Before winter, we not only had the furnace cleaned and inspected, but we also had our space heaters cleaned and inspected. We didn’t want any mishaps like we had two years earlier. We were living in a new house because our space heater malfunctioned. We had recently had our home remodelled, and we were sitting in the living room. It was shortly after Christmas, because our tree was still up. My husband got up to let the dog out, and I could feel the icy wind coming through the open door. The wind caused our space heater to sputter. When it sputtered, it regurgitated its fuel all over the new carpeting. The flame ignited the fuel, and within minutes, it engulfed our newly renovated home in flames. My husband and I ran out of the house with nothing but our PJs and went to the neighbors to call the fire department. We lost everything that evening, including a dog, a cat, and a parrot that had just learned my name. A year later, we had a new home built on the site, and although it wasn’t the same, we were still home on our property. When it was time to install the HVAC system, we chose something that was high efficiency and used less fuel. We also bought two new space heaters. This time, we had space heaters with safety features. Not only did we buy safer space heaters, but we now have them inspected, when we have the furnace inspected. I never want to go through a house fire again.