What Could Have Been????

Well, this was ALMOST the scene at our house last night. THANK GOD it was not though. Let me explain.....

I had just starting cooking supper and had put some potatoes in the oven. About 20 minutes later, the entire house smelled of gas. I had mentioned to Jeff last week that I thought that our oven might be leaking gas, but this time was worse than the times before. This time I could smell the gas all over the house and not just in the kitchen. So, I called Jeff. He looked up the gas company's phone numbers on their website. But it stated, IF YOU SMELL GAS, CALL 9-1-1. At this point, I was not really sure what to do. Did I really need to do that? So, when in doubt it is always best to call your mother. So, I called her and told her I think my oven is leaking gas. She immediately said, get the kids and get out of your house and call 9-1-1.

Emily of course was very obedient, but Luke was taking a nap and really did not want to be awakened with mommy letting him know that we have to get out of our house because there was an emergency.

So, we went next door and used the neighbors phone to call for help. I think that this is my first and I hope only time that I have had to call 9-1-1. After stating my emergency, they informed me a fire truck was in route to my house and to obviously to stay out of the house.

Within about 5 minutes, many, many MANY sirens filled the air. It was very scary to think that they were all coming to my house. The ambulance was first to arrive, followed by 8 HUGE fire trucks, two police cars, the Battalion Chief, and MANY spectators. I was taken back by the number of people that were at my house. It was quite the scene to see about 10 firemen all dressed in their uniforms, oxygen masks in all, carrying axes and picks ready to enter my house. It was a scene I will never forget. It reminded me of the movie Backdraft!

At about this point, Jeff made it home. There was a police officer directing traffic at the end of our street and he had to let him know that he lived at the house where all of the fire trucks were. Later he said to me, that he never thought that he would have needed to say that sentence to come home.

Firemen soon started to exit my house. One of the men made his way to me and said that they could not detect any gas in the house. I knew what I had smelled gas and even had my neighbor confirm it that she had smelled it as well before I called 9-1-1. I asked them did they turn the oven back on. But obviously they could not, due to the risks.

After some time, the firemen entered my house again and were going to try and turn the oven on. They have an air monitor that would detect if there was any gas in the air. A few minutes later, they came out and said I was right and that there was a GAS LEAK. They had turned the oven back on and as it was heating up their air monitor quickly detected gas in the air. They figured out that one whole side of the oven was not igniting once I would turn the oven on and instead was spilling out gas. So, needless to say this could have been a catastrophic situation. The gas company also came out and looked at everything and confirmed what the firemen had said.

We are SO lucky!! Before calling 9-1-1, I was about to turn the stove on to start the rest of my supper. Thank God, I did not. I can not even think about what could have happened. My dad informed me, just something as simple as the phone ringing, could have made enough electricity in the air to blow our house up. Very scary!

But in the end, we are ok. Luke got to hang out with the firemen and ride in their truck. They were great. They also told me, that my potatoes were probably not going to be done tonight. :)

Since, I was not going to be able to cook we went to eat at Double Dave's. As we walked in, some of the same firemen were there. It was really funny to see them again!! Emily and Luke were glad to see them again and to be able to tell them thank you for saving our house. They were such a great group of guys! I do not think that any of us will ever forget this experience. It could have ended up so much worse than it did. Even though there were no flames to barrel through or doors to kick down, the firemen were ready, ready to save my house. I will always think of firemen a little differently from now on. We were so thankful for everything that they did and were prepared to do. They truly are a special group of people!