Dial 911 For Emergencies…

We just had quite the little adventure here at the Egbert house and I wanted to quickly get it written down. To put things in perspective, let me paint a little picture for you. Imagine 2 Fire Trucks, an Ambulance, a Police car, a Fire Chiefs SUV, and 12 Emergency people (11 Firemen, and 1 Police Officer) coming to our house in a rush. I was even the one that made the call. Now for the story we will certainly laugh at for years to come.

At around 11:30 this morning I left to go and pick up Branson from Pre-school, then we promptly went over to our Pediatricians office for Dawsons one year check-up. (YES, I have a 1 year old, and YES it is freaking me out. Where did the last year go anyway?). At around 12:30 we came home and the instant I got out of the car, I was hit with a powerful whiff of what smelled like Propane. We have our BBQ in our Garage so I immediately went and checked on that, but found everything in order. The gas was turned off, all the knobs were in the off position, etc. So I went inside the house dismissing the smell thinking that it was probably nothing.

However, at around 7:15 this evening I went out to the garage to get something out of our Freezer and was plastered with the most overwhelming Propane-ish smell I’ve ever encountered. So bad, in fact, that I couldn’t even bear to stay in the garage long enough to get my needed item out of the freezer. I called for Adam, had him confirm the smell (which he also had smelt earlier) and asked him to look up the number to the gas company.

I immediately called the Emergency Hotline, but when I described a “propane” like smell, Questar said it wasn’t natural gas (as that smells more like rotten eggs) and to call our local Fire Department. So I looked up Payson Fire Department up and tried two different numbers, both of which went straight to an answering machine since office hours were over, and finally gave up and called 911. A kind lady answered and said she would send someone over right away and to evacuate the house until the Fire Department arrived. By the time I had gotten Brans and Harrisons coats zipped up, two men had had arrived. Yes, THAT fast. I explained to the Fire Chief the situation and he and his buddy took off into the garage to search out the problem.

Then within a few more minutes what seemed like the entire city of Payson started arriving at our house. I can only imagine what my neighbors were thinking seeing so many Emergency vehicle out front. But no one seemed to be able to figure out where the smell had come from and when the garage was opened it seemed to disappear almost completely.

One Fireman did check out our BBQ Propane bottle and did say he smelt propane when he put his nose up to it (but I’m pretty sure anyone would smell propane with the bottle that close to their face) but he said that sometimes when a bottle gets empty it will start smelling a little. So we moved the BBQ outside and then closed the garage to see if the smell went away. However, after talking a few minutes I kept smelling propane. So we researched further and I got the Fire Chief to also admit he was still smelling it. And that is where we back up our little story to yesterday evening.

At around 7:00 last night Adam left for Provo for Bishopric Training at BYU with the Stake Presidency. As Adam was coming home from the training at 10:30 pm he called me and said he had a surprise. “Is this surprise black?” I asked. “Can you drive it?” I inquired further. I was pretty sure he was bringing home a Truck he’d been telling me about that he was excited about. I mean we do live in Payson now so naturally we should be getting a truck, right?

My suspicions were correct, and a few minutes into our call Adam told me to come to open the garage and in drove a 1995 Chevy Truck with a very excited Adam behind the wheel. “So what do you think?” he asked. I could tell he was REALLY hoping I’d like this one as he’s been bugging me for months now to trade in his Hyndai and get a truck. And from what I could tell it was a pretty nice truck for the low amount of money we wanted to spend on it. Adams plan was working and I could feel myself leaning towards just telling him to go for it and make his Trucking dreams come true (with, of course, the understanding that we would sell our Hyndai and the Truck would become his new vehicle).

So to make a very long story longer, we ended up putting the Truck in the garage all night and then left the Truck in the garage all day today since Adam was working from home. And in the end…it was the Truck that all the hub bub was about. Yes, thats right. Adam’s dream truck was what brought over the entire Emergency Rescue team of Payson!

After the Fire Chief closed the garage, I kept smelling around the garage and getting whiffs of the “propane-like” smell and we eventually traced it to the truck when we opened up the hood, which we think just smelled gassy because they had recently cleaned the engine. Either that or one of the hoses in the engine was loose and leaking something, but it wasn’t gasoline, and they were sure whatever it was, it wasn’t toxic. So slowly the 2 Fire Trucks, Ambulance, Police car, Fire Chief, and 11 Firemen left our home peacefully knowing all was well at the Egbert house.

I cannot stop laughing every time I think about our little adventure and I’m sure this story will be one we remember for quite awhile. I mean its not everyday that your kids get a personal tour and visit from every Emergency vehicle and Fireman in a city. How cool is that? I must say too that I was super impressed with the speed and amount of help that showed up. I have no fear that if anything REALLY were to be wrong, that we would truly be taken care of. Payson Police and Fire are Totally on top of things and we are so grateful for their service! 🙂