Fire in the Hole

So last night the Ron-man and I were watching the second season of "The Tudors" (fabulous show - amazing costuming and set design, not to mention the crazy plot twists and turns) and also enjoying a wonderful fire in the fireplace. Because that's just how we roll.

I think it was shortly after a rather vigorous love scene (on the telly) that we begin hearing a quiet roar. I looked over at the fireplace and could see the little chain that's attached to the damper slowly lowering. The roaring got louder and louder and all of the sudden Ron leapt off the couch - nearly dumping me on the floor, I might add - and started yelling "We have a fire in the chimney! Call 911."

I just sat there.

Ron ran outside and apparently saw flames shooting out the top of the chimney, along with a multitude of sparks raining on the roof. He ran back inside, yelled at me to call 911 again. I calmly handed him the phone. He was now in full panic mode and I was a model of serenity. I think I'm adrenaline-deprived.

Ron told me to go get some water to put the fire in the fireplace out, so I got our purified water jug from the fridge and doused the fire. By this time there was quite a bit of smoke in the house and I could hear the fire engines approaching. They were really quick. The cops blocked our street off - it was quite the scene. I think there were two fire engines and about nine firefighters.

A word about the firefighters - very polite and thorough. And really big. Their uniforms and boots and hats - at one time there were three of them in the living room and they looked like giants.

They ended up spraying some kind of dry chemical down the chimney to put out the fire. Obviously we need to get the chimney swept. I wonder if Dick Van Dyke is available. He and his crew seemed to have such a good time up there on those London roofs in "Mary Poppins."

I know I'm downplaying the seriousness of the situation. We are extremely lucky. We live in a 70+ year old house and dramas like this often end up very differently. Had the sparks that were hitting the roof caught fire we could have lost the whole house. So I'm very grateful that we caught it in time, that we live about three blocks from the firehouse and that Ron knew immediately what was wrong.

Amen.