Microwave Kitchen Fire

[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

[Dogmama]

I'm surprised that the microwave hasn't been recalled yet. I read about it when I replaced my last microwave, about a year ago. The local appliance company said that GE knew about it and had corrected the problem in their newer microwaves. Sometimes it's cheaper for companies to pay off the consumer than to go through the expense of issuing a recall.

I'm glad you're OK Padres. My father died in a fire, so I have an unusually high fear of fire. I don't even allow candles in my house.

+1 on fire extinquishers and check them to make sure they're still charged.