Well, I guess it happens to a lot of people and we're not immune. We had a fire in our apartment Tuesday around 3:00 AM. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured. I had the worst injuries, three burned finger tips and a slightly burned bottom of my foot, all 1st degree burns and treated and taken care of. My wife and our girls were treated for smoke inhalation, but no one had abnormal levels of CO (and two of us were in the thick of the fire!). We spent about 6 hours in Hospital Aleman under observation but all the tests came back fine, no worries.
It started in our kitchen. We don't know what caused it yet. The electrician that came out today (a contractor employed by the consortium) at first thought it was a junction box right over the stove (up inside a cabinet) that shorted, but looking at it later he realized it was burned in the fire but not the cause, even though the wires were split and melted (I'm not sure myself, but he says there would be more wire damage - maybe so).
Our oldest girl and I put out the flames while my wife got the two youngest out of the building, before it spread much beyond the stove and immediate cabinets. It destroyed some cabinetry and a wooden curtain that separated the kitchen from the tiny laundry area. Most of the problem is smoke covering the ceilings in the kitchen, laundry area and dining room. The microwave exploded! We think that appliance may have had something to do with the fire if it wasn't the junction box. It's old and had been acting strange lately and is right around where the fire seems to have started, up in a hutch in the cabinets for a microwave, next to where the junction box is.
The electricity failed (I think that's when the wire above either shorted out or burned, depending on whether or not that was the cause). The fire alarm didn't work and was basically melted in the fire as it was near the stove on the ceiling, around the area of the fire. We couldn't see anything in our rooms and couldn't find our cell phones or we would have called the firemen ourselves. There was a lot of chaos in the moments when we realized that there was a fire - no lights, smoke in the hallway leading to the kitchen, etc. But our two youngest, when they made it outside, noticed two policemen on the corner of our block looking up at our apartment and trying to figure out what to do! Our windows were open to circulate air and smoke was already coming out of the dining room which sits against the balcony in front. The youngest went over to them and grabbed one of their hands and started shouting to call the firemen and go get me and our oldest out. She didn't realize we'd stayed behind to fight the fire - she thought we were trapped inside or something. But my wife calmed her down and let them know what was happening.
The firemen got on site in the street about the time our oldest and I got the flames out - maybe 5-10 minutes all told from the moment we realized what was happening. The police had come up before them while they were waiting for the firemen to get there. There were more police on site below by then The whole flame-fighting by our oldest and I lasted about five minutes I think - though it could have been an hour. The firemen did a great job of putting out some smoldering embers, had to break a couple of architectural cement headers along the ceiling that had heated up where the wood forming the frame inside had begun to smolder (they had hand-held heat-sensing devices). They minimized damages, possibly because I was over their shoulder asking them to be careful (which they didn't like, and I don't blame them).
It took about a half hour for the two ambulances to arrive. Our three girls got immediate treatment for smoke inhalation there on the street (well, they put them on oxygen masks). I was back and forth between them in the ambulance on the street and the apartment four floors above while the firemen were making sure everything was cold. Our oldest is an adult, so she was taken with the two minors to Hospital Rivadavia. I'd asked the ambulance to take them to Hospital Aleman, but it was the police downstairs that called the firemen and the ambulance driver told me they couldn't take them to a private hospital because it was a call from a public service officer - seemed strange, but OK. I wasn't real happy about that, but I wanted to get them treatment so I didn't argue.
My wife and I were asked by the firemen to stay behind and wrap things up. They walked the area affected with us and showed us where they'd had to break the cement and why, let us inspect things and make sure we didn't have any issues. They acted quite professional in those terms. However, I noticed a complete lack of any investigative process. They asked us a couple of questions about what we knew, which was quite small. They took some photos for the report and left the apartment with their gear. The police took our names and statements but that was about it.
While we were closing things up and getting clothes and such together for ourselves and the girls to take to the hospital, our oldest calls (we'd managed to find cell phones by the time they left for the hospital and we made sure she had hers). She says they are transferring them to Hospital Aleman. I was surprised. We were just about to catch a cab to head to Rivadavia. She tells me that they have to transfer them somewhere else because Rivadavia didn't have any way to treat patients for CO poisoning, and they didn't even have needles to take blood nor facilities to run the test.
I honest to god don't know whether I believe that or not. I believe that's what they told our oldest. I don't know why they would have told her that if it wasn't true and she is extremely trustworthy. Maybe the ambulance drivers mentioned to the admitting folk that we have HA accounts and had wanted them taken there, and they decided that the girls should not take up public resources if they didn't have to, since they weren't in bad shape. I don't know. At any rate, we got to HA a few minutes before the girls did and they were well taken care of, as were my wife and I as well.
Our oldest really proved herself with me that night, better than anything she's ever done since she's been with us. She stayed with me to fight something that was pretty damned scary for a few minutes there. We got to it when the flames were beginning to run up the face of two cabinets (already burning inside of one, but we didn't know it at that point), and flames were rolling against the ceiling. A nearby water jug had melted from the heat, as had a couple of other bottles of various items on the counter. a couple of glasses had shattered. The microwave had exploded just before we entered the kitchen, glass shattering. It was hot as hell, literally. We could feel the flames like demons. She was clear-headed and resourceful, even though she was scared shitless.
I hadn't even asked her to stay - in fact, I told her a couple of times she should get out of there. She told me later she was terrified and thought about running out to the street with her sisters, but she saw what I saw - if the fire spread it would get out of the kitchen and into the dining room. A whole wall of wooden cabinets - and the wooden floor. Then a wooden wall with wooden sliding doors into the den and the wooden cabinets in there, not to mention the furniture.
She decided to stay and fight with me, even though it may have been stupid for both of us; but we gambled and won.
I'm so damned proud of her I could burst. She was a true hero in every sense of the word.
It started in our kitchen. We don't know what caused it yet. The electrician that came out today (a contractor employed by the consortium) at first thought it was a junction box right over the stove (up inside a cabinet) that shorted, but looking at it later he realized it was burned in the fire but not the cause, even though the wires were split and melted (I'm not sure myself, but he says there would be more wire damage - maybe so).
Our oldest girl and I put out the flames while my wife got the two youngest out of the building, before it spread much beyond the stove and immediate cabinets. It destroyed some cabinetry and a wooden curtain that separated the kitchen from the tiny laundry area. Most of the problem is smoke covering the ceilings in the kitchen, laundry area and dining room. The microwave exploded! We think that appliance may have had something to do with the fire if it wasn't the junction box. It's old and had been acting strange lately and is right around where the fire seems to have started, up in a hutch in the cabinets for a microwave, next to where the junction box is.
The electricity failed (I think that's when the wire above either shorted out or burned, depending on whether or not that was the cause). The fire alarm didn't work and was basically melted in the fire as it was near the stove on the ceiling, around the area of the fire. We couldn't see anything in our rooms and couldn't find our cell phones or we would have called the firemen ourselves. There was a lot of chaos in the moments when we realized that there was a fire - no lights, smoke in the hallway leading to the kitchen, etc. But our two youngest, when they made it outside, noticed two policemen on the corner of our block looking up at our apartment and trying to figure out what to do! Our windows were open to circulate air and smoke was already coming out of the dining room which sits against the balcony in front. The youngest went over to them and grabbed one of their hands and started shouting to call the firemen and go get me and our oldest out. She didn't realize we'd stayed behind to fight the fire - she thought we were trapped inside or something. But my wife calmed her down and let them know what was happening.
The firemen got on site in the street about the time our oldest and I got the flames out - maybe 5-10 minutes all told from the moment we realized what was happening. The police had come up before them while they were waiting for the firemen to get there. There were more police on site below by then The whole flame-fighting by our oldest and I lasted about five minutes I think - though it could have been an hour. The firemen did a great job of putting out some smoldering embers, had to break a couple of architectural cement headers along the ceiling that had heated up where the wood forming the frame inside had begun to smolder (they had hand-held heat-sensing devices). They minimized damages, possibly because I was over their shoulder asking them to be careful (which they didn't like, and I don't blame them).
It took about a half hour for the two ambulances to arrive. Our three girls got immediate treatment for smoke inhalation there on the street (well, they put them on oxygen masks). I was back and forth between them in the ambulance on the street and the apartment four floors above while the firemen were making sure everything was cold. Our oldest is an adult, so she was taken with the two minors to Hospital Rivadavia. I'd asked the ambulance to take them to Hospital Aleman, but it was the police downstairs that called the firemen and the ambulance driver told me they couldn't take them to a private hospital because it was a call from a public service officer - seemed strange, but OK. I wasn't real happy about that, but I wanted to get them treatment so I didn't argue.
My wife and I were asked by the firemen to stay behind and wrap things up. They walked the area affected with us and showed us where they'd had to break the cement and why, let us inspect things and make sure we didn't have any issues. They acted quite professional in those terms. However, I noticed a complete lack of any investigative process. They asked us a couple of questions about what we knew, which was quite small. They took some photos for the report and left the apartment with their gear. The police took our names and statements but that was about it.
While we were closing things up and getting clothes and such together for ourselves and the girls to take to the hospital, our oldest calls (we'd managed to find cell phones by the time they left for the hospital and we made sure she had hers). She says they are transferring them to Hospital Aleman. I was surprised. We were just about to catch a cab to head to Rivadavia. She tells me that they have to transfer them somewhere else because Rivadavia didn't have any way to treat patients for CO poisoning, and they didn't even have needles to take blood nor facilities to run the test.
I honest to god don't know whether I believe that or not. I believe that's what they told our oldest. I don't know why they would have told her that if it wasn't true and she is extremely trustworthy. Maybe the ambulance drivers mentioned to the admitting folk that we have HA accounts and had wanted them taken there, and they decided that the girls should not take up public resources if they didn't have to, since they weren't in bad shape. I don't know. At any rate, we got to HA a few minutes before the girls did and they were well taken care of, as were my wife and I as well.
Our oldest really proved herself with me that night, better than anything she's ever done since she's been with us. She stayed with me to fight something that was pretty damned scary for a few minutes there. We got to it when the flames were beginning to run up the face of two cabinets (already burning inside of one, but we didn't know it at that point), and flames were rolling against the ceiling. A nearby water jug had melted from the heat, as had a couple of other bottles of various items on the counter. a couple of glasses had shattered. The microwave had exploded just before we entered the kitchen, glass shattering. It was hot as hell, literally. We could feel the flames like demons. She was clear-headed and resourceful, even though she was scared shitless.
I hadn't even asked her to stay - in fact, I told her a couple of times she should get out of there. She told me later she was terrified and thought about running out to the street with her sisters, but she saw what I saw - if the fire spread it would get out of the kitchen and into the dining room. A whole wall of wooden cabinets - and the wooden floor. Then a wooden wall with wooden sliding doors into the den and the wooden cabinets in there, not to mention the furniture.
She decided to stay and fight with me, even though it may have been stupid for both of us; but we gambled and won.
I'm so damned proud of her I could burst. She was a true hero in every sense of the word.
