We had a near disaster here this morning and I was pertinent to a resent
thread about seniors and fires. I was in the back room doing my morning
crossword when I heard my wife yelling " Help. Fire" I went running into
the kitchen expecting to see something burning on the stove. It was her
clothing that was burning. I ran over and batted out the flames with
my hands. ... not the best way, but the fastest.

We are lucky that she was almost unscathed. She had one small first
degree burn on a finger, but a microfibre sweater and vest are ruined.

I hope that she learned a valuable lesson from that because she may not
be so lucky if it happens again. She had a pot on the front burner of
the stove. The (electric) burner was on high. She reached up into the
spice cupboard to get something. Either the vest or the sweater was
dragged over the hot burner. Since she had just returned from walking
the dogs she was wearing long johns, another layer of protection, but
one which might have also caught on fire or melted in the heat.