1.28.2009

Fire Safety

9 comments Posted by Lizzy at Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Having recently suffered some trauma due to fire, I’ve put together a list of a few things that are highly flammable that some of us may not be aware of:

  1. Paint fumes: Yeah, I knew they were too, but I didn't realize just how flammable the FUMES are
  2. Flour: many people might assume that because baking soda puts out grease fires, so does flour, NOT SO! Flour will turn a small grease fire into 2nd and 3rd degree burns and possibly even death, very quickly. All those little particles everywhere, including the ones that you breathe in down your nose and throat, those can all burn! NO FLOUR! Two more things: sugar is flammable and never use water on a grease fire. Really gross things can happen to your skin if you do this.
  3. Unleaded gasoline: poor cousin Kevin. When used properly, diesel is great for burning things, NOT unleaded.

So, be aware. Read warning labels.

Last Thursday we got a bunch of frames from DI and some white spray paint and I was going to finally put up some family pictures in our stairway. I've been looking forward to doing this project since I saw it in a decorating book two years ago. I finally had all the supplies, a great location, but by the time we got home it started drizzling. The forecast predicted rain for a week (didn't happen, but I didn't know that then) Well, I was pouting and was determined to find a way to spray paint anyway. So, I got a huge box, lined the bottom with my frames, put it in the corner of our kitchen, and, despite his telling me I should just be patient and not rush projects, blah blah blah, Greg helped me spray paint them.

Now, we lit a few candles, and I was going to leave them burning at a distance so the paint fumes wouldn't get too strong (You know, for the baby). For some dumb reason though, after Greg was done spraying, I decided to bring my candle closer, and I'm just sort of waving it closer and closer to the top of the box when BOOM! A Huge ball of fire surrounded me (fortunately I shut my eyes, but Greg was watching) I ducked and ran to the other side of the kitchen. As quickly as it had come, the fire was gone. No black on my ceiling. The cardboard was untouched, the frames were fine. Greg hurries over, making sure fire is out on his way, and then takes one look at me and says "YOUR HAIR!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO YOUR HAIR!!!" Well, I was already shook up, but that pretty much did it for me.

I burst into tears and ran upstairs to see just what had happened to my hair. Initially it appeared I had lost TONS. It just looked like a frizzy mess of burnt hair. IT was that, but that was just the top layer. When I touched it, gobs were coming off in my hands, and it smelled so bad. Greg helped me wash it (after I realized my hand was on fire, figuratively at this point, and couldn't wash my own hair). After I got out of the shower we realized it wasn’t quite so bad as it had seemed. I lost a good amount around my part and the front of my hair, but not all the way to the scalp. Thus, it just looks like my hair is thinning. So my hair is worse than usual, but I console myself with the fact that it wasn't my best asset to begin with. The sorriest loss, are my eyelashes. The top lashes, as you can tell from the close up, are shorter than the bottom ones. Don’t my eyebrows look nice and trim! I think I might keep them this way… but maybe with scissors next time.



Also, we have access to the attic from the ceiling space in between ours and Pearl's room (the bedrooms are upstairs and around a few corners from where the blast was) and apparently the force or change in pressure , could be that those are the same thing (Greg explained the physics of it to me at the time, but I was more concerned about my hair and hand at that point) ...caused the little door to pop open, and I'm assuming fly up and break when it landed all crooked in the spot where it used to lie nice and flat.

Apparently it takes about 4 hours for the unbelievable pain from a 2nd degree burn to stop. So, it was a pretty long night for me. My forehead, as you can see in the pictures didn't suffer too much. Just some small 1st degree patches all over my face. I didn't even realize that had happened until two days later when I had red, sensitive patches everywhere. BUT MY HAND!!! Labor was the worst experience of my life, but it was a different kind of pain. This though, the 4 hour burning, was so horrible. I mean, I sobbed, and I am not one to cry in pain—at least not as an adult. So, embarrassing as it is to admit how stupid I am at times, if my mistake can prevent someone else from such an experience... it's worth sharing.

 

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