March 2, 2008

• Family Problems

  My younger sister and brother-in-law had a rude awakening this morning. They woke up at 5:30 because their bedroom was filled with smoke! My brother-in-law found the source. A power bar overheated and melted the plug to a heater. It also melted the plug to my sister’s bi-pap machine. She has asthma and sleep apnea. When my BIL told her what happened, she unthinkingly reached over to the power bar and pulled on the cord to the heater and unplugged it. Then she unplugged the power bar itself. My BIL in the meantime had went to throw the circuit breaker. Luckily nothing happened to my sister, and the smoke was limited to their bedroom. My sister had to do a breathing treatment right away but everything was good. The house is old and the wiring is probably twenty years old. I think my uncle replaced it when he re-wired the farmhouse my parents live in, back in the 80′s. They have only one outlet in the bedroom and it was not convenient to their current furniture layout so they used a power bar that was supposed to shut off if it overheated. It didn’t. The heater wasn’t even turned on and it also had a safety switch.
  Luckily, they woke up. It could have been so tragic.
  My sister didn’t let it get her down, though. She called the bi-pap supplier and she will have a new one tonight. They are sleeping in their living room tonight and until their bedroom airs out. They went out with our parents and one of my brothers and myself to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary which is tomorrow. Then my sister and myself went to Wally World where I bought her another smoke and fire alarm for their bedroom. They have two others, but they weren’t in that part of the house.
  The house belongs to my parents. I can’t imagine how they would have felt if this had turned out differently.

  • 10:57 pm
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