Cappuccino’s Caf?

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***Happy New Year Everyone***

From Cappuccino and Whacky Kiki

Just thought I would drop everyone a line and tell you that we think we have the glitches on this site fixed.  It should be up and running on Monday, January 15^th.

This week’s letter does not have freebies but it does have an important story that I think you all at some point have gone through.  If not, then this might help you to be prepared for it; especially for those families with teenagers like myself.

I went to camp New Years Eve to celebrate with family but my son didn’t want to go.  However, due to unforeseen weather conditions; I was unable to return home until Tuesday morning.  I thought he was staying with friends but he decided to stay home instead and invited some friends to stay with him while I was away. 

I had returned home to find the house filled with smoke, my living room ceiling burned, two kids sitting on the sofa bed, and my son walking around panick stricken.  He told me there was a little fire and it was out.  I told him to go and take his friends outside. 

I ran upstairs, checked the bathroom, noticed flames inside the bathtub and heard the shower running.  I freaked, ran downstairs, told them it was still burning, ordered them outside and called 911.  He said he thought everything was ok and didn’t think it necessary to call 911.  At this point I didn’t even realize that the alarms weren’t sounding.  The fire department and ambulance were here within three minutes.  The captain was a little concerned at the son's actions during this crisis in my absence.  I explained that I grilled him again and again on what to in case of fire but he panicked.  He had mistakenly thought the big water pipes in the basement were the gas pipes and thought if he didn’t remove the flaming object; the whole place would blow up.

• The fire started with a candle in the basement - Even though the candle looks like its out, doesn’t mean that it is.  If you have to use a candle for any reason, make sure it’s completely out and out of the way before going to sleep or leaving the home. 

• The fire alarm woke them up and to his surprise; the pillow was on fire.  He tried to put it out by patting it with his bare hands. - Don’t ever try to put out a fire with your bare hands!! xIf you’re the one on fire, *STOP*, *DROP*, and *ROLL*. 

• I have central detectors but I only had one fire extinguisher and it was in my kitchen.  Unfortunately it was empty. - It is imperative that every house have working fire and smoke detectors and fire extinguishers on every floor.

• He tried to put it out with water but it only made it worse. - Even though it was a pillow, they use chemicals to make this foam and it’s very flammable. 

• He took the burning pillow, ran up the basement stairs, through the kitchen, past the back door to outside, into the living room, up the stairs to the top floor, into the bathroom, put the burning pillow into the tub and turned on the shower.  He thought that putting it under running water would put it out.  It didn’t.  By this time the upstairs was so thick with smoke that you couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t see that the shower was not running directly on the flaming pillow and he didn’t notice that it was still burning.  It didn’t occur to him that he could have thrown it outside and prevented all this. -  This little trip of his could have set the whole place on fire.   It didn’t even occur to him to just throw the pillow out the back door.  If there is a door nearby and it is safe enough to remove the burning object, throw it outside or if you have a fire extinguisher, use it, otherwise get everyone out of the house and go to a neighbour’s home and ask to use the phone to call 911.  Even though you think you put the fire out, you should always call the fire department just to be safe.  The best prevention would have been not to use candles in the first place, especially when there are no adults present.

• He had disconnected the fire alarms because he was tired of listening to the noise.  He opened all the upstairs windows to let the smoke out and returned to the living room with his friends thinking everything was ok but it wasn’t.  He was oblivious to the fact that the fire was still burning and bigger now because there were no alarms to let him know.  All three alarms were off their bases before the fire department got here so we were fined $200.00 for each detector removed. - It is law that every detector be left attached for the firemen to disconnect.  They are there for a reason.  Not only to let you know that there is a fire, but to let the neighbours know so that way they can get to safety just in case. 

We had to go away for a few days while we aired out the house and now we have a whole lot of cleaning and fixing up to look forward too.  There was damage to the bathroom and smoke damage to the rest of the house.  This should keep us busy for a while.  As for my son, he suffered small second degree burns on his fingers of his right hand and he and his friends suffered minor smoke inhalation.  This all happened last Tuesday and I haven’t been able to stop crying because I keep thinking what could have happened had I not come home when I did.  It could have been a whole lot worse. 

Needless to say I will always check for weather conditions before I leave to go somewhere in order to make sure I can get back home or make sure it is a place where my family can all go.  But, if for some reason that isn’t possible, I am taking steps to avoid this mishap in the future.  I am placing fire extinguishers that are fully operational and safety checked right next to instructions with a fire escape plan on every floor of the house.  Teenager or no teenager, I will not leave him alone for any reason without adult supervision or an alternate place to stay.  My son has now become fearful of candles and has asked me to discard any and all candles that I have lying around the house.  I agree.

I hope this little story of mine has made people stop and think.  So from Whacky Kiki and Cappuccino….Be safe.  Be happy.

Whacky Kiki

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NOTE:  for some reason, someone must have hacked into the Soprano voting site and replaced the "vote for Cappuccino's Cafe" with "vote for junk that's free". Please don't let this little hiccup deter you from voting. I checked it out and the vote is still applied to Cappuccino's Cafe. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the loyal members who have graced this site with their votes and kept us in the top 50. Thank you all so very much.

Please vote. We are now No. 27. One vote a day is all that’s required to keep us in the top 25 freebie list and by voting, you promote Cappuccino’s Caf? on the web. Please vote once a day. Thank you.

http://www.soprano.com/vote/frees/151.html

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