HOUSE FIRE

SAFETY AT YOUR HOME

First, never, never use Murphy Oil Soap. It made me a cripple as I am today. It is a 100 year old product designed for old time rough sanded floors as a cleaner and the pine oil would be absorbed by the wood as a bit of a sheen. OK THEN BUT NOT NOW. It leaves a slime on your tile, terrazzo, ceramic, finished wood, or any type of slick floor. I slipped and fell on it on my polyurethane wood floor in 1999 and nobody locally would operate on me as they said HUMANA would not pay the bill. Thus, stonewalled by Humana for 3 months in bed I have one broken leg twisted and an inch longer than the other, two ankles that cannot be fixed and two knees that are so painful that I cry when I arise from my electric wheelchair. Take heed. And if you think HUMANA will help you then ask why they made a cripple out of Chuck Harder?

But today, I did a stupid NO NO. I tell all of you to have a 20 pound ABC fire extinguisher and smoke detectors. Have at least one 20 pounder in the kitchen. Well, I have done all that. But to supplement the heat in my house I have a wood burning stove. I thought the ashes that I had in a metal container sitting outside after two days were OK to dump into a plastic garbage can. NOPE. After I got off the air - the back porch was in flames and it almost took down the house. Here I am in an electric wheelchair first using two 20 pound ABC fire extinguishers to stop what I thought was burning and then found the plastic garbage can had burned through the porch and dropped down to a storage area under the porch that had Kerosene 5 gallon containers and other stuff. The flames were shooting up and burning my "River Room" that is part of the porch. Depending on others, some idiot took away my 12 foot water hose at the spigot. So, I turned the spigot on at the porch to start flooding the porch and got in my power chair to find a hose to put the fire out that was at that point raging. Had I not done so, I would not have a house tonight. I am still terrified. I have no insurance and I cannot afford any. All insurance companies in Florida have made it impossible to afford a policy. I will have to fix the damage as I can afford it with no real income.

My house is here because I was TRIPLE prepared. First 20 pound ABC fire extinguishers in every room that I grabbed and then a booster pump to provide water at 80 pounds. The fire department was amazed that a cripple in a wheelchair had saved his house. Oh, just in case the water didn't work I had a 12KW generator that I could have turned on to power the pumps. Thank God that I take my own advice as I still have a house with about $2,000.00 damage that I will have to fix as I can as I am on SSI and don't get rich off my web sites. So, if you have a wood stove. Sure, you have to clean it out every few days but don't be a dummy like me. WET THE ASHES before you throw them anywhere.

The fire department was amazed that a cripple in an electric power chair had saved his house with a high pressure garden hose. They expected it to all be gone. As I write this they are coming in the morning to find out exactly how a cripple in a wheelchair did what they should have done but were not here. They are also going to give me some free smoke detectors. In turn, I will give them some free radios. But in any case, I am starting all over. The UAW and others broke me. I was in the hospital ten times in the last 3 years and almost lost my right arm to a dirty IV at a state teaching hospital and had to go to another where they saved my arm. Cost over 20K of my life savings.

So, if you want to help me, you know the address: Chuck Harder, PO BOX A, White Springs, FL 32096 Any donation would help. If you sent a #10 envelope with stamp and back to you I will enclose the letter of how to save the USA economy. No Joke.

Donations by check in any amount needed now. Please send to:

Chuck Harder,

PO Box A

White Springs, FL 32096

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