Might as well go out with a bang. It's my last day of subscription on here, so might as well post about a major life event.
I almost died on Sunday morning. I woke up to a bathroom that had been on fire while I slept. Luckily it had burned out before spreading to the rest of the house. I was the only person home at the time as the roommates were downtown watching the soccer game. I woke up, left my room to find a house full of ash and a thin smog of residual smoke. There was a strong burned plastic smell throughout the house.
I didn't notice that it had originated from the bathroom near my room because it just isn't the first place you think of for a fire to start. I had immediately went to the main floor of the house to check the kitchen, and to check on the dogs. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary there, and there wasn't really any ash noticeable downstairs. So, I went back upstairs and that was when I noticed the bathroom at the top of the staircase had been on fire.
I immediately phoned my roommates/house owners to let them know what had happened. They told me not to call the fire department yet as they wanted to look at everything first, but to keep an eye on things. So, I did just that. When they arrived back at the house, Daren went upstairs to look around, and went to look to see what kind of damage was done in the attic. That was when he noticed that the insulation in the attic was still smoldering. So, he of course called 911 who told us to leave the house and wait for fire trucks.
He wasn't even off the phone and we could already hear the sirens from the fire trucks. Needless to say the response time was very impressive. When everything was all settled the fire investigator told us that with the type of insulation in the attic, this was a typical reaction to this sort of fire. Had we not checked the attic, the insulation would have eventually re-ignited and started a much larger blaze that would have most likely burned the entire house down.
As is we were pretty lucky that we still have all of our possessions, and a house to return to in a couple of weeks. Obviously, we are also lucky that everyone, pets included, were uninjured. By this point in the story, you are probably asking yourself what the hell could have started a fire in the bathroom?!? Short answer, the bathroom fan.
Slightly longer answer, when my roommates left for the day, they had left the bathroom fan on. The house is getting to be a little bit older, so, it's safe to say the fan was pretty old as well. However, it that the fan motor was the culprit in the end. Turns out that the fans vibration, had loosened the marrets to the point one of them fell off inside the junction box. Which caused an electrical short, which sparked the fire inside the fan, almost burning the house down.
And that's the story about how I almost died this weekend. When I have enough money together, I will be re-activating my account, but for now, this is farewell.