This Guy Almost Needed A New House

Yesterday, we were driving home from the store and we saw this car that was one fire.  Of course Junior had to pull over and see if he could help.  First he made sure the car's owner had called 911, then he helped to keep the flames under control until the fire department got there.  The poor guy who owned the car stopped at his friends house, was inside for a few minutes, and came back outside to find his car on fire.  The homeowner was lucky the gas tank didn't explode!  He would have been looking at new house plans for sure. The kids and I were parked across the street.  I made sure Junior parked the van far enough away that we weren't in danger, but I could still get some good pictures.

The Story

Thursday night, we decided to make some smore's. The kids had already roasted hot dogs over the fire about an hour before, so doing the marshmallows shouldn't have been a big deal.

But not ten minutes after I took this picture:
Junior took this picture:

You see, Brandi's marshmallow caught fire, and Kasi didn't want her to turn around with it and set the tent on fire. So she attempted to blow out the flames, and leaned forward, and in typical Kasi fashion, lost her balance and fell into the fire. Thank God her arm landed on the side of the fire pit and not in the flame, or the burn would have been much worse. But because we were unfamiliar with the area, we asked that an ambulance be called to the park. Because they were told it was a child burned due to falling into a fire, they had medi-vac on the way to fly her to the burn center in Augusta, Georgia. Luckily, they decided that it was not big enough to warrant a helicopter ride. They did say, however, that an inch or two more and she would have been on her way. Instead, they gave us directions to the hospital, and we took her ourselves. (I didn't want to pay the ambulance bill...I know, I'm cheap....but know that if it was necessary, we would have rode in the ambulance for sure) Oh, when it happened, Kasi wanted ice to stop the burn, so I gave her some in a towel. The EMS guy said never to do that, because the ice makes the burn worse. I had no idea!

Here is a shot of Ryan and Boo in the waiting room, probably about 1am.

I think we left the hospital a little after 2am....she fell about 10:30pm. They gave her some lortab for pain, and then cleaned the burn...which means they used tweezers to pick off all the burnt skin. I had originally gone back with her, but when they started that, I had to switch with Junior. I couldn't watch them hurt my child like that, although she insisted that it didn't hurt. I think she was in shock. She didn't even cry when it happened. She just had a look on her face like she couldn't believe that she had done that.

So, you want to see her burn, don't you? Okay, here you go:

I took this about 8am this morning. She ended up with 1st and 2nd degree burns, and they said around the edges in spots it was 3rd degree. This meant that all day Friday, she had to sit and watch the rest of us swim in the lake, because she couldn't get her arm wet. We went to the store and got her some coloring and puzzle books, as well as a real puzzle so she had things to do. We were going to come home a day early, but she wanted to stay. I played cards with her a lot, and we had some girl time.

I am not looking forward to the scar this burn will leave, but I am so thankful that it wasn't worse, because it could have been. She was headed face first into the fire. THAT would have been awful.

So, I have to take her to her regular doctor on Monday or Tuesday...whenever I can get an appointment. Until then, we have to keep it wrapped with some Silverdeen (sp?) cream on it.

Other than this one accident, we had a great time!

Burned!

This first picture is pretty cool. This is where the live wire was touching our driveway. It melted the rocks! Brandi and Kasi each took a piece to take to school tomorrow. That should show you how intense the fire was.

Why My Kids Are Home From School

I got up, as usual, around 5:20 this morning. I sat at the computer, and was checking my emails, when all of a sudden, the power went out. I got up, opened the front door, and all I could see was a glow. I look left, and all I see is fire. Yup, fire! I started screaming, because I couldn't tell what was on fire. Junior jumped up, and ran outside, and I followed. It turned out to be a power line that snapped because it was so cold. (we found out later that it was 7500volts) It was sparking so bad, and we had a line of fire from the left side of our driveway, all the way to the end of the yard along the road. After I calmed down...because I was freakin the flip out...I had the sense to yell for my camera! Yup. always thinking about sharing the story! :) But, these pictures do not do justice to the fire...I could not capture the sparks and the intensity...or maybe it just seemed worse to me because I was scared to death! Either way, eventually they got the power company to turn off the wire, and they put the fire out. By that time I was back in bed, catching some zzz's. I mean, what else can you do in the dark with the power out?