Waking to a Fire

When you are in a fire and suffering from smoke inhalation your thoughts are not the same as a person that has the benefit of having normal though processes. I had a newborn baby and a 2 year old little boy when I awoke to a fire. I was dreaming that I was in a forest fire, I could hear the trees snapping and burning. What I was hearing was my kitchen cabinets burning.

I realized that I was not dreaming, I had to literally force myself to get out of bed. I was in such a relaxed state at that time. I had been up late the night before and really only had hours of sleep. The baby had a bad cold and I was afraid she would choke so I had stayed up watching her.

When I realized the apartment was on fire terror set in. The room was black with smoke that had reached it. My son Thank God, had crawled in bed with me. All I could think of was to get him outside. There was a window big enough to throw him out of and I could have easily done that. It would have been much safer to open the window throw a blanket out and throw him or drop him out the window.

I did not think of that. All I thought of was getting to the front door, opening it and getting my little boy to safety. As I said, when you are suffering from smoke inhalation and have that much of a fear for your life, you are not thinking like a normal person.

I had child locks on the front door. Once I finally reached the front door, I could not open it. The child locks at that time were ones that you had to squeeze both sides of them. I pulled on the child lock so hard that when it finally did come off , I hit myself in the chest and knocked myself backwards. But it was off and I opened the door to safety.

Once outside and the cool air hit me, I remembered I had a baby. She was sleeping in the crib in my bedroom. The room that I had just escaped from. How could I have forgotten her? I had to go back and get her. I told my son to stay outside till I got back . It was cold out there . All the time I found out from a neighbor that I had been screaming for help while I was outside. She said she thought that the sounds were coming from a horror story on the radio. She said I was screaming for my mother. I was 23 years old at that time and I was screaming for my mother to help me.

Once back inside, I got halfway back inside the living room and realized that my 2 year old was standing at my side holding on to my pant leg. I knew when I went in to get my baby , that I would not come out alive. I could not leave her in there. Now here was Jeff my little boy, right along side of me. Did I turn around and take him back outside. The front door was left open which was making the fire worse. I had to go on and get her.

We got to the bedroom and I felt around in the crib for her. I got her and not realizing it, I picked her up and I was holding her upside down. She had been up late with the croup the night before so I had her in her little pumpkin seat. Propped up so that she was not laying on her back. Now we had to get to the front door again. All the time being in total darkness. I did not think to go to the floor, to crawl, to throw them out a window. All I thought of was getting back to the front door. I was so overcome by the smoke I could not think of anything other then getting to the front door.

I got as far as the hallway and that is all I remember. I blacked out. I was standing there when the neighbor came in and found me. Jeff my son was holding my pant leg and Julie was in my arms upside down. Not a sound out of either of them. My memories were all gone up to the point of reaching the hallway. I knew death was imminent and my mind did me a favor and just shut down from the sheer terror of it.

My next memories were of the cold air hitting me in the face as the neighbor guided me outside. Outside to safety. I was told later , that the neighbor guy was in his under shorts. He could have been bare naked for all I know. The fire department was called and there was a mistake in the address that they were given. So instead of going to 136Th , they went to 36Th. They realized this finally and they got there. We were living in a duplex so they had to destroy the kitchen to make sure the fire did not spread through the ceiling to the other duplexes that were in the complex.

We lost our little dog in the fire, yes I had forgotten about her too. The neighbor went in once we were all out and got her. The firemen tried to give her oxygen to save her. It was too late for her.
I often wondered if my little dog Honey had not been the one that woke me up. Something had to have.

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would be in a fire. I was totally unprepared . I did not have any plans on what I would do. I have wondered for years if I had been prepared whether or not I would have used any of the plans. Since all I could think of was to get to the front door and out.

As I mentioned, after the fact, I realized there were all sorts of other things that I could have done . The windows were big enough that I could have dropped the kids out of them. Then jumped out myself. The firemen told me that people do crazy things in fires. He told me that one person that they found that was suffering from smoke inhalation was trying to save her green stamps.

In ending, I have to say, aside from both of my children as well of myself , looking like tar babies from the smoke. We all lived through it . Plan your exits and what you would do, and then pray to God that you have a clear mind to do it with.

Go to your local fire department and get the literature on what you should tell your children about fire safety. What they should do in case of a fire. I think the local fire departments go around to most of the schools now and teach it. Don't think that it cant happen to you. It can.

There were no fire alarms then like there are now. If there had been I am sure things would have been much different. We lost almost everything we owned but the most important things. Our life's were saved.