The Fire Part 1: The Night of the Fire
Let me start by saying that I am not posting this in order to elicit any sympathy. Do not think for a second that I feel sorry for myself or that I want your pity. There will be several parts to this "series". The next two will deal with the medical stuff that I went through and the rest will cover the aftermath and the effects of this event in my life. In case anyone ever reads this blog from time to time, it will give you some insight into some of the issues I plan to cover.
I guess the first thing I should tell you is that I lived on the third story in a three story apartment building and that my apartment was next to the back stairwell. My telling you this will make sense later.
On December 21st (the darkest day of the year), 1994, I woke at about 3:20 AM to the sound of a smoke detector going off in the hallway outside my apartment. I used to curse the fact that I'm a light sleeper but in this instance it saved my life. I had pulled the battery out of my smoke detector the week before because I had burned my dinner and I hadn't bothered to put the battery back in. To anyone who ever reads this, always keep the battery in your smoke detector and change it twice a year. When we switch to and from daylight savings time is a great way to remember when to do it. It could save your life.
Anyway, at first I thought it might just be someone else's smoke alarm going off in their apartment. After my sleepy head cleared and I came to my senses I realized that this was not the case.
I went to the door and looked out my peephole. I couldn't see a thing. When I felt the door it was warm and I suddenly realized that I couldn't see anything because the hallway was filled with smoke. I noticed that the smoke was starting to seep under my door so grabbed my phone and sat on the floor. I called 911 and they informed me that they were aware of the situation and that help was on the way. I went back to my door and still couldn't see anything out of the peephole (no surprise). I now heard the fire roaring up the stairwell. I felt the door again and it was hot to the touch. Remembering the fire safety I learned as I kid I knew that this meant that I should not open the door. It was very difficult thing not to panic in that moment. I came very close to freaking out completely and then all of a sudden I felt a calming presence wrap itself around me.
The smoke was getting kind of thick so I went to a window, opened it, and knocked out the screen so I could get some fresh air. The cold December air hit me and I realized that I needed to put something on that was a little warmer. So I went to my closet and grabbed some sweats and got dressed on the floor. I discovered that in an emergency a person can do this in 2.3 seconds.
I went back to my window and saw my neighbor across the hall sticking his head out of his window. It was apparent that the stairwell between us was engulfed in flames. At this point a downstairs neighbor who had a truck with a camper top on it pulled beneath my neighbor's window and he jumped onto it. I found out later that he broke his leg in three places. The neighbor then pulled his truck under my window. There was a problem with this however as the concrete under my window was slanted at a thirty degree angle for drainage purposes. I felt that if I took the leap I'd break my neck which is kind of ironic. I should also admit at this point that I am extremely afraid of heights.
While I was waiting for the fire department to arrive I decided that I needed to grab a couple of things. The smoke had completely filled the inside of my apartment and looked like a roiling black mass. I took a deep breath and ducked back into my apartment (something I shouldn't have done especially as I mentioned before, I know my fire safety). I grabbed my purse and threw it and my car keys out the window. I then did the same thing with some prescription medicine I was taking at the time for an ear infection. I went back in one last time to grab my glasses. I always put them in the same place but I couldn't locate them by touch. I couldn't see a thing during all of this. While in the apartment looking for my glasses I took a breath and got a lung full of smoke, it cost me big time. I came extremely close to passing out. Smoke from a structure fire is practically solid air and it felt like I was breathing in a feather pillow.
Needless to say I went back to the window and stayed there. Even though no flames had entered my apartment it started to get hot so I sat on the windowsill. This didn't last long because I felt my back getting hot. So I climbed out my window and hung from it with my arms on the inside and my armpits on the windowsill. I soon felt one of my arms getting hot. Just so you know how well adrenaline works in a crisis, what I thought was hot turned out to be burned badly enough to need a skin graft later.
So I started hanging from the windowsill by my hands. The exterior of my apartment building was brick and believe me I was desperately trying to find a foothold. I was unsuccessful. After what felt like an eternity I felt white hot pain on both of my hands and shooting up my arms. I also smelled my flesh burning. A smell I'll never forget. The people on the ground were yelling at me to hang on because the fire department had arrived. Please keep in mind that they got to my building in three and a half minutes after the first call and that everything I've told you up to this point happened in this time frame.
I knew given the pain I was feeling that I would not be able to hold on until they got to me. I was at the back of the building and I would be forced to let go before they arrived. Anyone who knows me will tell you in a heartbeat that I don't like being forced to do anything. So I decided to let go. I knew I was going to die (I didn't think it I knew it) and I thought "OK God here I come" and let go. It was one of the most peaceful moments of my life. I fell three stories to the concrete below.
Since I dropped straight down I hit the concrete more or less on my feet but tilted back at about a twenty degree angle. I expected that when I hit there would be some kind of crunch/splat combination happening. FYI, humans bounce. I bounced once and landed on my ass and then I bounced again and landed on my back.
As I was lying there my first thought was, "Oh God, I'm alive!" My second thought was, "Oh shit I'm awake!" I knew that I shouldn't try and get up, not that I felt like it. I did raise my arms to look at my hands. They were charred black and smoking. A cop who was nearby told me to lay still, another cop approached me, took off his jacket, grabbed my purse, and used them to stabilize my neck.
And then something interesting happened, my apartment flashed over. A flashover occurs when the temperature gets so hot that the particles in the smoke (which are flammable) ignite and catch fire. The flames still hadn't entered my apartment but the flames in the stairwell and in the apartment below mine provided enough heat for this to happen. I saw a bright white light that turned yellow, then orange, and then my windows blew out. I remember thinking, "Look at the pretty sparkles!" when I saw the flying glass. It's weird what goes through your head in an emergency. Lucky for me the kind officer who stabilized my neck shielded me from the flying glass and I still have my eyesight. It did occur to me that I had just lost everything that I owned but it really didn't matter at the moment. I was kind of annoyed that I had spent the day doing laundry and cleaning my apartment though.
The paramedics arrived and put me in a collar and strapped me onto a board. As they put me on a gurney and rolled me to the ambulance I could see that the entire back of the building was engulfed in flames. I remember keeping my eyes closed in the ambulance because I didn't want to see what the inside of an ambulance looked like. I also remember that it felt like they were driving like bats out of hell.
When we reached the ER I opened my eyes again and watched the lights pass overhead as they wheeled me to my cubicle. I remember being afraid that they were going to drop me when they transferred me to the hospital gurney which is stupid since that is something they do on a daily basis.
The ER staff then proceeded to cut off my clothes. I thought, "Those are all the clothes I have left, and hey that's my favorite sweatshirt!" Then they proceeded to take my vitals and poke and prod me. It was a nasty surprise when one of them stuck a finger up my ass (a reflex test). I yelled, "Hey!"
I was then told by a nurse that they were going to take some x-rays of my back to make sure that I hadn't broken anything (apparently I was yelling that my back hurt when they wheeled me into the ER. I don't remember this but was told about it later) and then they were going to send me via helicopter to a hospital with a burn unit. I live in a small city so it is not big enough for the hospital to have a burn unit. The nurse then asked me if there was anything she could do for me and I uttered the six wisest words that have ever come out of my mouth: "Will you please knock me out!" I had had enough and didn't like how my day was going so far. God bless her, she did just that.
I was not the only person injured in the fire. Fortunately it was very close to Christmas and only a third of the building was occupied, otherwise it would have been much worse. I told you the guy across the hall from me broke his leg. The guy who lived below me dislocated his shoulder jumping from his window. It gets much worse. There was a girl who was visiting her childhood sweetheart. She was staying for just one night and then they were going to go home together for the holidays the next morning. She was burned over sixty percent of her body and had to have both of her legs amputated just above her knees and lost partial use of her arms and hands. Even worse, the boyfriend she was visiting died of smoke inhalation. Smoke inhalation is the number one cause of fire deaths.
Part two of this tale will cover some of the medical side of what happened to me. It will be graphic and gory. If you don't have a strong stomach, don't read it.
I guess the first thing I should tell you is that I lived on the third story in a three story apartment building and that my apartment was next to the back stairwell. My telling you this will make sense later.
On December 21st (the darkest day of the year), 1994, I woke at about 3:20 AM to the sound of a smoke detector going off in the hallway outside my apartment. I used to curse the fact that I'm a light sleeper but in this instance it saved my life. I had pulled the battery out of my smoke detector the week before because I had burned my dinner and I hadn't bothered to put the battery back in. To anyone who ever reads this, always keep the battery in your smoke detector and change it twice a year. When we switch to and from daylight savings time is a great way to remember when to do it. It could save your life.
Anyway, at first I thought it might just be someone else's smoke alarm going off in their apartment. After my sleepy head cleared and I came to my senses I realized that this was not the case.
I went to the door and looked out my peephole. I couldn't see a thing. When I felt the door it was warm and I suddenly realized that I couldn't see anything because the hallway was filled with smoke. I noticed that the smoke was starting to seep under my door so grabbed my phone and sat on the floor. I called 911 and they informed me that they were aware of the situation and that help was on the way. I went back to my door and still couldn't see anything out of the peephole (no surprise). I now heard the fire roaring up the stairwell. I felt the door again and it was hot to the touch. Remembering the fire safety I learned as I kid I knew that this meant that I should not open the door. It was very difficult thing not to panic in that moment. I came very close to freaking out completely and then all of a sudden I felt a calming presence wrap itself around me.
The smoke was getting kind of thick so I went to a window, opened it, and knocked out the screen so I could get some fresh air. The cold December air hit me and I realized that I needed to put something on that was a little warmer. So I went to my closet and grabbed some sweats and got dressed on the floor. I discovered that in an emergency a person can do this in 2.3 seconds.
I went back to my window and saw my neighbor across the hall sticking his head out of his window. It was apparent that the stairwell between us was engulfed in flames. At this point a downstairs neighbor who had a truck with a camper top on it pulled beneath my neighbor's window and he jumped onto it. I found out later that he broke his leg in three places. The neighbor then pulled his truck under my window. There was a problem with this however as the concrete under my window was slanted at a thirty degree angle for drainage purposes. I felt that if I took the leap I'd break my neck which is kind of ironic. I should also admit at this point that I am extremely afraid of heights.
While I was waiting for the fire department to arrive I decided that I needed to grab a couple of things. The smoke had completely filled the inside of my apartment and looked like a roiling black mass. I took a deep breath and ducked back into my apartment (something I shouldn't have done especially as I mentioned before, I know my fire safety). I grabbed my purse and threw it and my car keys out the window. I then did the same thing with some prescription medicine I was taking at the time for an ear infection. I went back in one last time to grab my glasses. I always put them in the same place but I couldn't locate them by touch. I couldn't see a thing during all of this. While in the apartment looking for my glasses I took a breath and got a lung full of smoke, it cost me big time. I came extremely close to passing out. Smoke from a structure fire is practically solid air and it felt like I was breathing in a feather pillow.
Needless to say I went back to the window and stayed there. Even though no flames had entered my apartment it started to get hot so I sat on the windowsill. This didn't last long because I felt my back getting hot. So I climbed out my window and hung from it with my arms on the inside and my armpits on the windowsill. I soon felt one of my arms getting hot. Just so you know how well adrenaline works in a crisis, what I thought was hot turned out to be burned badly enough to need a skin graft later.
So I started hanging from the windowsill by my hands. The exterior of my apartment building was brick and believe me I was desperately trying to find a foothold. I was unsuccessful. After what felt like an eternity I felt white hot pain on both of my hands and shooting up my arms. I also smelled my flesh burning. A smell I'll never forget. The people on the ground were yelling at me to hang on because the fire department had arrived. Please keep in mind that they got to my building in three and a half minutes after the first call and that everything I've told you up to this point happened in this time frame.
I knew given the pain I was feeling that I would not be able to hold on until they got to me. I was at the back of the building and I would be forced to let go before they arrived. Anyone who knows me will tell you in a heartbeat that I don't like being forced to do anything. So I decided to let go. I knew I was going to die (I didn't think it I knew it) and I thought "OK God here I come" and let go. It was one of the most peaceful moments of my life. I fell three stories to the concrete below.
Since I dropped straight down I hit the concrete more or less on my feet but tilted back at about a twenty degree angle. I expected that when I hit there would be some kind of crunch/splat combination happening. FYI, humans bounce. I bounced once and landed on my ass and then I bounced again and landed on my back.
As I was lying there my first thought was, "Oh God, I'm alive!" My second thought was, "Oh shit I'm awake!" I knew that I shouldn't try and get up, not that I felt like it. I did raise my arms to look at my hands. They were charred black and smoking. A cop who was nearby told me to lay still, another cop approached me, took off his jacket, grabbed my purse, and used them to stabilize my neck.
And then something interesting happened, my apartment flashed over. A flashover occurs when the temperature gets so hot that the particles in the smoke (which are flammable) ignite and catch fire. The flames still hadn't entered my apartment but the flames in the stairwell and in the apartment below mine provided enough heat for this to happen. I saw a bright white light that turned yellow, then orange, and then my windows blew out. I remember thinking, "Look at the pretty sparkles!" when I saw the flying glass. It's weird what goes through your head in an emergency. Lucky for me the kind officer who stabilized my neck shielded me from the flying glass and I still have my eyesight. It did occur to me that I had just lost everything that I owned but it really didn't matter at the moment. I was kind of annoyed that I had spent the day doing laundry and cleaning my apartment though.
The paramedics arrived and put me in a collar and strapped me onto a board. As they put me on a gurney and rolled me to the ambulance I could see that the entire back of the building was engulfed in flames. I remember keeping my eyes closed in the ambulance because I didn't want to see what the inside of an ambulance looked like. I also remember that it felt like they were driving like bats out of hell.
When we reached the ER I opened my eyes again and watched the lights pass overhead as they wheeled me to my cubicle. I remember being afraid that they were going to drop me when they transferred me to the hospital gurney which is stupid since that is something they do on a daily basis.
The ER staff then proceeded to cut off my clothes. I thought, "Those are all the clothes I have left, and hey that's my favorite sweatshirt!" Then they proceeded to take my vitals and poke and prod me. It was a nasty surprise when one of them stuck a finger up my ass (a reflex test). I yelled, "Hey!"
I was then told by a nurse that they were going to take some x-rays of my back to make sure that I hadn't broken anything (apparently I was yelling that my back hurt when they wheeled me into the ER. I don't remember this but was told about it later) and then they were going to send me via helicopter to a hospital with a burn unit. I live in a small city so it is not big enough for the hospital to have a burn unit. The nurse then asked me if there was anything she could do for me and I uttered the six wisest words that have ever come out of my mouth: "Will you please knock me out!" I had had enough and didn't like how my day was going so far. God bless her, she did just that.
I was not the only person injured in the fire. Fortunately it was very close to Christmas and only a third of the building was occupied, otherwise it would have been much worse. I told you the guy across the hall from me broke his leg. The guy who lived below me dislocated his shoulder jumping from his window. It gets much worse. There was a girl who was visiting her childhood sweetheart. She was staying for just one night and then they were going to go home together for the holidays the next morning. She was burned over sixty percent of her body and had to have both of her legs amputated just above her knees and lost partial use of her arms and hands. Even worse, the boyfriend she was visiting died of smoke inhalation. Smoke inhalation is the number one cause of fire deaths.
Part two of this tale will cover some of the medical side of what happened to me. It will be graphic and gory. If you don't have a strong stomach, don't read it.
posted by whimsical brainpan at 3:03 PM
15 Comments:
I was a bit luckier in the fire I experienced..
Thank God that you made it. I don't know you, this is the first time that I have ever read your blog, but I am so glad that you are alive. You must be incredidibly brave. I don't know that I would have been as clear headed as you.
I am amazed. Totally amazed. When I came close to dying, I remember being rushed into one room, then another, I remember the doctor saying something about surgery. Then a kind man came to me and said I am going to put you under, is there anything you wish to say. I started telling him a joke about a little bird flying south for the winter..... It was the last thing I remembered until I woke up and the man came back for the punch line. Humor saves your sanity. Thank goodness you are still here.
Wow. This is an amazing story. Sometimes people are just meant to live and share their experiences in order to inspire others. Your blog is cool. I like your writings. I found you on mysiteprofile.com. I'm a newbie on the web and I'm interested in starting blogging. Everyone on mysiteprofile seems like they are pretty obsessed, so it must be fun. Hopefully I'll get some hints and help. See you on there. . .
This is amazing. I am so amazed. I am so glad that I decided to read this. You are so brave, and Im sorry but i found it funny about the pretty sparkles and the anus part.
But anyway, I am awed by your story. This is better than Dan Brown.
Who do you think the calming presence was? Many people experience this during a crisis. Your explanation of your sense of humor still being intact during the crisis is really normal, too. I was in a fatal car accident (maybe one day I'll have the guts to write the whole thing down as you did) and I remember thinking the most inappropriate things were hilarious during the ambulence ride.
Thank you for sharing this; it's not always easy to re-visit these times in our lives with such vivid detail.
I was in a fire as well. This did not happen to me. I am glad you told me about this post.
New fire safety rules affecting all non-domestic premises in England and Wales came into force on 1 October 2006.
A fire risk assessment helps you to identify all the fire risks and hazards in your premises. You can then decide to do something to control them.
Articles Fire Risk Assessments:
1. Fire Types & Fire Extinguishers
2. United Kingdom: Fire Departments
3. New Fire Safety Rules
4. Steps Needed For Fire Risk Assessment
5. Steps Are Needed To Save Lives
6. Fire Safety Engineering
7. Safety Rules: Fire Risk Assessment
Fire Risk Assessments
http://www.fireriskassessment.blogspot.com/
I had no idea. I am going to have a fire risk assessment done asap. Thank you, bonny lass, I am soo glad you made it. ((hugs))
I just found your site via Corky's Log. What an amazing story. I had goosebumps as I read it. I was wondering how it made you feel to go back over this in order to write it here...?
Thanks for stopping by my blog. I keep my email address private because, due to the subject matter f my blog, I need to preserve my anonymity. Maybe if you wanted to answer my question you could do it in a comment here or in a post...?
An amazing story, I'm putting a new battery in my smoke alarm right this minute!
You are a lucky woman! I am very glad that you survived. I am in NC too.
Wow! does this bring back memories. December 29th, 1961. No firemen; no paramedics. We drove ourselves to the hospital. I was 13 and the acrid smell of smoke, the heat and the crackle is burned into my memory. I'm so glad you survived and had medical care readily available. (I'll check the medical info later.) Hope you're doing well -- Bless you!!
having read that i feel that you r the bravest person alive. sory i hadnt read The fire before. Now that i have read the first part i cant stop the tear from my eye.
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