Arnold
Cleared for Takeoff
When is a house like an airplane?
I normally only talk flying on this board, and b/c I now fly so infrequently I am not here all that often. But I feel like sharing.
On Saturday evening we noticed the odor of burning electrical equipment permeating the house, it was on two of the three floors. I worked to try to isolate the problem and was pretty confident that there was no fire, just a power surge that blew out some kitchen appliances, the source of that would become clear later. But I also knew I could not be sure that there was no fire inside the walls. I was being very indecisive about calling the fire department but while considering the options I did get my family out to the porch and I did remove my computer, back up hard drive and critical files from the house. There seemed to be no immediate danger and so I was calm and so therefore were the kidlings and spouse. Truth be told I did not let them see me removing stuff from my office. Even if it didn't get them panicky my kids would be demanding to remove valued stuff from their rooms, that would have been a nightmare.
Then I asked myself, what would I do if this were an airplane. My answer was easy and required no real thought. Even if I did not think there was a fire the odor alone would be enough to terminate the flight. I would not dilly dally like I was with the house, I would not take any risks and so I would declare an emergency, have the flight attendants prepare for an evacuation, land at the nearest suitable airport, be sure that crash/fire/rescue was standing by and if at all in doubt after landing stop the aircraft on or if possible immediately off the runway and evacuate the passengers. If the chief pilot told me I had over reacted I'd not give it a second thought, it would have been the correct thing to do.
My family should get no less from me. I sent the kids and my wife over to her sister's house and called the fire department. They used their thermal imaging equipment to confirm no fire in the walls, I had already shutoff the electrical panel I suspected was causing the problem and after about 30 or 40 minutes of inspecting my house in much more detail than I was comfortable the six firefighters and one police officer concurred with my analysis and left. My wife came home (the kids slept at their aunt's house - thank you) but neither of us could sleep - eventually we were calm enough to sleep at about 2AM. Looking back I probably could have used a shot of vodka, but liquor is never my first thought. The joys of owning a 100 year old house, I spent most of Sunday working with my father-in-law to temporarily rewire the faulty panel and make other repairs. The electrician was here today and will bring it up to code, but we had made it safe and the electrician said he will bring it up to code with not more than an hours work.
I feel good about the decion making except it perhaps took a bit too long to call the fire department. I probably should have called them first and gone trouble shooting later.
My sincere thanks to the Narberth PA volunteer fire fighters who interupted their Saturday evening to help my family and me and to the Narberth police officer, who like all Narberth police officers was a concerned professional doing his job as well as it could be done. All the first responders were exactly what my idea of an ideal first responder is.
When is a house like an airplane? When you think they might be on fire.
I normally only talk flying on this board, and b/c I now fly so infrequently I am not here all that often. But I feel like sharing.
On Saturday evening we noticed the odor of burning electrical equipment permeating the house, it was on two of the three floors. I worked to try to isolate the problem and was pretty confident that there was no fire, just a power surge that blew out some kitchen appliances, the source of that would become clear later. But I also knew I could not be sure that there was no fire inside the walls. I was being very indecisive about calling the fire department but while considering the options I did get my family out to the porch and I did remove my computer, back up hard drive and critical files from the house. There seemed to be no immediate danger and so I was calm and so therefore were the kidlings and spouse. Truth be told I did not let them see me removing stuff from my office. Even if it didn't get them panicky my kids would be demanding to remove valued stuff from their rooms, that would have been a nightmare.
Then I asked myself, what would I do if this were an airplane. My answer was easy and required no real thought. Even if I did not think there was a fire the odor alone would be enough to terminate the flight. I would not dilly dally like I was with the house, I would not take any risks and so I would declare an emergency, have the flight attendants prepare for an evacuation, land at the nearest suitable airport, be sure that crash/fire/rescue was standing by and if at all in doubt after landing stop the aircraft on or if possible immediately off the runway and evacuate the passengers. If the chief pilot told me I had over reacted I'd not give it a second thought, it would have been the correct thing to do.
My family should get no less from me. I sent the kids and my wife over to her sister's house and called the fire department. They used their thermal imaging equipment to confirm no fire in the walls, I had already shutoff the electrical panel I suspected was causing the problem and after about 30 or 40 minutes of inspecting my house in much more detail than I was comfortable the six firefighters and one police officer concurred with my analysis and left. My wife came home (the kids slept at their aunt's house - thank you) but neither of us could sleep - eventually we were calm enough to sleep at about 2AM. Looking back I probably could have used a shot of vodka, but liquor is never my first thought. The joys of owning a 100 year old house, I spent most of Sunday working with my father-in-law to temporarily rewire the faulty panel and make other repairs. The electrician was here today and will bring it up to code, but we had made it safe and the electrician said he will bring it up to code with not more than an hours work.
I feel good about the decion making except it perhaps took a bit too long to call the fire department. I probably should have called them first and gone trouble shooting later.
My sincere thanks to the Narberth PA volunteer fire fighters who interupted their Saturday evening to help my family and me and to the Narberth police officer, who like all Narberth police officers was a concerned professional doing his job as well as it could be done. All the first responders were exactly what my idea of an ideal first responder is.
When is a house like an airplane? When you think they might be on fire.
So I finally go out and drag in the garden hose and stick it in the wall, give it a good squirt. That ought to do it. Wait a minute - it's still smoking.
