What a day. When Deb woke me up, I expected to hear her say that I needed to get up and potty the dogs. Was totally unprepared to hear her say that a family member was dead and that the house was burning.
The fire investigation found that the fire started in the kitchen, with a pan of some sort being left unattended on the stove. The fire was so hot that the pot had melted onto the surface of the stove. Wayne was found in the living room, on the floor. Official ruling is that the fire was an accidental fire, no official ruling on cause of death...but it will come back as smoke inhalation.
Wayne was 28. A really nice guy. He had some problems that he was working through, but he was doing the best he could to be a good husband, a good dad to the three kids (Landon, 4, is his son with Heather, my niece, and Lauryn, 6, and Lexi, 10, are from my niece's previous relationships...but Wayne loved those girls as much as he loved his son). Such a tragedy...but one that could have been worse. As it turned out, this weekend was the weekend for the girls to spend with their dads and my niece was visiting friends and had Landon with her. The loss of one family member is hard enough, but the loss of 5 would have been even harder to handle.
Laney, the family dog, was found dead under Wayne and Heather's bed....which is where she would run and hide whenever she was scared. That dog was the calmest, sweetest, most loving little thing. Everyone in the family loved her. She did not have a singed hair on her body...looking at her, she looked like she was simply asleep.
One thing that came out that really hit me hard was the fact that Wayne was wearing his much loved LA Raiders stocking cap when he was found.....I bought him that cap for Christmas a couple years ago.
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If there is any lesson to come out of this tragedy.....please make sure your fire detectors are in working order. Check them monthly...weekly....and change the batteries at least twice a year...even if they still test okay. And never leave the stove unattended.
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OBIO