snowboardmandy
08-10-2006, 12:26 PM
Hi everyone,
I wanted to take a moment to post regarding the scary experience I had 2 nights ago. Someone was working on smoking some fish (ahhh one of the BEST parts of life in Alaska, the salmon runs...). He thought the ashes in the smoker were cold so he tossed them in the dumpster on his way out to meet his friends. 20 minutes later, my neighbor ran downstairs, saying "CALL 911 there's a fire in the dumpster!" I made the call while my 2 neighbors got out the hoses. Someone had thrown away an old mattress, 2 pallets, a bunch of grease...it was a bonfire waiting to happen!!! It all went up in flames FAST...if my neighbors hadn't been home with the hoses, the fire easily would have jumped to a car parked not even 2 feet away...and then god knows what after that.
The fumes from the burning mattress were sooo toxic it gave me the worst headache when I was standing out there with the hose. After I called 911, I made sure all the windows in my house were closed, and I covered Obie's cage with a blanket just to make sure none of the bad air could get to him. If I hadn't been home, he could have died from the fumes.
We were so lucky that no one was hurt, the car parked next to it was OK, and that the "neighborhood watch" across the street had the hoses out right away. I am wary to leave my windows open now when I'm not home...what if something like that happened again??
Anyhow, I just wanted to share this story and my relief that all was OK in the end. Obie seems happy as can be...I heard him grinding his beak for the first time just a few days ago! Tyler and I were watching Star Wars last night, and it was SOOO funny listening to him talk to R2D2....
Mandy
I wanted to take a moment to post regarding the scary experience I had 2 nights ago. Someone was working on smoking some fish (ahhh one of the BEST parts of life in Alaska, the salmon runs...). He thought the ashes in the smoker were cold so he tossed them in the dumpster on his way out to meet his friends. 20 minutes later, my neighbor ran downstairs, saying "CALL 911 there's a fire in the dumpster!" I made the call while my 2 neighbors got out the hoses. Someone had thrown away an old mattress, 2 pallets, a bunch of grease...it was a bonfire waiting to happen!!! It all went up in flames FAST...if my neighbors hadn't been home with the hoses, the fire easily would have jumped to a car parked not even 2 feet away...and then god knows what after that.
The fumes from the burning mattress were sooo toxic it gave me the worst headache when I was standing out there with the hose. After I called 911, I made sure all the windows in my house were closed, and I covered Obie's cage with a blanket just to make sure none of the bad air could get to him. If I hadn't been home, he could have died from the fumes.
We were so lucky that no one was hurt, the car parked next to it was OK, and that the "neighborhood watch" across the street had the hoses out right away. I am wary to leave my windows open now when I'm not home...what if something like that happened again??
Anyhow, I just wanted to share this story and my relief that all was OK in the end. Obie seems happy as can be...I heard him grinding his beak for the first time just a few days ago! Tyler and I were watching Star Wars last night, and it was SOOO funny listening to him talk to R2D2....
Mandy