When I got home today at about 5pm or so, I smelled the characteristic BBQ smell. Burning wood. Quite A LOT of burning wood. Very odd, or at least very unusual for this neighbourhood.
Upon entering the staircase the smell intensified by several orders of magnitude, which instantly spurred my curiosity. At least to find the source and “bitch” about neighbours BBQ-ing on a Friday evening. Oddly enough the smell seemed to originate in the cellar. Nobody should be BBQ-ing down there, or be lighting a wood stove / fire. There’s just way too much stuff down there that could catch on fire and ruin the weekend in a lasting manner.
Well, when I opened the fire-proof door to the storage cellar, all I saw was a white wall of smoke, ceiling to floor, combined with the smell of burning wood. I immediately closed the door, as to not get CO poisoning, left the house & called the fire fighters to investigate.
Less than 5 minutes later all “hell” broke loose (figuratively speaking): lots of sirens, trucks, people, commotion, fire fighting gear, at least 20 people, some with oxygen tanks & masks, paramedics, a doc, and the police.
As there was no open fire to be seen, an infrared camera was used to hunt for heat & source of the possibly deadly smoke.
It’s all over now. About 45 minutes later, the culprit was found: an overheated malevolent vacuum cleaner with lots of sawdust or similar (not mine). The smoke certainly had a distinct woody character. Everything smells like BBQ right now… without the meat.
Resistance is futile: no door shall stay locked!
I should be doing something else right now, but I’ll just call it a day and celebrate that a catastrophe was averted and we’re still here & alive.
Well… brothers & sisters, friends, comrades… have a nice & safe weekend.