In 2021 I’m answering a list of weekly journal questions. Read about it here.
Write about an incident in your life.
A number of years ago, on an overcast, chilly winter’s afternoon I was cooking dinner. I have no idea what I was cooking anymore, but it was a little smoky. Of course, I hadn’t thought to put the exhaust fan on (I don’t like using it because it’s noisy).
Needless to say, because the house was closed up to ward off the evening’s chill, the smoke alarm went off. Now our kitchen, eating area and lounge room are in a part of the house with very high ceilings. So high that even if I stand on our small step ladder, I can’t reach the smoke alarm (and it’s the sort you can’t turn off by whacking it with a broom). The Hub wasn’t due home for an hour or so.
I opened all the windows and doors to try and clear the air. After 20 (long) minutes, the air in the house was clear, but the alarm hadn’t stopped. By this time I was getting rather demented. As were the Barbarians. I stuck them in the shower, figuring it would drown out the noise, and told them to play in the bubbles.
I kept cooking and doing what I had to, all the while this loud, piercing shriek was ringing above me. By the time The Hub got home from work I was ready to scream along with the alarm. It was a huge relief when there was silence.
The interesting thing about this was that none of the neighbours came to check on the over-an-hour ringing of a smoke alarm. Just as well there wasn’t really a fire!
Have you ever had problems with your smoke alarms?
January 15, 2021 at 11:21 pm
“An incident” is a rather vague thing to write about LOL but wow! What a story!! My parents’ new house had the most sensitive smoke detector when they moved in. Thankfully it has a lovely open floor plan and once it went off, it was easy to open up doors and windows. Or, while cooking, just to close the hall door to limit the smoke that got down there 😂
January 18, 2021 at 12:46 pm
Our living space is open plan with high ceilings and lots of windows and doors… but our smoke alarm doesn’t seem to care, lol.
January 16, 2021 at 8:50 am
Oh man, I hate smoke alarms. Anything will set them off, it seems like.
January 18, 2021 at 12:47 pm
I know! That’s why most of the time it scares me half to death because there isn’t smoke or anything and yet it goes off so I am not expecting it.
January 18, 2021 at 5:41 am
They’re…so…loud!! I once had all of them go off in sequence for no apparent reason. Thankfully, a neighbor across the street who was a volunteer firefighter came over to check on things. I learned that dust can cause it, and because they’re all wired together somehow, they all go off. He asked me which one started first, brought over some pressurized air, and blew it out. Was a fun story to tell my husband when he got home 😉
January 18, 2021 at 12:51 pm
This one isn’t hard wired. But that must have been freaky for you having them all going off. You’d have to wonder if there was a fire somewhere…