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Six Sentence Story: Vent

It's been a while since I've joined in the Six Sentence Story link-up, and I've missed it. Much has changed in the past month, and now the SSS is hosted by Denise of Girlie on the Edge. Go over there to read the other participants' stories. This week's prompt: vent.


With five children in the family, the laundry pile never seemed to disappear; and with the exception of the incident of the crayon in the dryer or the infamous cell phone baptism-by-immersion (which, incidentally, though honestly a mistake, was a great way to teach the teens to not trust Mom with the laundry and to take the task upon themselves), washing and drying the clothes remained a constant, humdrum chore. 

Was this the third load of the day, or the fourth? Hamper balanced on one hip, she flipped the switches to turn on the light and the exhaust vent fan, and instantly, the room lit up. 

"Kids, go get Dad from outside and tell him there is a fire and to come here, now!" 

To their credit, they relayed the message quickly; and to his credit, he bounded into the room and quickly extinguished the flames. 

Laundry had never been so exciting as it was that day!





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Comments

  1. Replies
    1. The exhaust fan vent in the ceiling was the culprit. It was quite the experience. Melted plastic from the cover dripped down into the basket of laundry.

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  2. This has to be based on a true story. Nothing can start a fire faster than a dryer, my Sweetie's head professor lost two houses to dryer fires.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I wasn't as clear as I should have been in this story; the fire rained down from the ceiling exhaust fan vent, not from the dryer itself. When I flipped on the switches for the overheat light and the laundry room fan, the fire sparked.

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  3. That was way too much excitement for that day. A perfect memory for this SSS!

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  4. yow. Fires are not amusing. There is this thing about them, an undercurrent that while they might seem contained (or at least, limited is extent) but their capacity to grown and spread.
    Good Six.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I was pretty nervous that somehow the fire was traveling in the wires of the house and that we would end up with a bigger fire than just in the laundry room. Fortunately, the damage was limited to just that exhaust fan.

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  5. Gum in the dryer once here. Yuck. I'm forever washing paper and tissues in pockets never emptied by this Mom. I imagine the fire was a scary thing. The fast action saved the day. I'm pretty sure my husband wouldn't have been home and the kids would have been asking why?

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    Replies
    1. I was impressed that the kids acted without question that time, and it was fortunate that John was home.

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  6. Well that's one way to get the laundry done quickly, just light a fire to it! :-)) I once had a child toss a bright red doll blanket in the washer when I wasn't looking... turning her daddy's white underwear a lovely shade of pink!

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    Replies
    1. I did lose a pair of jeans in the incident, as John grabbed the first item he saw to beat out the fire. I was thinking he would bring the fire extinguisher from downstairs as he came up to the laundry room, but it doesn't matter--I would rather have a standing house than a pair of jeans! :-)

      The need for sorting whites and colors is a lesson that is pretty easily taught--though a hard lesson for those left with pink underwear!

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  7. That could have been nasty. Glad you were okay and you saw it as an exciting washing day. I think I would have had to vent if it'd happened to me. I'm going to remember your method for getting kids to wash their own clothes.

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    Replies
    1. Unknowingly washing that cell phone was amazingly effective! :-)

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  8. Scary! Luckily it was quickly contained and no one injured.
    I have a friend who cautioned me against leaving the dryer plugged in. He learned the hard way, like you, what can spontaneously happen with some dryers. And coffee pots! I always unplug mine after using. Again, someone's story of their kitchen destroyed (when they weren't home) from their coffee pot...plugged in.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do tend to unplug small appliances, though I leave my major ones plugged in all the time. I probably should have added a photo to my story. It wasn't the dryer itself that caught fire; it was the exhaust fan--designed to vent the humidity out of the room, with the square white cover on the ceiling--that burst into flames when I flipped on the switch.

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  9. We had a bird build a nest in our dryer vent one time. Quite the mess. Glad you are back with the SSS crowd, the cool kids missed you.

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