Check your smoke detectors, people!

[markolas]

Last week, I found out that my parents' house burned down. (For anyone who doesn't remember, I am not close to my family at all, and deliberately try to have minimal contact with them). Everything they own was apparently destroyed, and they're all staying with various relatives.

My mother left a pot of grease on the stove while she went to the store, and it ignited. My brother was home, and half the house was engulfed in flames before he realized what was going on. THE SMOKE DETECTORS DID NOT WORK! And I don't think any of them understand that they could've all been killed.

The house had actually caught fire twice before. Once when I still lived there (and the smoke detectors did work then); the second time, half the kitchen had burned down before my mother realized it.

The only thing that surprises me is that the fire wasn't started by cigarettes. My mother has a habit of falling asleep with lit cigarettes...the couch, carpet, and bedspreads are all full of holes where she's dropped them. They also set them on the edges of counters, where they fall on the floor, or into trash cans, which is how the first fire started.

So, yeah. Quit smoking and make sure your smoke detectors work, is my advice.