Why You Treat Me Like a Dog?: Fire in the Hole

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Fire in the Hole

The L.A. Fire Department visited us this evening...

We had noticed this burning smell around our house late this afternoon. I went outside and "sniffed around" and couldn't identify where it was coming from. It kinda smelled like burning plastic, or what I thought was electrical insulation.

I took Bella for a walk and sniffed around the neighborhood. The smell was definitely strongest around our house. I got out my high power flashlight and shined it around the perimeter of our house and saw nothing. I went down into the crawl space under the house, where the furnace is and smelled nothing.

After consulting with Bella's Mom, we decided we had to call someone. But who? This wasn't an emergency, so I didn't want to call 911. I looked in the yellow pages for the non-emergency number and found that in the City of Los Angeles, you're supposed to dial 311 for non-emergencies.

I dialed.

"Hello, this is Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of the City of Los Angeles..."

What, I got the mayor?

"...if this is a life threatening emergency, hang up and call 911. Hola, esta Antonio Villaraigosa, el alcalde de Ciudad de Los Angeles. Si es un emergencia, marcar nuevo uno uno..."

I stayed on the line for ingles. The woman who came on was very nice, and connected me to my local fire station, station 58. The firefighter who came on the line was also very nice, and listened to my story and my fears.

"Why don't you call 911 so they can direct the correct resources to your house."

"But it's not an emergency," I said.

"Just tell them its not an emergency."

"OK."

So, again after consulting with Bella's Mom, I dialed.

"911, what's your emergency."

"It's not an emergency," I said.

I told her my story.

"Hold on, while I connect you to the police operator."

Police? But its just a burnt smell.

I tell them my story.

"Hold on, while I connect you to the fire department."

Wait, I already talked to them, they told me to call you.

"Station 58, what's your emergency?" Voice sounds kinda familiar.

I tell him my story.

It's a different guy. "Fire department will be right there!"

2 minutes go by. A siren in the distance. Bella's Mom looks at me. We sigh.

Engine 58 pulls up in front of Casa de Wanderer, lights flashing. Neighbors are peaking out through their windows. 5 firefighters in full battle gear step off.

"What's the problem?"

I tell them my story.

We walk around the perimeter of our house.

"Smells like candles. Have you been burning candles?"

"Umm, no...."

"Is your heater on?"

"mmmm....yes. But it never smells liike this."

"OK"

Then they bring out the coolest thing. An infrared fire detector!

They scan every wall of my house. They find nothing.

"Sir, we don't think there is anything to worry about. Your house is not burning down."

"So what do you think the smell was?"

"It's a mystery."

Huh? That's it? A mystery. Hmmm. OK.

"Well, thanks for coming out then. Sorry to trouble you. I told them it wasn't an emergency."

"Sure." And they left.

Boy do I feel dumb. If I don't post for a few days, it might be because my house burnt down and I was too embarassed to call... Hasta luego...

- posted by wanderer @ 8:48 PM

Comments:

kinda creepy...But don't you still wonder what it was?

# posted by

cruisin-mom : 2/18/2006 11:02 PM

Don't feel dumb. After learning about a very tragic story about a housefire that killed 4 or 5 children because the fire department couldn't find anything wrong the night before when they were called and came out to a house to investigate and decided that the an unidentified smell was a 'mystery' but didn't seem worried, one should never second guess these things. Always go with your gut. Perhaps if they would have tried a little harder to find it, the fire wouldn't have started a few hours later in the middle of the night and those kids would be alive today, and the mother wouldn't be suffering from internal burns.

Sorry, hope I didn't just freak you out.

# posted by

... Is the Window to Our Soul : 2/20/2006 5:21 PM

No you didn't freak me out. I was worried too and that's why I called the F.D. This was now two nights ago, and the smell is no longer there, so I feel better. We do have wierd neighbors on one side who did an elaborate Feng Shui ceremony when they moved in. It wouldn't surprise me if they were burning some funky candles or incense the other night.

In any case - I'm still vigilant, checked our smoke detectors and reminded Bella (our beagle) that one of her jobs is to alert us if she smells smoke or senses danger...

# posted by

wanderer : 2/20/2006 7:33 PM

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