Microwave Kitchen Fire

[deeaimond]

Oh dear..., Karen... that is so tragic.

Padre, thank goodness you're safe and sound.

When i first went to the US I was surprised that houses were mostly made of wood. Before I always thought all houses were built of brick and cement like they are here. I can see how much more of a fire-hazard that can be.

[OakLeaf]

wow Pardes, that is really scary. So glad you and the dog are OK... and that you were able to get the fire out and the microwave unplugged without much damage!

[Becky]

Yowza! Glad to hear that you're ok!

I often consider putting in an alarm system for this very reason.....fire monitoring while we're away...

[Tri Girl]

I'm so glad you're OK, Pardes. Very, very scary.

Karen, I'm sorry to hear about the fire that took that poor woman's life.

Fire is indeed one of the things that scares me- whether I'm at home when it starts or not. Scary stuff.

[SouthernBelle]

Oh crap. I have that microwave.

Btw, when they installed it, they told me it wasn't 'code' to hardwire it in.

[Aggie_Ama]

Crap we have the microwave! But I do have an electrician cousin coming for Christmas who likes to help. I might have him take a peek at the wiring to see if any red flags go up. My builder cut any corner they could we are discovering so I wouldn't be surprised. Next house I am going custom and sitting there every freaking day to watch those workers- lol.

[tulip]

Whoa, Pardes, so glad you are okay. What a story! With my kitchen renovation in full swing, I'm sans smoke detectors at the moment. Thanks for the link to the reviews. I'll get some this week. My new micro is not a spacemaker, and the old one I'm using during the renovations is only plugged in when in use.

What was burning--the walls?

It's also important to have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and easily accessible.

[Biciclista]

our microwave would turn itself on in the middle of the night. The famous "intermittent" problem.
I called a guy out on it 13 months after I bought it. He knew it was intermittent, and was scratching his head on how he was going to investigate. He leaned on the top of the microwave (buttons on front) and it went off all by itself, it started cooking. He was really startled, but convinced.

Even though it was past warranty he gave me a script to buy a new one and took the old one out of the house.

I'm glad you fixed your smoke detectors. all those beeps would drive me crazy.
and i'm also glad you didn't suffer a more serious loss this time.

[PamNY]

Pardes, I'm so glad you and yours are okay. What a scary experience. It's good you posted it; safety reminders are always helpful.

Pam

[Mr. Bloom]

It's also important to have a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and easily accessible.

+1 +1 +1 They are not expensive. Give them as gifts to loved ones...they're under $20 on Amazon.

We received two as gifts a few years ago...actually a very thoughtful gift since it's important and we often don't think of getting them for ourselves.

[Tuckervill]

One of my husband's ex-employees was not so lucky on Friday, we learned. Her house burned in the night and she went back in to save her dog, and she perished. Unfortunately, she lived alone, had no children, no other close relatives, and they were unable to identify her. We knew it was her house from the picture in the paper on Saturday, so my husband has the grim task of looking in his records for emergency contacts and getting that information to the police. He tried yesterday, but no one in the police department would take the information until the right person comes in this morning.

My husband has been in touch with the fire chief, and the lady's niece. We read in the paper that they were doing DNA testing to determine her identity since she was unidentifiable, and an autopsy to determine her cause of death (standard procedure). They have asked my husband to see if the company's insurance company will release a dentist's name, if any, for identification.

Apparently the niece, who couldn't be bothered to come 80 miles to help her when she broke her hip (I, a stranger, am the one who took her to the ER after she lay on her couch for 3 days), has already been through the house, took her van, and all the papers they could find. And probably any cash or valuables that may have been there.

Her sister lives in CA and hasn't come out, yet. I guess she's waiting until the body is released from the coroner. Pam wanted to be cremated, so there will be no service here, according to the niece. I'm kind of sad about that. Pam was a hard person to like, kinda. She smoked and smelled like it, and was not attractive and had a smoker's voice, and it was loud and obnoxious. But she had an urge to care for others and always cooked for the employees, even though it sometimes wasn't welcomed, and she thought the world of my husband. She was a bit too needy, and relied too much on some of the guys at work for things she should have had friends or family do, or paid someone to do them. Even so, the employees who knew her might beneift from a service.

The dog was burned, too, but it came out of the house and someone took it to a vet. It lived a couple of days, but it took a turn and had to be put down. Doubly sad that Pam died, because the dog she went back in for was already out of the house. Sometimes it crosses my mind that she may not have wanted to live, really, but that's complete speculation, since I only know her from the outside looking in.

A sad story all around. Thanks for indulging me enough to let me share it here.

Karen