn’t think too much about it. However the smell became much stronger so I quickly rinsed the soap off my eyes to assess the situation. Looking directly up I see my shower head…on fire! Yes, on fire! The natural question that pops into your head is probably the same as mine, how in the world does a shower head catch on fire? Well, hot water heaters aren’t common, so an electric shower head can make a freezing cold shower warm. Anyway back to the shower…I leap out of the shower covered in suds from head to toe hollering for Shane to throw the breaker. My relaxing morning quickly turned thrilling since it’s not everyday there’s an electrical fire just inches above my head and in water at the same time. The wiring in many homes and offices isn’t done by professionals and are wrapped and repaired with little things found around the home. Bad wiring was the culprit of both scenarios, and I’m hoping two fires in one month are all I will be experiencing.