The great fire….

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks.   I have been chastised by a journalist who said to me “imagine if they only published the Irish Times whenever they felt like it” so I have humbly retreated back to the keyboard. In our defence,  as most of you know, we have had a lot going on here, not least of which was our house

going on fire!

The Great Fire (as we have christened it) occured a month ago now when I was home alone, working on the laptop.  I heard a sort of scratching noise which I actually thought was the dog and so (of course, as you do) I ignored it for a while.  After a few moments it seemed to get louder so I wandered into the hall to see if he was locked in the sittingroom.  Approaching the  door of the room the scratching grew louder and seemed more like a crackling noise now.  (Thankfully) I barely opened the door to find the back of the door and the entire room engulfed in flames.  I dont mind telling you that I totally panicked and couldnt even remember how to dial 999 on my mobile.  I have been in scary situations before but this was incredible.  Within a minute or so of discovering the fire the windows blew out of the room so it was all incredibly dramatic.

To cut a long story short 3 fire brigades attended to put the fire out, I had to go to hospital for smoke inhalation, and the dogs, chickens, sheep and horses were all a bit traumatised for a few days.  The firemen were absolutely amazing, they also stressed to us that only for the concrete ceilings and fire doors that we had put in we would have no house left.  It has really brought home to me (and anyone who has seen the damage) the importance of having fire doors.

When forensics called (it was all a bit CSI Miami!) they showed me the door amongst the rubble and the front side was still perfectly intact with a perfect porceline door knob (a couple of blisters on the paint work but nothing major), whilst the other side was burnt black into the middle section of the door.  Without doubt the firedoors saved our house – and my life – so I have been telling all who’ll listen to ensure they put fire doors into their house. Our fire doors were/are F60 grade which means that they will hold back a fire for 60 minutes.  You can also get an F30 grade that will hold the fire back for 30 minutes.

As to the cause of The Great Fire?  We were informed by forensics only this past Saturday that the tv went on fire and was the start of it all.  So turn off the tv, sky box, lights, plug out chargers and keep your doors fully closed etc because you just never know when or where the next Great Fire will occur.