FIREPROOF YOUR HOME

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Don't work on your home wiring unless you honestly know what you are doing. I've done a great deal of wiring on our house and presume to write articles telling others how to do as well, so you can imagine how relieved I was to learn that my electrical work wasn't responsible for the fire. We will never know the whole cause. But we had plenty of warning of three possible contributing problems-if I'd only been alert enough to read the signals.

The ancient transformer on the telephone pole blew out at some time during our fire, and the lineman who came to disconnect it said that he saw signs that it was leaking toxic PCB coolant. There is a remote-and not provable-chance that it failed and sent a 20,000-volt surge into the home to trigger the fire. (The transformer had tripped off several times before and I should have demanded a replacement from the power company after the second failure.)

Our electrician identified a corroded ground on the water tank, and suspected an inadequate ground for the entire system; either could have begun arcing when the ground cable became too thin to carry sufficient current. (When the hot-water supply diminished without any apparent reason, I should have listened to Debra and called an electrician to check it out.) The electrical inspector identified the (untripped) circuit breakers serving the water tank as the " Stab-Loc" brand made by the now defunct Federal Pacific Electric Company. These breakers are truly notorious in the trade as being unreliable and the cause of many fires. If you have them, get rid of them.

A Lesson in Self-Sufficiency

One final lesson the fire taught me is that there is a limit to self-sufficiency. Like Most MOTHER readers, I pride myself on providing my own wood heat, my own garden-grown food, building my own furniture, and maintaining my own home, out buildings, vehicles, and equipment. But this is computer-driven 1993, not horse-drawn 1773. Nobody should presume to know everything about the complex home systems of today. Call in the experts if your heating plant or electrical system act peculiar in any way. And don't try to be a do-it-yourself fire fighter. Do not hesitate to get your people out and call the fire department if you so much as suspect a fire.

Last of all, pay attention to your pets if they ever begin to act strangely. Like our kitten Greybump, your dog or cat has a sensitive nose that just may save your life and your home some day.

Fire Extinguishers

You can get water-filled extinguishers that must be pumped up or operated with a pressurized air canister. But they are heavy, and hard to find, and effective only on fires classified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) as Class A (wood/cloth/paper/some plastic). Hardware and department stores stock dry-chemical extinguishers containing flame—smothering, nonconductive monoammonium phosphate powder that will extinguish fires of Class A, Class B (flammable liquids such as oil and gasoline), and Class C (electrical). They leave a messy residue of caustic powder, however.

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