It’s been ages since I wrote about any of the stories in our small-town weekly newspaper, but this one about a fire intrigued me. The report was called in by someone in a camper/caravan. Because the location was a mountain lake resort in the vicinity of a national forest, fire units from three different jurisdictions responded, including units from the two towns in the county and from the nearby state prison. But the suspected brush fire turned out to be something else altogether…

No smoke was visible around the camper when crews arrived (the county public safety director) said. He added that the owner said there was an odor of paper burning and thought it might have been a brush fire. However, when responders investigated they discovered the camper was full of smoke and discovered what looked like a mask in the microwave.

… The owner confirmed that they put the mask into the microwave to sanitize it and forgot it was there. The owner did not realize it would catch on fire… There were no injuries, and firefighters removed the mask.

 The moral of the story:

DON’T SANITIZE YOUR FACE MASK IN THE MICROWAVE!!

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As our local Public Safety Director said,

Please be careful when attempting to sanitize masks and other personal protective equipment. Check CDC ( Center for Disease Control) websites for proper sanitizing techniques.

You gotta love living in a small town!