2026, Family, home, Uncategorized

Some Like It Hot

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I have balked at turning on the air conditioning during our recent hot weather, and we have coped well using the ceiling fans in the living room and bedrooms.

We ran the fans a lot yesterday. About 8:00 last night, Husband went to our room to turn in, and came out rather concerned about a definite burning smell in the bedroom. He turned off the fan, which had been running all day. Best Friend is visiting, and said it smelled like burning wood. I dithered for a bit, then called 911.

The fire department showed up in full force with three trucks and a sheriff’s deputy. The fire chief said it definitely smelled like burning, and thought it was the motor for the ceiling fan/light. They checked the temperature of the ceiling and fan and nothing was unusually hot. They thought that the motor was just burning out. As a precaution they decided to go up into the attic to make sure nothing was burning up there. I should add that once the fan was turned off, the smoke detector I’m the bedroom went off and the smoke seemed to increase.

Just as they were about to ascend to the attic, a young firefighter in the bedroom exclaimed “Wow, that is hot!” in reference to a folding halogen reading light (installed by the previous owners) attached to the wall above the bed. It is very flexible. Husband had turned it on about 30 minutes before he started getting ready for bed. He didn’t see that the light had flipped right onto the cherry wood headboard. It scorched a 3×4 patch on it. Of course it smelled like burning wood! It wasn’t the fan at all! It was charring cherry! We had been so concerned about the ceiling fan we hadn’t looked for other possible causes of the smoke. By 10:30 pm the smoke had dissipated but it still smelled like burnt wood.

What a dumb thing to have happen. I am sure it is the talk of the neighborhood. We are having those lights replaced as soon as possible.

When have you had to phone the fire department? What are your favorite Tony Curtis or Jack Lemmon movies?

29 thoughts on “Some Like It Hot”

  2. Not sure who I called, but do recall calling for my neighbor who had an alarm going off that seemed to be carbon monoxide.

    I’m generally pretty handy,, but this didn’t seem like “take a chance” situation, so I called and got her out of the house immediately.

    Turned out to be a fault in an old detector, but I had visions of the house blowing up or something.

    Not knowing is pretty scary!

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  4. I’ve had a couple calls with the Fire Department. Years ago after a cold spell, I was working at the theater downtown and there was a bell ringing outside the building. I didn’t know what it was and called the department. They figured frozen sprinkler head, now thawed. I called the building owner and as the fireman got ready to crack the door open, I saw the owner coming up the street. I pointed that out, assuming he’d have a key. The chief hesitated for a second, then said “Crack it!” And they popped it open.

    Then I had that very minor anhydrous leak a few years ago. In fact, just met a fireman who was part of that, except he was out on the highway on the ambulance crew waiting to see what was going to happen.

    Now I work with the RFD on their awards ceremonies, and they burned our old town hall as a practice burn, and I sell them straw for their practice fires. All good people and glad they do their job.

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  5. No fire department calls.
    Not a big Tony Curtis fan but “Some Like It Hot,” was funny.
    Jack Lemmon? SLIH of course, but maybe “Grumpy Old Men” is my fave because of his chemistry with Walter Matthau. Plus it was set in MN.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  6. my mon started a grease fire on the stove in our kitchen when i was about 8. had a brother 6 sister 3 and a newborn so it was exciting. the whole house filled with smoke and we stood out in the backyard looking into the kitchen as the firemen put out the fire and showed my mom how to deal with kitchen fires in the future. we had the kitchen repainted and about 3 weeks after the fire she did it again and called the fire dept again. they put it out reminded her how to avoid future fires and we didnt bother to stand outside this time. it wasnt very exciting after all. my mom was happy because dhe didnt like the color she had chosen for the kitchen after the first fire
    the apartment
    some like it hot

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  7. My daughter reminds me that I phoned the FD many years ago when I had some butter in the microwave that I thought I put in for 30 seconds, when I had really set it for 30 minutes. I got distracted and forgot about it until I saw that the butter had burst into flames. I called the FD to make sure the flames hadn’t gone up the vent into the attic, as that was where the microwave vented out. We had the venting changed after that.

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    1. Good for you to follow up on that.

      My grandparent’s farmhouse was sold and the new family remodelled the kitchen, including a built in microwave. Apparently something went wrong with that as a fire started and that house is no more.

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  8. We bought our house when I was 13, and were elated that it had both a living room fireplace, and one in the basement right under… Didn’t use the basement one much, but once after a fire, Dad swept out the ashes in a cardboard box and left it in corner by the fireplace. WOOPS! I came home from ice skating to find a fire engine in our driveway, and a rather sheepish Dad explained. Luckily, there was only a little damage to the basement ceiling, thanks to it being Saturday and they were at home to smell it.

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  9. My father in law tried to dispose of a Christmas tree one year by burning it in the fireplace. The sparks shot out and started the carpet on fire. They had to move out of the house for months so the smoke damage could be repaired.

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  10. Way back in the wayback machine, around 1983 or ‘84, I lived in the stone house in Faribault. I’ve explained about the stone house before. It’s a historic house in Faribault, on the National Register. It was built in 1852 or ‘53, but there is no record of when exactly it was built.

    Many of my friends hung out or lived there in the late 1970s and ‘80s. The main level had a large nickel plated old round oak wood stove. The stove pipe went through a hole cut in the floor upstairs, then up through the ceiling, the attic, and the roof, which had cedar shingles.

    I was working in the medical hospital at the time, and I usually had late evening shifts. I routinely got home after midnight, so I slept late in the morning.

    One particular morning, somebody filled the wood stove with kiln-dried oak scrap pieces – I mean really filled it. It was about this time of year when a hot fire really wasn’t needed. Everyone who was there but me had gone to work. I was asleep, so no one was watching the stove. I woke up feeling really hot. I could hear a crackling sound. I got up, feeling waves of heat coming out of the stove pipe outside the bedroom. I ran downstairs and I could see the stove pipe glowing red. Yikes!

    I closed all the dampers and vents. I ran outside and looked at the stove pipe from the street. Sparks were flying out and landing on some of the cedar shake shingles. I called the fire department. I told them to send just one truck or a car – it will go out – just keep me calm. They sent three fire trucks and a police car.

    One of the firefighters opened the dampers, then opened the door. The fire had been quieting down, but sprang to life when he did that. I remember saying, “No…” They damped the stove back down and it started going out again. No water or fire extinguishers were used. The fire did go out on its own and we got a bill for $300 from the City.

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  11. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    No calls to the fire department here, but close friends experienced a burning house–totally destroyed–after she oiled an antique dining set with Linseed oil then threw the rag in the garbage. It caught fire while they were at a social function, and the neighbors called the fire department, but the house was wrecked. It was re-built, but the entire experience was traumatic for them.

    Jack Lemmon movie–Mr. Roberts. When I looked up Lemmon’s movies, I discovered that he was born in an elevator in NYC! I did not know that.

    I have never noted much about Tony Curtiss except for his daughter, Jamie Lee.

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  12. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon were so versatile! I just looked through the Tony Curtis movies, and see that I haven’t seen many… The Great Race I’ve seen, and has both of the PLUS Natalie Wood…

    One of my all time favorite movies, though, is Mr. Roberts. And Jack Lemmon was a genius – Irma la Douce, Days of Wine and Roses, Good Neighbor Sam…

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  14. Twice in the late 80s fire broke out in the underground parking lot of the all-concrete apartment building where we lived in Taiwan. Apparently someone owed too much money to the wrong people, and torching the motor scooter or car had an effect on all of us. But the firefighters were effective, efficient, and near.

    As for actors, I generally suspend disbelief and believe them to be the characters they were playing in the film. Forrest Grump was Forrest Grump, not Tom Hanks. I don’t go to see a “actor’s name here” movie. I go to see a story.

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  15. I’m jsut catching up on the last couple of days and have a comment for Clyde.

    Your new place sounds very much like where we have lived since August of 2023. It’s perfect for us and I’m sure you’ll like your new home. We don’t haave any food service options on-site, but there are many regularly scheduled and random activities. Some people are playing one game or another nearly every day, and I was always asked if I played (your game name here) and told when and where to show up if I wanted to join the group, learn a new game of just see what it was all about., but there was never any pressure. I did learn and really enjoy Mah Jongg, but aside from that I don’t play any games, and husband is a dyed in the wool homebody. But we have made friends and go to the occasional party, potluck, and monthly catered meal. I also help out on a couple of committiees for things that interest me (primarily the library and book discussion group). It’s an ideal situation for us. A wonderfu group of people, as much socialization as you want, but no prodding to get involved if you’d rather keep to yourself. I hope your new home is as good a transition for you as ours is for us.

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  17. No firetrucks here.
    Jack Lemmon – The Apartment; SLIT; Mr. Roberts; Days
    of Wine & Roses
    Tony Curtis – SLIT; The Defiant Ones; Spartacus; Sweet
    Smell of Success

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  19. I must have seen a bunch of Tony Curtis movies over the years, but for some reason the only one I can think of is Trapeze. Why that one has stayed with me, I have no idea, but I recall Burt Lancaster and Gina Lollobrigida were in it too. I must have been thirteen or fourteen years old when I saw it.

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