Community Chat

[golding76]

I've been chattering and dealing with lighthearted subjects today, but something happened to a family friend early this morning, and I thought it might be good to give a heads-up about something that can cause great heartache, loss of property and even death (although, thank heavens, that did not happen).

The friend lives in a condo in Arlington, Va.  A unit on the floor above her is for sale and vacant. 

It appears that the last prospective buyer and real estate agent who entered the unit committed a terrible error yesterday.  Firefighters believe that someone left something on one of the stove's burners and that the burner was slightly on.  No one noticed.  I forgot to ask if the stove worked with gas or electricity.   

At 2:00 a.m. this morning, our friend and all others were evacuated because of fire.  Her unit was flooded by the sprinkler system.

So, if you ever go home-shopping, check the stove before leaving the premises.  You might pass this message on, too.

[golding76]

It was an electric cooktop, as I suspected it might be.

[novamc1]

That post certainly takes me back to my real estate days in the same general vicinity of Virginia  outside of Wash DC.

I listed a condo  for sale for a guy who worked for the federal government.  He owned it as an investment and rental property.

The condo  was vacant. I periodicallly stopped by and picked up any cards left by Realtors who had shown the property and just checked on its condition. ( Yes,  I know the owner should do that, but I was the proverbial "full service Realtor"--LOL!!)

One day, I found  that a horrible leak from the unit above my listing was in full swing.  The owner of the upper unit had to pay for major damage to my client's unit. 

Apparently, a kitchen faucet was kept running. .  What a mess.

[Icegoddess]

I have never turned on a stove or even a faucet when looking at a house. I did peek in cabinets which is how I know the 2nd set of burners for my Jenn-Aire oven went with the home owners.  

Not life or death, but when we sold my father's house after he died, the realtor called me up shortly before the sale to let me know that apparently the home inspector had turned the AC up and neglected to turn it back down.... in JULY.  So, we had a large electric bill to pay.

Also, our Master toilet has a habit of the flap chain hanging on itself, requiring us to remove the lid and jiggle it to get it to close.  On top of that it was an extremely slow fillier, so hubby took it on himself to fix that part right before we left on a ski trip.  We come home from the ski trip and as I walk into the Master I can hear the toilet running.  I have no idea if hubby used it right before we left for our trip and didn't check it or if my daughter used it on one of her 2X/day trips to take care of the cats.  But, I was thinking about how much quicker that toilet now fills vs before and how much water it used during that time. 

[spiderw]

golding76

Great advice!!!!  I am glad your friend and the other people are fine, that had to be a frightening experience.

Just to add, I was a victim of a carbon monoxide leak .  Thankfully I have a monitor and it went off, I called the police and was told to get out of the house.  To make a long story short, my furnace had a crack in it and that was the culprit.  I do have to take some blame for not seeing that the monitor was showing numbers a couple of times and I should have checked immediately with the gas company.  It was a scary lesson to learn.

[Kachina624]

Who in the neck goes to view a property for sale and stops to warm up a snack on the stove?  Something strange about this story.

[golding76]

Kachina, I think someone inadvertently turned on one of the burners.  Perhaps a child accompanied an adult... 

Not knowing the burner was on, someone else placed a business card, flyer, who knows what on the burner that was turned on.  That is how I saw this event.

Nervous adults can do stupid and careless things (not exempting myself here).  The stupid and careless part would be leaving anything on that stove.  At all times, it should be clear.

We don't know the exact cause of the fire yet.

[Love my grandkids]

This thread reminds me of a day many years ago (when I still ironed once in a great while) when I was late to work as halfway there I couldn't remember if I'd left the iron plugged in so I went back home to check.

Of course I had unplugged it (DH wasn't home for me to call him to check). When I told my boss why I was late he just laughed but I would have worried all day that something might spark.

[hckynutjohn]

@golding76 

I can personally relate to part of your post. I lived close to 7 years in a 9 unit apartment building. In 1975 about 2am I smelled smoke. My now wife was staying with me for the night.

I opened my apartment door and could see nothing but smoke. I woke her up and told he "we gotta get out of here". We grabbed the closet things to wear and started from there.

My apartment was on the 2nd floor right next to the stairs that led to the main door. We could not see, but managed to stumble slowly down the 15 steps to get out. No cell phones then, so I did call 911 while getting dressed.

I went around to all the lower level balconies and pounded on the sliding door to try to wake up everyone on that floor. I stood outside hollering st the top of my voice at the upper floors where I lived trying to wake everyone up.

Fire Dept. got there and put out the fire. I was told someone used gasoline on the steps to try to burn the building down. It was intentionally set to harm or kill someone. 4 of the main level and 4 of the upper level suffered lots of smoke damage, but no fire. I have always been a light sleeper and was fortunate that I smelled smoke.

That is only 1 part of the story. Years after I moved into my townhome from there, there was another fire in that same building. The fire burned the whole building down, and the cause if the fire?

It was traced to exactly what you have said, and 1 person died. That person lived in the exact apartment I lived in when there, on the upper floor. He was and older man(probably much younger than my present age), and the fire started in my old apartment. And he was the only 1 that died.

The lot where that building sat is still empty. I see it every time I go by on that Interstate Highway. Really sad, but my tale of 2 stories. That building was doomed it seems. It's a miracle with 2 fires, only 1 person died.

hckynut  🇺🇸

[golding76]

hckynut(john), what a story!  Oh my heavens!

You both were fortunate in 1975 to get out of there alive -- and you were fortunate decades later because you no longer lived in that ill-fated apartment. I am sorry for the older gentleman who died because of carelessness or forgetfulness.  A momentary lapse when it comes to fire safety causes tragedy to follow.  Fire doesn't fool around.

You are right.  That building was doomed.