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Tuesday, December 5, 2017

911


On Saturday around 11 o'clock, I headed out for a 6 miler. This was more of a "git er done" kind of run since I was short on time, so my plan was to run a two mile loop around my hood three times.

As I approached my house and was finishing the first loop, I kind of had to pee and I needed to blow my nose. I contemplated whether to make a pit stop now or run one more loop and then make a pit stop. I opted for the former.

I wasn't in my house more than 90 seconds. As I ran down my driveway to start my second loop, I heard a loud explosion that seemed to come from the street behind my house... right where my two mile loop was going to take me. As I looped around the block, I wondered if it was a gunshot, but told myself not to be silly. It was probably just someone's garage door slamming shut or something like that.

Boy was I wrong!

As I turned the corner to run the street behind our house, I saw a white minivan in a driveway and the front of the minivan was engulfed in flames! Black smoke was billowing into the air. I couldn't believe it. I turned off my podcast and dialed 911. 

I didn't get any closer to the van than I already was (maybe 200 feet?) but tried very hard to see if someone was in the driver or passenger seat. I didn't see anyone. Was someone in the back of the van? I didn't know. But I could not get any closer to the van. What if it exploded? I felt guilty, wondering if there was anyone trapped inside, but I didn't see anyone and I couldn't justify getting closer due to the danger and due to not seeing anyone in harm's way.

I told the 911 operator clearly and succinctly what was going on. He assured me help was on the way and we hung up. I heard sirens less than a minute after I hung up and I saw two police cars approaching the scene. I decided to run home (about 1/10th of a mile away!) to inform Paul of what was going on. When I left him, he had his headphones on and was folding wash. I wanted to inform him of what was happening just 400 feet from our house. If the fire spread, we needed to be able to get the kitties out of the house. (I always think worse case scenario but oh well!)

After I filled Paul in, I decided to continue on my run, but obviously change my route. When I ran down my driveway, I HEARD ANOTHER EXPLOSION!!! I ran to the corner of the scene just to see if the fire engines had arrived yet. They finally were coming down the street! I think it took them about five minutes to get there, which is sort of scary if you think about it because a fire can do a lot of damage in five minutes! (I'm not blaming the fire department, I am sure they got there as fast as humanely possible!)



At this point I was a little freaked out and felt nervous being far from home since the minivan was burning so close to our house. (I don't care about my house, I care about Paul and the cats!) So I ended up just running loops around the block in front of our house. Every once in awhile I'd take a little look at the scene. Finally things had calmed down. I talked to some neighbors who were watching and they said no one was taken in an ambulance so no one was in the van.

I since found out that the woman who owned the van turned it on to warm it up and went back inside her house. When she looked outside next, it was on fire! The explosions were the tires, exploding from the heat. 

**Clarification: The fire happened first, the heat from the fire made the tires explode.**




I don't know anything else about the fire other than that. But now of course I am scared of my car randomly catching on fire when I start it.
Did you ever have to call 911 on a run... or any other time!?

25 comments:

  1. OMG what! Tires BURST from the heat?! I know my tire pressure indicator always goes off when it gets cold but I had not thought of them exploding when it gets hot again and/or I run the heater ... which to be fair, I think I've only run the heater 3 times in the 7 years I've had my car but still! Thank God it didn't happen when your neighbor was in the car trying to drive it!

    I haven't ever had to call 911 but the other night I had to call the non-emergency line because I got stuck at a train track crossing but the bar never went back up even after the train was done. We waited like 45 minutes.

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    1. Allow me to clarify: I think fire fire happened first and the heat from that made the tires explode.

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  2. Oh gosh, what a scene to run upon! Do you think the lady knew her van was on fire before you called 911?

    My mom and I called 911 a year or 2 ago when we saw a man staggering along the highway. We debated on calling cus we didn't know if it was 911 worthy but the funny thing is that when we called, the operator said someone else had called for the same thing!

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    1. I have no idea whether she knew or not. It was crazy.

      Omg I called for a staggering man once too! I was running and he was staggering in the middle of the road. I didn't know if he was drunk or if it was a heat exhaustion thing. I remember the ambulance did come.

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  3. Thankfully I have never had to call 911 on a run. But... my ex's car burned when we were in college. This was years ago and it was an old mustang. He noticed something smelled funny so he pulled into a parking lot to check it out and maybe get Public Safety to help and that's when it burned. I bet this was really scary to see especially when the tires exploded!

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  4. Yikes! It's actually illegal in Colorado to turn your car on and then head inside and wait for the car to warm up. I've never done it anyway. I'm bundled up and I'll drive to work with the heat warming up.

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    1. I don't do it either. The only reason I would leave it running would be if I forgot something inside and just run in really quick.

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  5. Oh my gosh, what a crazy scene! I'm glad no one was hurt. I had to call 911 once. My husband and I were driving home one night, I'm almost positive it was the Fourth of July weekend, and a car ahead of us was driving somewhat erratically. I called 911 to report them, and I was so NERVOUS! I had never called 911 before and I had no idea what to expect. My husband and I exited the highway before the police approached the area so I don't know what happened, but I'm glad I called.

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    1. Good for you for reporting a dangerous driver! We did that once before too. I've called 911 A LOT (husband has seizures) and they are just kind of blah on the phone. I don't mean it in a bad way. They are just calm, to the point, etc. So I never really feel nervous calling. I can't remember if I was nervous the first time I called...

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  6. Oh wow, that is super scary. No, thankfully, I've never had to call 911. Never had a car catch on fire, either.

    I've had a pan or two catch on fire in the kitchen, but it's never resulted in an all out fire!

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    1. Did you ever have to get a fire extinguisher for those pans? I never had anything catch on fire in the kitchen but I have burned plenty of baked goods! (I don't like to set a timer...)

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  7. Oh my gosh! How scary!! I would be terrified. You handled the situation quite well though, good you were able to do that!
    Beth
    The Beth Next Door

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  8. Holy crap, that is crazy!! I have never heard of this kind of thing happening. Scary! Glad you were able to help out and stayed calm. I have never called 911 (knock on wood). Do you think you were the first call about it, or did the owner report it?

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    1. I'm not sure if I was the first one to call. I'm sure the owner had to eventually report it but whether it was before or after me, who knows?

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  9. OMG, Megan...that is really scary! I am glad you were there to call right away. So crazy! I am so glad all is OK with everyone involved...uh, except the van!

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  10. I didn't know your garage caught on fire! How did it start? Was the car IN the garage when it caught on fire? Our plan if our house ever catches on fire is put the cats in the car then drive the car away from our house!

    I would feel good if you were calling 911 for me. I feel like you would know just what to say and I'd trust you to be calm and no nonsense.

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  11. Oh good, that is so scary. I wouldn't know what to do! I think calling 911 was the right thing in this situation. I probably wouldn't have approached the car either. I am glad nobody was hurt.

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  12. Wow, thats so scary! I'm glad everyone was ok. When I was leaving a school today I saw all this smoke and noticed LOTS of firetruck and police cars all going somewhere. As I was getting on the highway, I passed an area that clearly smelled like something was burning. There had to be like 4 firetrucks and more on the way. When I got back to my office I found out that there had been an explosion and 2 alarm house fire. So scary!

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    1. I SAW THAT ON THE NEWS. Baltimore Heights area?

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  13. Whoah! That is wild! I'm glad people were not hurt.

    We had to call 911 during a run last year, when we found a car in a bank of trees, where he was very much not supposed to be. I get nervous when I call 911, because I don't always remember the exact names of streets.

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    1. Oh man, I hope the people in the car weren't hurt. Thank goodness for runners! We're always around for an emergency. :)

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