A few months ago I noticed a smell of warm plastic coming from the area near our TV. But MisterT could not find anything unusual and he did not smell it either. The next night i smelled it again, but we could not locate it and assumed it might be the drying leaves from my birthday bouquet.
The next night our TV and the light in our living room suddenly turned off and on and off and on again. This time we assumed the problem was caused by a broken bulb in our uplight which then made the fuse jump out. MisterT switched off everything immediately and checked the breaker box, but everything was ok. Weird....
I noticed the smell again and this time could locate it. We had a vase full of chestnuts besides our TV and unfortunately they had started to mold. So we thought the problem was solved: Smelling chestnuts and a broken light bulb.
We went to the kitchen to throw away the chestnuts and wash the vase when the power in the living room went off and on again. At this point we started to panic a bit and MisterT began to move our furniture to check all the power outlets. After we moved the new Billy cabinet, the smell ( that we thought was caused by the chestnuts) got more penetrant and we could hear a buzzing sound.
There was a fire in our wall!!
We did not see any flames but the power outlet cover plate was charred, as well as one of the cables inside the wall. Mister T secured everything and called the electricians emergency hotline to ask if we are save until the next day or if someone had to come here immediately. The electrician said MisterT had done everything right and we would be ok over night.
My dear readers, i am writing about this incident as a reminder. Something like this can happen anytime and we should all be prepared for emergencies, may it be a fire, a natural disaster or a medical emergency.
Please, please, please be prepared!
I have a terrible fear of fire ever since i was a child and no matter where we lived i always created an emergency exit plan with an escape route out of each room, depending on the location of the fire.
Before this incident happened i had also been planning to pack an emergency kit but skipped it from day to day, thinking " Nah, i can still do it tomorrow".
I packed it right after the incident. This is what i included:
- Cash. Not much though, just enough to buy some food and stuff
- Our passports
- An external hard disk drive with the latest back-up of our digital photos and scanned documents.
- Our most important documents: marriage certificate, car documents, registration certificates, phone and electricity company letters and contracts, our rental contract
- Adresses and phone numbers of family and friends
- Spare Car Keys
A few more things to mention:
- make an emergency exit plan for your home and pack an emergency kit for your family and pets
- be sensible to any unusal scents and noises, take them seriously and investigate where they are coming from
- a cordless house telephone is totally useless when the power is switched off! It does not work hence it cannot be used to make an emergency call. Make sure your cellphone always has a fully charged battery to be able to call the police or fire rescue or medical rescue!
- Keep several flashlights at different points in your home and check their function regularly. We have a large one in our living room and a small one besides our bed. Never change their positions!! Everyone in your household MUST know where they and easily be able to find them in the dark!
- same with a fire extinguisher
- install smoke detectors in every room. We had inexpensive ones from the hardware store for several years but they were replaced after smoke detectors had become the law here last year. They are professionally maintained on a regular base.
Invest in high quality smoke detectors. They will save your life!
- have ICE contacts in your phone's adress book! Please read both links to the ICE function and decide which one works best for you:
You can find more detailed lists about emergency preparations here:
So, this is all i can think of right now, hope it helps! Feel free to share your tips how to prepare and what to pack in case of fire.