The day I nearly burnt the house down

The day I nearly burnt the house down.

Okay it is a bit of an exaggeration, but it didn't feel like it at the time. I have never been so scared. I kept calm (almost), I tried desperately not to panic.  I was on the verge of dialling 999.

I started to cook some bacon under the grill, just like I have done a thousand times before, and in the same cooker. Then I started to unload the dishwasher, and reload it, when I smelt burning, turned around, pulled the grill out, and whoosh it was on fire, I shoved it back in, had a 10 second panic. 

I knew and remembered not to chuck water onto a grill fire, as it would make the fire worse, so I soaked a load of kitchen towels, and pulled the grill back out, and put the damp towels on the fire - it did nothing and the flames were getting bigger. I shoved the grill back in the oven and I started to panic, I didn't know what to do at this point, my son was home, I told him to go wait in the living room, near the back door. The fire alarms were ringing off loudly and the smoke, my god I cannot believe how quickly smoke took hold of the kitchen, my eyes were stinging, they were watering, I grabbed my phone, went to dial 999. Then I remembered, FIRE BLANKET under the kitchen sink "god I hope this works" . The flames were now reaching out of the grill, and other parts of the oven were starting to catch alight. I was trying to read the instructions on the fire blanket tube, I needed to get this right, I knew if I didn't, then my kitchen was going to burn down. I was really struggling to read the instruction with the amount of smoke, and it was hard for me to process what I was reading. So I took a deep breath and read them again, this time I understood, but at this point, the flames were licking out, therefore I couldn't just pull the grill out without burning myself, so I got the soaked towels, and slowly pulled the grill out, and the heat I could feel it and did burn my hands even through the soaked towels- the flames were big, nearly reaching me, and I was learning back as much as I could, I could feel the heat on my face. I placed the grill on the top oven door, and put the fire blanket over it, and to hold the blanket down (as it is a very big fire blanket) I put the soaked towels on top, to weigh it down. 

The flames were going, within seconds the fire blanket contained and suppressed the fire, WOW, it almost felt too good to be true. I stood there, waited didn't dare touch the blanket, didn't want to lift it, I watched the light smoke rising above the blanket. The fire was out!  

My god, I have never been so scared. I didn't understand what happened, why it caught fire, and how quickly it took a hold and got out of control was within seconds, too quick. 

Please, please, please, anyone that reads this, if you don't have one already buy a Fire blanket (I've seen them for £5 on Amazon), or buy a small fire extinguish - We've had that fire blanket for 10 + years, it's why I nearly forgot we had it!