Hey there friends. My name is Jenny. I have a story to tell you. But first I want to show you something. You see, this is where my house to be.
Now I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking that a giant tornado came and blew my house into another city. But that’s not what happened. Or maybe you’re thinking that we covered it in invisible paint. Or maybe you’re thinking that we built our house out of sticks and the big, bad wolf came and blew it away. But that’s not what happened either. Do you want to know what really happened?
You see, my house caught on fire, and it burned down to the ground. Everybody in my family got out safe, because we knew what to do. I’d like to tell you a story about that fire. But I gotta warn you, it’s pretty scary in parts. But you all look pretty brave to me. You won’t get scared, will you?
The story starts out a couple of weeks earlier. At my school, we learned what to do if there is a fire. We learned how to get out safe in a fire. We learned about firefighters. Good thing too, because little did I know that my own house would catch on fire before too long.
It started out one night, after I went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night. There was an annoying beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, that just would not stop and woke me up! At first I was mad at the beep. At first I thought there was a very large beep bird outside my window that was being very rude.
But then I remembered… it was our smoke alarm! My mom had set it off for me a few weeks earlier, so that I could learn what it sounded like. Good thing too, because now it was going off, and I knew exactly what it meant. It meant that there was a fire in my house.
I could see there was smoke in my room. I was really scared, but then I remembered what to do. I knew better than to just sit up or jump out of my bed. At school, we learned how important it is to stay low in a fire. We learned that all the smoke and heat that can hurt us goes towards the ceiling. So I rolled over in my bed, without sitting up. I put my arm down, and slid myself onto the floor, just how I learned in school.
I knew that the most important thing was to get out fast. In school we learned how fast fire can spread once it gets going. So I didn’t try to take my toys, I didn’t try to get dressed, I didn’t try to look for my bear. I knew I just had to get myself out right away.
I started to crawl. We learned how to do the fire crawl in our school. It’s easy, and actually kind of fun. You just put your arms to the ground, put your nose to the carpet, and crawl around like a dog sniffing at something. I started to crawl out of my bedroom. I crawled down the stairs.
I started to crawl out towards the front door, but as I got closer, there was more and more smoke. It got hotter. I could see the fire, and it was blocking my front door! I knew that I had to find another way out of my house. So I turned around and started to head the other way, towards another door.
I kept crawling towards that door, but I could see there was fire in there too! This wasn’t good. Those were the only two doors out of my house! I started to get really scared, but then I remembered what to do. I knew I had to find a window. Even better, I needed to try and find a room with a window and a door to it. I knew just the room!
My dad’s study had a window. It also had a door so that he could work without the noise from all of us kids playing. I headed towards that room. And good thing too, there was no fire in that room. I went inside, and I shut the door to help keep the fire and smoke out for as long as I could. I crawled to the window, and tried to open it.
I couldn’t get it open. I tried to unlock it, but the latch was stuck. So I started to pound the glass with my hand so that if there was anyone outside they could help me. But nobody answered. So I grabbed something hard, and I threw it at the window as hard as I could to break the glass. I knew this was something you should only do as a last resort, but I needed a way to yell and breathe.
It broke a hole in the glass. This helped me to breathe a little better. I could stick my face up to the hole and breathe fresh air. I could also shout but nobody heard me at first. I kept shouting out the window for a couple of minutes, hoping someone would hear me.
Still nobody heard me. I started to get really scared, because I knew the fire was right outside the door now. I could hear it crackling right behind the door. I shouted again.
I was getting ready go find some more hard things so I could break the glass along the bottom of the window to climb out, but that’s when a firefighter came around my way.
He heard me screaming. He was a little bit scary. He had a big yellow suit on, and a scary mask. He was carrying an axe. I might have been scared and tried to hide from him, but I remembered what I had learned in school. We learned about the uniform firefighters wear, that sometimes looks scary, but keeps them safe. We learned that it is a normal person under that suit, and not to be scared, because they are trying to help us. So I stayed there at the window and wasn’t scared.
He came up to me, and told me to back up and put my head against the ground and cover my ears and close my eyes. I did that, and as soon as I did, he smashed that window to pieces with his Axe.
He reached in, picked me up, and pulled me out of the house through the window.
He carried me and ran over to where there were fire trucks and fireman. I could also see my family there. They all ran up and gave me hugs.
The firefighters looked at me there. They gave me things to breathe into. I also had to go to the hospital so they could check me out, but that part was lots of fun. I met some really nice doctors, and the nurses taught me all about the special machines they had at the hospital.
I look at my house now, and I realize how important it was for me to get out quick. To head straight for the doors, without looking for things. If I had waited, the fire would have grown, and I might not have been able to get out at all. I might have just been a spec right here, where my house used to be. That would have been very, very bad.
I’m not sure why my house decided it wanted to catch fires. If I were a house, I would not want to catch fires. My mommy told me that the fireman said that the stove was broken, and so it gave my house fires.
Well that’s it. I hope you enjoyed my story. So remember this, just in case your house ever decides it wants to catch fires, so that you will know what to do, and be safe just like me.
The End!
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