Smokin' a Camel!

In 2007 we were at our neighbours’ house, in the family room, having a New Years drink. They had prepared a lovely snack buffet, and we went into the dining room and took cheese, fruit and cookies on plates, and returned to the family room. They had a lovely set up, with a candle-lit centerpiece and Christmas ornamentation on the dining room table.

Twenty minutes later we were talking when the woman of the house started screaming
and pointing towards the dining room. We all ran to see that the room was on fire. The
man of the house threw water on it, I grabbed the tablecloth and smothered it. The
centerpiece burned as well as the table cloth, the table top finish and a Christmas
ornament exploded sending pieces of hot glass through (right through) the drapes and onto the carpeting, but they did not ignite, thankfully.

The smoke detector was disabled for some unknown reason, and we were two rooms away and never smelled the smoke. We put it out, and the smoke was thick but we opened windows and doors to relieve the air.

We went home and I felt like I’d just smoked a pack of Camels!