Support Your Local Fire Fighters by the FlyLady, Marla Cilley
You never know when lightning is going to strike. So it never hurts to be prepared! This morning we woke up to see a storm brewing on the radar. At 9:00 am it was just about to hit my sister's home in Chattanooga so I called her to warn her about it. It was a fast moving storm. By 11:00 am it moved into our part of the country.
As the sky darkened we turned on all the lights. Then the fireworks started. We had one clap of thunder and we knew we had been hit by lightning. I don't even think we heard the thunder because the lightning sparked something much worse.
The loud noise we heard was the arcing of electricity within our home. I ran downstairs to make sure Robert had not been electrocuted. We could not figure where the noise was coming from. I told Robert to turn off the power to the house at the breaker box. That's when the generator kicked in. The noise kept going. Robert went out into the storm to turn the generator off.
The noise stopped but we still had smoke and Robert saw the fire at the back of the basement.
He grabbed our fire extinguisher, told me to call 911 and then emptied the extinguisher around the duct work. As I was making the phone call to 911, Michele put the dog leashes on our three dogs and I tried to find the cats. Cats run and hide when there is a commotion. I grabbed the kitty treats and they came quickly. I still could not catch them but Robert opened up the back door and they ran outside to safety.
Michele took the dogs to her car and I closed my computer, grabbed my computer bag, purse, phones and pearls and headed to my car. Robert grabbed his camera and lenses and put them in his car and moved the John Deere Gator out of the garage to make room. By that time our Brevard Fire Department and First Responders had arrived.
We have been blessed! Our Emergency Preparedness action plan worked. I would give us an A+ because we were calm and knew where the dog's leashes were. Everyone is safe! We do have a little damage but nothing major. The house doesn't have that Beautiful Clean smell but it was clean and I was dressed almost to shoes. My foot was soaking in Epson Salt but my shoes were right there. While I was waiting for the fire trucks to leave I called our insurance company and reported the incident.
It was a good thing I was dressed because by the time the Brevard Fire Department left a van pulled up the driveway. It was our local television station, WLOS. They wanted an interview. I had been at the station last week doing a segment on preparedness for their morning show.
When I looked at what time the strike happened I noticed it was my favorite number, 11:11. I know that this is God's way of saying that something good is going to come out of this. I want you to have peace too. Are you prepared for a fire? Can you get out of the house quickly? Can your children hear the smoke alarm in the middle of the night? Do they know what to do when they hear it? Have you tested them? Do you have a place outside to meet up so that everyone can be accounted for? Have you tested your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors? Have you checked your dryer for built up lint? Many home fires start in the dryer. Do you have fire extinguishers on every floor of your home and do you know where they are and how to use them? Can you turn the power off to your home? Do you have a phone that works when the power is off?
We are prepared! I have already replaced the fire extinguisher we used and put new one in Robert's shop. Please support your local volunteer fire fighters! They work hard to save lives and property! I would like to thank my local Brevard Firefighters for being there for us and Michael's Dad, Dan Bennett for working to get our power back on, checking our appliances and wiring to make sure our house was safe.
For more help getting rid of your CHAOS; check out her website and join her free life coaching at www.FlyLady.net , listen to her channel http://www.blogtalkradio.com/channels/flylady show or read her books, Sink Reflections published by Bantam and her New York Times Best Selling book, Body Clutter published by Fireside. Copyright 2009 Marla Cilley Used by permission in this publication.
