One evening after work my husband and I decided not to fix dinner at home, but to go out to eat. We had no more than left, apparently, when a neighbor was driving by our house and noticed a bit of smoke coming out of our roof. She stopped and had another neighbor call the fire department when she realized we were not at home. The neighbors began to gather around our home. One neighbor was standing by our bedroom window. Someone else hollered to him to get out of the way in case the windows blew out. He stepped back just before our house literally exploded. The neighbors said it sounded like a bomb. Windows blew out, patio door glass exploded into tiny pieces of glass, the kitchen ceiling, where I would normally have been preparing dinner, blew down.
A faulty thermostat had been smoldering for some time. Pressure had built up in the ceiling, and when a hole was burned through the roof, this caused the explosion. When we had been home earlier we had not smelled smoke.
One of the neighbors was able to locate us to let us know our house was on fire. The fire department was right there after the explosion to put out the There was very little fire damage, as they used mostly fire extinguishers and very little water. Upon arriving home, If found that everything was being taken care of. Even our little dog had been safely removed from where he had been on the back porch.
