Fire, House Sitting Emergency!

Well here’s a first that I hope won’t happen again during our sits!

The owners have a chippy van and a cooling unit stored on their outdoor parking space and today, after heavy rain & thunderstorms the electrical wiring of the cooler started to go up in smoke!

What followed was a panic call to find out where the fire extinguisher was, disconnecting all electrics & hoping that the heat wouldn’t spread to the gas bottles!
We managed to put it out, but are quite shaken by the whole thing! :grinning:

What’s the worst that ever happened to you during a sit?

2 Likes

Thanks for sharing this experience. I always ask about electric breakers/fuses, and check smoke detectors, but had never thought to ask about fire extinguishers. Of course it might alarm the homeowner when I ask :rofl: but life does happen at times.

3 Likes

Oh my goodness @Els firstly we are so glad you are OK and well done for dealing with this emergency. As @Snowbird says this highlights preparedness and knowing where safety devices are in the home. We advise owners to list where water supply stopcocks, breaker boxes etc are and although emergency situations are rare, prevention as they say, is better than cure.

Well done again and so glad you are none the worse for the experience.

2 Likes

Well done. I’m glad you managed to deal with the fire. My worst nightmare.
Our worst was a flood in the utility room. We couldn’t get the water completely closed (old and rusted) so we had to get a neighbour to show us where the next in line was. Forget to say, this was in the middle of the country and the neighbour was a farmer about a mile away. The stopcock was found on the edge of a field. Thank goodness the first stopcock steamed the flow to a trickle.
The pet owners had a very good system where you phoned one number and they arranged whatever tradesperson you needed. Seasoned trust sitters users. All was well and we turned the neighbourhood water back on in about an hour. Phew.
Elsie

2 Likes

Oh gosh, that seems like a stressful situation too! You never think about things like that, do you? But I guess they are a steep learning curve! Fingers crossed for quieter times! :grinning:

2 Likes