AsktheBuilder.com Issue #1336 (Not Sure!)

April 27, 2025

Dear ,

Survived a Kitchen Fire

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE STORY BELOW as it contains life-saving TIPS for you and all your loved ones.

I received a troubling phone call several days ago. A dear friend of mine was calling.

"How are you doing?", I asked.

"Not good. I was treated yesterday for smoke inhalation," he replied.

"What???? What happened?"

I was soon to discover my friend's house caught on fire. 

Mind you, this is not some ordinary house. This is my friend's childhood home. He cherishes this house more than any other possession he has besides his dear wife.

This house is so important to him, that when I was a pain level 10 with a kidney stone attack up on his second floor and alone, I CRAWLED down the staircase and across the living room floor to unlock the front door so the fire department wouldn't break in.

I collapsed laying across the threshold.

The front door was original and was irreplaceable.

The Dangers of Remodeling

The house was built over 100 years ago. It's a Craftsman style. The kitchen was remodeled probably sixty years ago.

A small island was installed that had an electric cooktop in it. There was also a switch to operate a through-the-wall exhaust fan. I believe there was also a 120-volt outlet in the side of the island.

My friend has been doing lots of interior and exterior renovation over the past few years. The last major thing on the list was a complete restoration of the kitchen.

The cabinets along the wall are original from when the house was built. A crew of workers has been painstakingly working on stripping layers of paint off of them and the original woodwork. My friend wants all the woodwork in the house to be stained.

The work was almost complete and part of the job was to move the island.

This is where the problem started.

Moving the island produced a delayed small arcing short on the 120-volt line. I can only surmise the contractor or my friend thought they had shut off the breaker to this circuit.

Electrical arcing is the same as miniature arc welding that MELTS STEEL. Traditional circuit breakers don't sense there's an issue!

Tip #1: Keep in mind this house doesn't have arc-fault circuit interrupter breakers.CLICK HERE to discover facts about these LIFE-SAVING breakers.

I can assure you that it most likely WILL get them very soon. This simple breaker would have prevented this fire.

Interconnected Smart Smoke Detectors

My friend happens to be an electronics wizard who has incorporated all sorts of cool mesh technology in his house over the years.

My son is using modern switches in his basement remodel that can do countless things depending on how you program things.

All that said, my friend decided to install Nest smoke detectors that talk to one another. CLICK HERE to purchase them.

But wait, it gets BETTER. My friend also owns a smaller house next to his childhood home. He decided to install the same smoke detectors there AND make them work with the primary house detectors.

Tip #2: This decision SAVED HIS HOUSE.

Days before the fire, my friend and his wife had taken a short vacation to get away from the remodeling dust and chaos.

They planned to be gone five days, but cut the trip short by one day. I believe they had to come home to meet some other contractor about some other work.

They decided to sleep in the small home next to the one being remodeled.

The smoke detectors started screeching at 8 AM the following morning.

They jumped out of bed, noticing there was no smoke in the small house. The smoke detector was saying, "FIRE FIRE UPSTAIRS - LEAVE THE HOUSE".

Well, there is no second story in the smaller house.

My friend threw on a robe and raced next door. He looked in the back door and saw FIRE! His wife called 911 to get the fire department on the way.

Fire Extinguishers - A Must-Have

Believe it or not, my friend has four different fire extinguishers in his house. He had one just inside the back door.

As luck would have it, it got moved as part of the kitchen remodel. In the confusion, he had no idea where it was.

His wife went to the front door, rummaged around, and located one that was forty years old!

Tip #3: As impossible as it is to believe, it worked. 

My friend entered the kitchen with the smoke level down to 4 feet from the ceiling. His heart was racing as he was intent on SAVING his house. He put out the fire, but it reignited.

He came out of the house hacking and coughing, His wife then squirted the fire a second time.

CLICK HERE to purchase fire extinguishers for your home NOW.

By then the fire department arrived and took control of the situation.

The fire was contained to the kitchen area around the island.

The Moral of the Story

There are several things to do and not to do if you find yourself in this situation.

1. When remodeling, have a meeting with the contractor to discuss fire safety and electrical work that will be impacted.
2. Have interconnected smoke detecors in your home.
3. Have fire extinguishers and PRACTICE at least once using one. Watch videos on HOW TO USE THEM. Attend a local safety clinic your fire department might hold showing how to extinguish common house fires
4. Think LONG AND HARD about entering a fire to extinguish it. My friend COULD BE DEAD NOW. Why? There was little, or no, plastic involved in the fire. Burning plastic creates TOXIC smoke that can kill with one or two deep breaths.
5. Record videos NOW of all the possessions in your home. Talk in the videos describing what you're looking at. Record all of your clothes.

I could go on and on and on.

Fire sprinklers are but one thing to consider.

I think you get the picture.

You NEVER think it will be you. 

Well, I never thought that in four months TWO of my friends would be victims of fire. As you know, Steve and Karin lost 99.998% of all they owned in the southern California Eaton Fire.

Good luck. I hope you take action on some/all of the items above.

#DoNotComply

Once bitten, twice shy...

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

The BEST Love Story of all time - well, maybe a close second.

That's enough for a Sunday morning.

Peace out.

Tim Carter (PhD, FullyAwakeology)

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Electromagnetic Adventures: www.W3ATB.com

My Pronouns: Told/You/So

Do It Right, Not Over!