May 30, 2006
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This afternoon my brother and sister-in-law had new carpet installed in an upstairs room (beautiful it is, too), and Louis hired Dmitry to help move some furniture.
While the two of them went to collect a piece that had been purchased and was awaiting pick-up, Mary took me in to tell me What Happened in the Wee Hours this morning.
So there they were, peacefully and blamelessly aslumber, when all of a sudden the piercing cry of the fire alarm roused them. As they stumbled out of bed it was to find half the bedroom full of what appeared to be smoke. Mary, sensibly enough, yelled "Fire, fire!"
To which Louis responded, "NO! It's an explosion!"
Mary and I agreed this observation did not actually signify an improvement over her initial assumption.
There the two of them were, blinded by the smoke, coughing and bumbling around, with Mary asking "WHAT exploded?" only to be told "The thing! The thing exploded!"
Fair's fair, it was dark, smoky, noisy....it's not surprising that Louis's vocabulary, usually so robust, failed him at just the critical moment.
The "thing" which exploded turned out to be the fire extinguisher in their bedroom. The plastic top on it split or something, causing the pressurized contents to literally explode out of it, sending a thick powdery "smoke" over all the bedroom and into the rest of the downstairs. Mary had to launder everything in the closets, they had to vaccum the walls, wipe down all the furniture, etc.
Their spring cleaning is officially done.
Did y'all know fire extinguishers could do that? I sure didn't.
Comments (5)
Good heavens what a mess!! I wonder if there is a warning on the fire ext. that this can happen. I'm going to check mine. I wonder what kind it was. And what did they purchase and where was it?? Not enough info, please!!! And thanks for the coverage! My own personal news media.
I did not know that fire extinguishers could do that. But I have seen firsthand what can happen if you drive an antique British sportscar without a fire extinguisher (it wasn't our car, it was a fully restored TR 3 that burnt to the frame because the owner didn't have an extinguisher). We have an extinguisher in the kitchen, the garage, the camper, the TR 4, a small one under the seat of my trooper and I believe one in the husband's truck. Now I shall go look at all of them to see if there's a chance we could have an explosion!!
Mary said this was a Really Cheap one, and the others in the house were pricier, and therefore, presumably sturdier.
Maybe it's the plastic on the top that's the tip-off?
Now that's scary!
According to Dmitry, it was a Five Buck Extinguisher so...don't get those. Pop the bucks for a good one.
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