Not a lot of people know that I have a huge fear of fires. Not bon fires and controlled stuff but structure fires, wildfires, and those bigger things. I never leave the house with appliances on, like washer, dryer or washing machine in case it will catch on fire. Nothing has ever happened to me so I don’t know where this fear comes from, but it has always been there.

This afternoon I’m sitting in front of the computer, working along. Just finished a logo for a client and thankfully pressed save when a loud boom came from the living room. And when I say loud, it was LOUD. I don’t know how to express myself for you to understand how loud it was. Power went off and some of it came on again. I went out in the livingroom but was met by smoke already half down the hallway. Got the dogs out on the backside of the house and grabbed the phone and called 911. At this point I had no clue what in the world happened. Tried to locate where the smoke came from and finally found this:

As it was no flames coming out of there and the smoke was subsiding, I dared opening the front door and kitchen window. At this point I realize it is raining and I hear thunder in the distance. I wonder if the lightning could have caused this…  I knew that fire would come, and I wanted them to come and check this out so it wasn’t anything dangerous that I had missed. Thank God I did because there was a big thing I had missed.

As soon as the firefighter came out of the engine he said, “its your router that blew right?” How the h*ll did he know that so fast? Well, he had seen this when he pulled up:

Oh shit. That antenna is my internet antenna that my provider put up 3 years ago. It has pulled through all kinds of storms until a little tiny wind gust came through today. That was the top of the iceberg.

Fire department called for Oncor to come and shut off the power so the antenna safely could be taken off the line and removed. During this time fire stayed in case something would happen. I didn’t realize the danger in this situation until the service company came on scene and the first thing asked: “Anyone still in the house needs to get out, this house is hot right now”. Oh crap! I ran in the house, got Twix and BamBam and my purse with my wallet and keys and went outside. I was not going to take any chances. While we were waiting for them to turn the power off for the entire block (sorry neighbors) the firefighters asked to take a picture with Twix on the engine. It took three attempts and then we got this picture!!! Isn’t it just so cool!

It didn’t take long for the guys to get the antenna off the wires and secured somewhat. They were not happy with the internet provider that put it up because it had not been secured correctly first of all, and second it was mounted too close to the cable. Just a matter of time until this happened and today was the day. He also informed me that I now have three holes in my roof that needs to be patched. Great. I have no internet, no power in 1/4^th of my house, three holes in my roof and no insurance for this. But the house did not catch on fire, both I and the dogs are okay and there are now major storms approaching within the next week or two. So, there is a lot to be grateful for right now! I will have to figure something out when it comes to money how to afford all this. Certainly not what I had in mind. Not what I had in budget! It feels like I need a lot of prayers the next week. In one way or the other it will come something good out of it, right now I’m just glad the entire house didn’t catch on fire!

A Big Thank You to Wills Point Fire Department for all your help! That y’all didn’t leave me here waiting for Oncor was amazing. When you had to go on another call, you send another guy to sit here and watch in case something would happen. I did not realize at the time what kind of danger the entire house was, you probably did… And thanks to the service guys that came out on their Sunday with so quick response! I don’t think we waited more than 45 minutes! Thanks to everyone and sorry neighbors for shutting the power off, probably in the middle of an important game or movie…