Guys, you won’t believe what happened to my sister and I during the weekend. We could have practically been roasted, save for the mercy of God.
If someone told me I’ll be blogging about fire coming from my house right after my previous fire blog post in our compound, I would have found it hard to believe.
Saturday started off chill, we ate good meals, three times, finished our chores early, cleaned the house and by 6, o clock ish, we had retired into the comfort of our beds ready to spend the rest of our evenings watching movies, knowing we could sleep off at any moment.
Around 7, O clock ish, I quickly went to warm the stew, stayed in the Kitchen for some minutes, then took off and went to continue my movie.
Few hours later, I think around 9 ish, we heard a noise from downstairs. It was our darling 13 year old neighbor, Precious. She had a very tiny voice, lol, she still does. She was screaming our names, telling us to check our kitchen. The first thing my sister did, was look at me. ‘Did you switch off the cooker after cooking?’. I was 99% sure I switched off the cooker after I was done cooking but there was that 1% that made my stomach crawl. I thought to myself ‘I couldn’t have left that gas cooker on right?’. Well, we both ran to the kitchen astonished by what we saw.
It was our kitchen guys and it was ablaze!!! We tried to look for where exactly the fire was coming from. We saw one of the kitchen doors burning. Okay, soooo, we have 3 doors in our kitchen. The first door connects you to the living room, the second door connects you to the dining room, but then there is another door, that one leads to an attic. That was the one on fire.🔥
It was just my little sister and I. We were trembling. We both looked at each other in horror, thinking of what to do, because whatever had to be done had to be done fast. There was a generator outside the kitchen window, on the verandah. There was a gas cylinder outside the burning door that leads to the attic.
There were 2 full gases in the kitchen and a gas cooker of course, with a very complicated wiring connection at the beginning of the kitchen’s entrance, but somehow the fire was only circling on that door. It was burning beside our drum filled with water. The drum was burning too, but very slowly, probably because the water inside the drum was slowing it down. We knew we had to quench that redness but the heat, the wildness of the fire and how big it was getting was something we had not experienced live and direct before. We ran in different directions.
I ran to the bathroom to fetch some water from a running tap, while my sister went to grabbed a bucket and fetched water from our drum in the passage where we keep reservoir water for the rainy day. Okay, apparently, we have a lot of drums at home because my parents like to prepare for the rainy days so they don’t ever want us running out of water because of something like power shortage or tank issues. Every Nigerian should be able to relate. Lol.
So, my sis started pouring some water on the door to quench the blazing fire as I followed suit, wondering why I would even consider waiting for a running tap to fill a bucket in such a situation, like the fire was going to wait for me to finish fetching one pale of water.
We poured and poured and poured and poured until the door had stopped burning, thinking the storm was over, not knowing we were just getting started. We could see light at the other side of what was left of the door, thinking probably the fire was coming from the other side, we ran again to see what was going on, but there was nothing happening at the back of the door, guys, absolutely nothing, so where was the fire still coming from?
Guys, lo and behold, by the time security guys had come to help, they saw fire inside the kitchen’s ceiling😭. My sister and I were so focused on the door, we didn’t notice that the kitchen bulb was missing, we didn’t even bother to look up and see some red lights shining in the ceiling covering. If not for security men, we would have quenched the fire in the door and gone back to sleep only to wake up to part 2.
Now they had started tearing down the kitchen ceiling, digging holes in places they saw red light and pouring water on it. I was just begging them, saying, haaaa, yeeh, please, small small, not too much. It was as if they were tearing my soul. Imagine how much money it will take to fix the whole stuff back naaa. They even said they might have to tear down the POP in the sitting room too, to make sure nothing was spreading. In my mind I was like ‘YOU SAY???’. I knew they were just trying to make sure we were safe, but I had already started wondering how much POP will be in this 2023 in my mind.
Later, they went to get fire extinguisher in another house, because apparently, we no get fire extinguisher,😭 so they got it from a nice someone. Whoever you are, thank you o. They started extinguishing the ceiling before you know it, we saw fire fighters in our house. Like I don’t get, who called fire fighters already?😂. Like, I guess everyone is thinking how much their house costs and are not ready for fire to reach their own side so they went and got us fire fighters 😂. Thank you o😂. So guys, the fire fighters were right in my kitchen, making sure every red light sparkling in the ceiling was completely extinguished.
Then again my mom calls my sis and my dad calls me😂. All the way from Abuja!!!!!!!!😂. Who called my parents about this? 😂 Like, even we, the fire victims left our phones and everything as soon as the fire started? Who was busy making all the calls? 😂
Well, guys, my dad spoke to one of the fire fighters who told him about the whole situation. He asked what was the cause, and they said electricity or something. One fire fighter dey even toast me sef, dey try collect my number. Like really? Of all times to shoot your shot, you feel now is the right time? I can’t even see what you look like, if you are even fine sef, with you all dressed in overalls and helmets and boots and face shields and everything. My dad asked how much is his bill and they were like nah, they are working under the government and all, but he still tipped them though. Not my dad being his generous self with every opportunity that presents itself.😍.
I’m pretty sure he would have handled the situation better than us if he was around sha. But we sef try sha.
Okay guys, I know I may be losing focus but fire fighting is such a sexy job. Like they came within minutes and I don’t even know how they passed their long water tank rope thingy to our house but everything happened so swiftly. The fire fighting department in Nigeria has opened my eyes to the fact that some things are actually working in this country and there are people who love their jobs you know.
I mean going into danger zones to risk your life for another is pretty much an heroic behavior and no amount can be used to compensate such a selfless job.
I didn’t give the fire fighter my number though. Lol. There is time for everything. You can’t possibly be expecting me to take you seriously when you’re taking my number in such a critical moment.
I don’t even know how I landed here but I did and I’m just glad your girls skin is still as caramel as ever. I’ve seen what fire does to people mehn and it’s not funny. I honestly don’t know why my blog is just about fire this days. The only fire I want in my life right now is the fire of the Holy Ghost. Can somebody say ‘Amen!.’
They ended up disabling power from just our own house and advised that an electrician come look into the wirings done in our kitchen, the next day, which he did. So this are the things that went bad. Our pipes bursted, our drum which we usually used as reservoir for water in the kitchen, melted. Our door to the attic also got burnt as well as our bulb, dustbin, all the wedding bowls and sieves my mom has been gathering as souvenirs from weddings since the 80s, and some wires that connects our light to the Gen.
To clean up the mess was another thing entirely. Thankfully my big sister’s man came over to save the day. He’s so sweet. My big sister was just standing there like a princess doing nothing while he and his kinsmen were helping us to take out the melted drum, mopping, sweeping and doing everything feminine known to man. Women, I know this is about fire but marry a kind man that loves you o. Someone not just kind in actions but kind in words and thoughts too. If you know that you want to enjoy your marriage, please pray to God to guide you to a kind man that will love you in actions, words and thoughts. Some men are good fathers but terrible husbands, while some are good husbands but awful fathers.
I know it goes vice versa for women too, I mean I just read a story of a woman who killed her baby because she just got a visa and having a baby was going to get in the way, because the visa was just for her. She didn’t like…abort the baby while it was in her womb o. Like she killed the baby when it was already born. I was stunned. You’lld think having to carry a live being in your belly for 9 months and push a human head out of a teeny tiny hole would mean a lot to women and cause an inseparable bond between a mother and child, but I guess we are all wired different and desperation is really a thing, yeah?. Like where exactly are you even running to? If you can’t even afford to take your baby with you to overseas what will be your plan when you get there? Some people think overseas is heaven. Lmao. Better stay in your country where Spaghetti is still like N500. Cook that spaghetti for yourself 3 times and it will still remain. By the time you go overseas and start buying one plate of sphag 5,000, I hope you will still have enough change for the rest of your life.
If you will have to sell all that you have and all that you have ever worked for in this country just because you want to get to greener pastures, lol, I hope you are fully prepared for whatever comes next. You may never find true love. You may never get your dream job, you may never be able recover all the money you spent while trying to get to your greener pasture, you may be forever in debt, you may never be able to unite with your loved ones because of whatever illegal mess you may have to find yourself in. I’m not discouraging anyone though. All I’m saying is desperation is a very ugly place to be mentally and it can affect you from making well thought, logical and rational decisions that can affect your life negatively forever, so y’all be careful out there!
How did I even get here, I was just thinking about the beauty of having a partner who is full of love, which will guarantee peace in a marriage more than anything. I’m not saying if you marry someone you love, or someone that loves you, your marriage will last. It may or may not last. I’m saying if 2 people who are love beings, full of love, peace and kindness in their mind and their thoughts come together, their union is more likely to last, than when light meets darkness or worse still darkness meets darkness. It’s bound to end up in disaster. This is why people who end up in shitty marriages always wonder what went wrong because they both loved each other initially. But human love is shallow and temporary. It’s like a fire on a candle easily blown away by breeze. Love is not enough. Were they kind people individually? If I don’t seek to be better everyday and grow out of my weakness and I marry someone who is just like that, that marriage will turn out shitty for sure and I can only imagine the kind of kids that will be raised in such an atmosphere. I pray I marry when I’m ready and also marry someone who is ready to marry, not just financially, i’m talking about some inside work here. Someone who is full of love will bring you peace. Not because they love you, but because love is peaceful, love is selfless love is everything good and kind and that’s who they are. Now being a love being is intentional. You have to battle between light and darkness everyday. I don’t want to start preaching here today because I’m no preacher, but you need to understand someone’s thought process before you even get involved with people. That will tell you what they are capable of.
Before anyone can love you, that person must have been full of love. You can’t even give what you don’t have. How people take care of themselves will determine how they will take care of you. If I deviate further from today’s topic today one more time, walahi, this blog post will not end today. Just know that marriage is forever and ever and evvvvveeeer, and if you’re like me who is not big on divorce, make sure you are working on being a love being everyday and looking out for someone who is doing the same. If you’re not big on growth and you’re looking for your right partner, okay o. Because I hope when we find the right partner, we ourselves will be equally right for that person. Yes, you could be the wrong one. God no go shame us.
Yooooo. I don’t even know how I got here again. Let’s get back to todays gist joor. So, I spoke to my big sis today and she was like we had an Angel looking over us o. Because what happened could have led to something worse. She was like the fire happened in a strategic place. It just had to be beside a drum full of water and beside a pipe that could easily burst, which caused water to start gushing out uncontrollably in the same axis where the fire was. The window had some cracks too, which means the fire wanted to break open the glass so that it can get to where the generator is and cause havoc but it’s powers were limited due to the position it found itself.
Sooo, while my sister and I were watching movie, a fire that could have grown into something bigger than me was circling in the same position. We didn’t know when the fire started or how long it had been like that and we know that fire spreads quickly. But somehow, due to the restraint of the fire caused by the water in the drum and the gushing pipe, we were able to come out just in time before it got to where the gas was. If it had moved towards the gas there, or generator, there would have been an explosion.
Also, If our neighbors didn’t call us in time, we could have slept off and opened the door of the room later only to realize the entire house is on fire and we are trapped. Mind you, our room has no means of escape. All our windows were created in a way to prevent burglars from coming in, so we could have been really screwed.
Remember our security guard that got roasted the other day. Well he’s back home and I’m glad he’s alive, but you know when you fry dodo and it stays too long and becomes black and burnt, welll…I think you get the mental image of his skin right now. Quite sad. Why he came back to work again in the same historically and mentally triggering place still baffles me. The other day, he still went to buy fuel.
I just give thanks to God for everything and I’m just happy to be blogging to you all from my fire free residence. Of course, we will need an electrician, plumber, painter and carpenter but Alhamdullilhi in the end y’all!
Till I come your way again! Stay safe and careful y’all!!! In all you do, try not to get roasted. I literally mean this. Hopefully, I won’t be posting about fire ever again. Maybe my next post will be about my wedding. Lol. Okay. T for tanks! Buh-Bye!
