Squad 4

In order to get a real sense of why KFD came to my home, you must know this first.

On Saturday, my room was painted. It had needed to be painted for quite awhile and we finally got around to getting it done. As everyone has figured out by now, I am an avid Fire Buff. Not only was my room painted but we added some fire department related stuff to the room. The bottom part of the wall needed to have some trim added to it to make it look better. We had a piece of wood painted red to go with the border we put at the top of the wall. We also painted the register vent red. It all looks great and I should have some pictures to post soon.

Anyhow, I told you that story to tell you why I called the fire department.

Last night I was laying in bed, watching television. The furnace kicked on and a few minutes later, I heard a snap, crackle and popping sound. I muted the television so that I could hear the sound better. It sounded like it was coming from near the register. The sound that I was hearing sounded like the sound of wood burning. I didn't smell or see any smoke. I could smell the paint though.

I hollered for mom to come and check it out. She came in and said that she couldn't hear anything. I swore to her that I heard something and described it to her as I did here. I am sure that she thought I was crazy, but it had me worried. I told her that I was worried about it and that I thought she ought to shut the furnace off, just to be safe. She told me that if I was so worried about it that I should call the fire department today.

I called them today, simply to ask them if they thought that was a hazard and if I had anything to worry about. I talked to the fire chief and he told me that it should be alright but he would send a truck out to take a look at it, just to be safe. I was kind of leery to the idea of him sending a truck out. He told me that it was up to me. I told him that I wasn't sure, that I didn't want to have them come out and it be nothing. He said that it was okay and that he would be more than happy to send someone out to take a look at it, just to be on the safe side. I agreed and he said that he would send a truck out.

"Squad 4 is 23." came from the scanner as Squad 4 rolled up outside the front of the house about 10-15 minutes later. The firefighters came in and I brought them to the back of the house. They asked what the problem was and I explained it all to them as I did to the chief and here. They took a look at the stuff and notice there was a piece of cellophane underneath the register. They took at screw driver to pull the register up and pulled out the cellophane. The firefighter asked me, "Is that what you were hearing?" "I think so. Well, I'll be. I feel so foolish" I said. I apologized for having them come out for something like that. They told me that it was okay, that it was better to be safe than sorry, and that they would rather run these types of calls all day than anything else.

I chatted with them for a few minutes about keeping an eye on that and they commented on the look of my room. They all said that they liked it and that it looked great. I told them that I have always been into the fire department since I was a kid, for the obvious reasons. I told them that my interest had died down quite a bit but then the FX show "Rescue Me" came out and my interest sparked again with a vengeance.

I thanked them again for coming out to look at it and that I really appreciated it. I told them to be careful and that I would see them later.

"Squad 4 is 10-8, disposition [number]." came from the scanner as they got back in the squad, pulled off, and headed back to the station.