You’d think you’d easily wake up if there was a raging fire in your house, but the Mulvanes learned the hard way that a fire can easily burn unnoticed while you’re asleep.

It began as a typical night for the Mulvanes. They were sound asleep in their basement, when their neighbor began pounding on their door. The dog heard the pounding and woke up Mrs. Mulvane.

She went upstairs to see why someone was pounding on their door, and that’s when she looked out and saw the fire in the grass near their home. Mrs. Mulvane ran downstairs to tell her husband that there was a fire, and then ran back up the stairs. Their neighbor swung open their door and said, “Your house is on fire!”

Mrs. Mulvane tried to run back down the stairs to warn her husband, but a fireman grabbed her and threw her out the front door. The firemen then went into the basement and escorted Mr. Mulvane to safety.

They believe the cause of the fire was a heat lamp in their shed.

Fortunately Mr. and Mrs. Mulvane were safe, but they learned a valuable lesson. Fires don’t notify you when they’re destroying your home and threatening your life.

At the time of the fire, the Mulvanes didn’t have an egress window in their basement. If the fire had blocked their stairway before they woke up, they might not have been able to escape.

In the wake of the fire, the Mulvane’s children made them promise that they would get an egress window well installed in their basement.

While we certainly hope the Mulvanes will never experience another fire in their home, they can rest easy at night, knowing that they now have a great way to escape their basement during an emergency.

For more of the Mulvane's story, you watch the video here.