The Adventures of the Reese's Pieces Gang

February 6, 2009
“FIRE!”

Yesterday while sitting in the kitchen I heard Philip screech, “FIRE! Mommy there is a FIRE!” I stood up and looked toward the living room and saw a box of newspapers that had fallen against the wood stove which was in flames. The flames were shooting up a couple feet above the stove. I ran and grabbed the box and shouted to the boys to open the front door. As I was running with the box a clump of flaming papers flew by my head, singing my hair and landed on the hard wood floor. When I exited the front door I threw the box into the snow and ran back into the house to put out the fire by the stove. I beat out all the fire in the house with a cardboard box then went outside to deal with the burning box of papers. There were clumps of fire on the porch against the house and against the railing. I was able to put those out easily, however, the box of papers was burning fiercely and there were several pieces flying off that I had to catch and put out so they wouldn't start a fire somewhere else against the house or in the trees. I shouted for Sam to get me a shovel. With the shovel I was able to throw snow on the fires in the front yard. It probably only took a total of 5-7 minutes for all of this to happen, it was very intense.

I'm so thankful that the kids reacted quickly and obediently to my commands. We had a discussion time when it was all over and I praised the kids for obeying right away and for not trying to handle the fire by themselves. Their quick reactions saved our house, and our potentially our lives. I praise the Lord for the way He gives us strength and the ability to handle emergencies.

So, how did the fire start? We keep a box of newspapers and kindling in the corner by the door in the living room. When I started the fire in the morning I had set the box on the wood pile instead of in the corner. It was a safe distance from the fire, or so I thought. Nathan and Philip had decided to unplug the extension cord for the cordless phone and start swinging it. In their swinging of the chord it pushed the box onto the stove. I had just told them to stop and plug in the phone when the box ignited. It was a good lesson for the kids about how careful they need to be around the wood stove.