It wasn’t until a month ago that I had any experience with house fires.
- I l gained how devastating a house fire could be when it was my own home.
The excruciating part was that the fire was my fault. I was in the basement and I heard a sputtering coming from the oil furnace. The igniter that lights the fire that causes the heat, was sputtering small amounts of gas that was creating small puddles around the igniter switch. I thought it would be harmless if I put some water on the igniter so it would catch fire. By the time I brought the water to the oil furnace, the puddle of gas lit. I was throwing the water at the same time the gas fumes lit and they splashed into small areas. One of those areas was a lot of wood dust and old papers, which suddenly caught fire. Our loft was old, and so were the timbers, and they were the next to catch fire. All because I wanted to keep the fire from spreading, I had destroyed my own home, and almost lost my life and that of my child. I swore that I would never have another gas oil furnace in my home. When my loft was rebuilt, I told the supplier that I wanted electric heat because of the cause of the fire. With electric heating and a/c, I felt much safer. I l gained a lot about how oil and water didn’t mix. I was told that if I called the Heating and Air Conditioning corporation, I would have never had a house fire, and I wouldn’t now be building a new loft with electric Heating and Air Conditioning.