i guess i am not grilling stuff for dinner

[alonewiththemoon]

I just went out and lit the grill, and noticed the underside seemed to be more brightly illuminated than it should have been while the burners were not going as strongly as they ought, and there was rather a lot of gas smell in the air--I looked underneath and the whole ignition assembly was engulfed in flames!  I reached in and turned the gas off, as that seemed like the best thing to do in the moment.  Now of course I am shaking realizing that it might have been a dangerous and stupid thing to do, but the fire did go out, after a disturbingly long wait.  I should probably disconnect the assembly from the tank but frankly I'm scared it will bite me and the valve at the tank end of things seemed to be working fine, the problem was up by the grill.  M isn't home, he'll freak when he finds out.

I think I'm afraid to turn on the oven now to roast the vegetables I've already prepared.  Raw corn and sweet potatoes at my house tonight!

Well, in more productive news today I went to Green Street Studio to work with my wings.  I booked two hours, and after 45 minutes started to think that was a dumb idea.  I tell you I will have awesome arms and upper back after a month of this!  But I forged on through and got some work done.  It was great to have enough room and not worry about knocking the light off the ceiling or scratching the tv.  Next time I go in I'll bring a video camera so that I have instant feedback.

My mermaid skirt pattern came today, so I calculated my pattern and cut my fabric pieces.  I'll sew them later; I can only deal with patterns for so long before I get hopelessly muddled, so I'm thinking if I do this in stages it will be okay.  I also made lots of progress on my little swan wings.  The only thing left is to make a little cover bit to run along the top of the wing (where the bone would be) to cover all the cut off feather ends.  The kitchen is infested with bits of feather as I was cutting and trimming them to suit the wing shapes.  Thing learned:  it's easier to clean up feather fragments with a wet paper towel than it is to clean them up by sweeping or dusting them.

Man, I'm still freaked out by the fire.  Wah!
 

Comments

[sittingstill.livejournal.com]

Yikes! I'm glad you're okay!

Did it seem to be the gas coming out of the assembly itself that was on fire? I've set the entire lower tray on fire before... I'm not sure what on my grill I'd identify as the ignition assembly, though. FWIW I'd have done the same thing as far as reaching in to turn it off... it's that or call the fire department and I know my first choice, death-defying or not, would have been to turn it off. :-/

[alonewiththemoon]

The fire was located between the outer structure of the grill and the wall of the lower tray, basically between two sheets of metal. I was afraid that if I left it long enough to call 911, the entire space would fill up with flames and then the tank would have exploded for sure, as would our neighbor's car which was parked too close to the grill anyway. I think my moving the grill away from the car might have been what jostled the hose out of place, allowing the gas to leak into that space.

Plus, it would have been embarrassing to call the fire department ;-)

[kinadancer.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're OK

[alonewiththemoon]

Thanks! Me too!

[shnells.livejournal.com]

yikes! glad your'e ok!

[alonewiththemoon]

Thanks, me too!

[(Anonymous)]

Whoa that is totally scarry!

Glad you are OK!

- Edrie