Yellow Wednesday
On Wednesday morning I was eating my breakfast when I smelt a horrible cooking plastic/rubber smell*. It turned out that a latex pillow was on fire in one of the built-in cupboards in the front bedroom**, so we called 999 and got the hell out. Aled was in his pyjamas so we wrapped him in a fleece jacket.
Two fire engines and a paramedic arrived within a couple of minutes, followed by an ambulance to take Aled and me to the hospital. Aled was absolutely fine, thank goodness. But it took three attempts to extract enough blood from his thumb to check carbon monoxide levels.
When we got back home I was very upset by the amount of devastation caused by the stinky yellow smoke - which spread much further than I would have expected and stained everything in the room yellow. Most of H's clothes were covered in black, molten pillow and all the towels and bedding in the cupboard were ruined as well. The sight of Aled's smoke-damaged cot and toys and books made me cry buckets because that is when it really hit home how much worse it could have been if we'd been asleep when the fire started.
In the end, all of the furniture, the clothes, the curtains and the carpet in the room had to be removed but the room still stinks and so does the hall and landing. Fortunately, H managed to close the doors to both bedrooms before calling 999 and our bedroom was relatively protected.
A quick Amazon order got replacement copies of the books sorted, and we got some emergency replacement clothes for H, but everything else will take a bit more time. The loss-adjuster can't come til Tuesday. We've got photos and lists to show the extent of the damage. I'm hoping we can replace the cot with a cot-bed as this will allow more growing room for Aled. We've also been washing all the machine washable stuff that wasn't actually ruined, in order to get rid of the smell. Sadly, Aled's soft toys in his cot were ruined, but we did have a duplicate of his favourite Ted so at least he has something familiar. He is currently sleeping in a travel cot downstairs.
I'm still very upset and this is not helped by the fact that Aled is waking us up at the crack of dawn. (It is not possible to put black-out blinds in the downstairs room)
H has taken Aled to H's mother's place today to give me a chance to rest and do yet more laundry. I know I'll feel better soon but at the moment I feel lower than I've felt in ages.
RuthJ
* the smoke alarm did not go off, despite being in full working order; in the right location and having a reasonably fresh battery! Perhaps it was the wrong kind of smoke?
** the fire was caused by the cupboard door not being properly closed such that the courtesy light stayed on - and unfortunately a couple of extra pillows had been placed in the cupboard the day before
Two fire engines and a paramedic arrived within a couple of minutes, followed by an ambulance to take Aled and me to the hospital. Aled was absolutely fine, thank goodness. But it took three attempts to extract enough blood from his thumb to check carbon monoxide levels.
When we got back home I was very upset by the amount of devastation caused by the stinky yellow smoke - which spread much further than I would have expected and stained everything in the room yellow. Most of H's clothes were covered in black, molten pillow and all the towels and bedding in the cupboard were ruined as well. The sight of Aled's smoke-damaged cot and toys and books made me cry buckets because that is when it really hit home how much worse it could have been if we'd been asleep when the fire started.
In the end, all of the furniture, the clothes, the curtains and the carpet in the room had to be removed but the room still stinks and so does the hall and landing. Fortunately, H managed to close the doors to both bedrooms before calling 999 and our bedroom was relatively protected.
A quick Amazon order got replacement copies of the books sorted, and we got some emergency replacement clothes for H, but everything else will take a bit more time. The loss-adjuster can't come til Tuesday. We've got photos and lists to show the extent of the damage. I'm hoping we can replace the cot with a cot-bed as this will allow more growing room for Aled. We've also been washing all the machine washable stuff that wasn't actually ruined, in order to get rid of the smell. Sadly, Aled's soft toys in his cot were ruined, but we did have a duplicate of his favourite Ted so at least he has something familiar. He is currently sleeping in a travel cot downstairs.
I'm still very upset and this is not helped by the fact that Aled is waking us up at the crack of dawn. (It is not possible to put black-out blinds in the downstairs room)
H has taken Aled to H's mother's place today to give me a chance to rest and do yet more laundry. I know I'll feel better soon but at the moment I feel lower than I've felt in ages.
RuthJ
* the smoke alarm did not go off, despite being in full working order; in the right location and having a reasonably fresh battery! Perhaps it was the wrong kind of smoke?
** the fire was caused by the cupboard door not being properly closed such that the courtesy light stayed on - and unfortunately a couple of extra pillows had been placed in the cupboard the day before