While the jokes might come easy about how I set the kitchen on fire cooking up a storm on this past Fourth of July, there’s nothing too funny about seeing menacing dark fumes slithering out of your oven door that suddenly turn into hungry flames threatening to leap up and take over the kitchen.
And yet, this is exactly what happened yesterday. On a day set aside to recognize and celebrate our love of freedom, and especially our love of freedom in a country we call home, this small but scary incident served as a reckoning for why I believe I am privileged to call these great United States of America home.
Within three flat minutes of calling 9-1-1, our national emergency number, our local neighborhood fire engine came screeching to our front yard and two strapping young men made us all step outside the house, and went about the business of putting out the fast leaping flames from the oven. Within minutes, they had killed the fire and had taken the stove outside the house to put it out on the driveway!
Where else but in America do I have the freedom and confidence to summon the resources of the fireengine to take care of business in no time at all, and then heave a huge sigh of relief before I go out shopping for a new cooking range/oven in a marketplace driven by the capitalistic fervor of slashed prices for the big holiday, buy a shiny new one that will be delivered and installed the very next day, and also get an 18-month financing offer! Where else, but in the good old USA?!
Just another reason why I love this country and call it home!
I always wanted to see a fire engine up close! 🙂
…and I wanted to see firemen up close!
How did I miss this post? That’s great to know and I applaud you for publicly thanking these men of valor and duty. Kudos!
Absolutely! Thanks also for regaling us with your own spectacular experiences with our emergency department services, the fire dept., in particular.This was my very first time that I needed to summon their help, and they did not disappoint! Actually, the funny thing about my fire was that it was a positively freakish one: we turned on the oven to preheat it and next thing we knew, it had self-locked and wouldn’t cancel. So, no good food was wasted! But it doesn’t take more than a few minutes for fumes to turn into flames. Like I said, they came in three minutes flat!The other point that I was making with this story is the “only in America” angle of how you can almost lose your home, but have it saved in the nick of time, and then go about restoring order in no time at all: buying another stove, and having it installed the very next day and voila, all in a day’s work! Only in America!Oh, one more thing: the firemen came back two hours later, and moved the stove out of the driveway to the side of the house. They didn’t need to come back at all but to show such concern for aesthetics and convenience was another testament of their professionalism and good-heartedness.
Thank you, once again. I noticed that in our fire-case too. That’s what really makes me so thankful for these men and women we have in our Emergency Services. They consistently go beyond their call of duty. They really do mean and live by “time is of the essence”, as fighting fires can be a quotidian thing for them that can easily cause fatigue and routine-mentality to set in. But, they consistently stay above those temptations. Truly amazing.And I agree with how easy it’s to recover from nothingness to fullness, all by just jettisoning the burnt stove with a brand new one. Only in America, of course. Thank God, all went well 🙂
Vividly yet efficiently told, well thought out, excellent connections – this is a wonderful piece, even better six years later!