I was sound asleep Thursday night, when I woke up about 10:30 to a loud POP and some crackling sounds. When I got to the living room, I discovered three small fires on my carpet and a shelf that had held an extension cord plugged into a power strip. I was able to blow out the fires but there was quite a bit of smoke in the house, and I was worried that the smoke alarm would go off to notify the Fire Department. I wanted them to know that it wasn’t an emergency because the fires were out so I called the station house and talked to a fellow who said that someone would come over to check out the situation.  

I learned some great lessons on fire safety that I thought I’d share. 

The first lesson I learned when the firemen got there was to call 911. That way the call is recorded and, if the guys in the station house are on a call, someone will answer the phone.  

They discovered that the extension cord (going to the power strip that connected it to the wall outlet) was attached to my electric stove and had shorted out, catching on fire. My second lesson was that skinny extension cords should never be connected to heating elements.

They also checked my breaker box to make sure that it was OK. Lesson three was that it’s a good idea to label the breakers. The middle of a fire is not a good time to figure out which outlets go with which breakers. I learned just recently that, in the past, Federal Pacific breaker boxes were installed in many houses but that they seem to have aged past their prime and can short out easily.

Shortly after the firemen arrived, they opened several windows and doors to clear the smoke out of the house but, after a while, we noticed that none of the alarms were going off and there was a lot of smoke in the house. When checking the alarms, we found that each of them had a notice (in small print) that they needed to be replaced in 2024. Lesson four was to check the smoke alarms to see if the whole alarm needs to be replaced. (I didn’t know that they had expiration dates!)

A movie that came out in 1983, “A Christmas Story,” was a family favorite. It was about a family who relied heavily on extension cords.  We would laugh whenever we watched it because our family also relied heavily on extension cords. Unfortunately, as I discovered Thursday night, there can be a downside to the use of extension cords.  

I was really lucky that this happened at night while I was home! If it had happened while I was at work, the house could have burned down – because the Fire Department wouldn’t have been notified because of the outdated smoke alarms. If it had happened in my garage (where I also use an extension cord) my car could have caught fire. The other place where there were plenty of cords was under my bed! I could have lost a lot more than a few hours of sleep.

We all ended up fine with nothing to show for the excitement except for some black spots in the carpet and scorch marks on a wall; but I have to say that it has been quite a while since my house has been cleaned this thoroughly and I ended up removing all the extension cords and smoke alarms. You might want to check out your own home. It’s a little unsettling to wake up to a fire that isn’t confined! Just a thought.

Becky Gillette is a regular contributor to the Great Bend Tribune.