It was the winter of 1950-1951. I think it was then because Julie was born in 1950, and I remember that she was being carried. Often John Casey, Grandpa, was our babysitter, but on this night it was Gary who was the babysitter. Gary would have only been 11 years old, the oldest of the six kids.
We had a television in the basement of our home at 64 Grove Street in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. I think this was a fairly new addition to the Casey family. We kids were all watching TV, and someone decided that we should have some french fries. So Gary put some oil on the stove to heat up and we continued watching TV. After watching our show, we returned to the kitchen to find that the oil had become a fire in the pan in which it was being heated.
To his credit, Gary sprung into action and, not knowing any better, filled a pot with water. He poured the water on the oil fire. This created an immediate explosive fireball which went directly up the walls to the ceiling but, miraculously, didn't make contact with any of us kids. Gary opened the back door, and then grabbed a towel which he wrapped around the handle of the burning pan which he threw out the back door into the snow.
We kids knew immediately that we needed to keep this a secret from Mom and Dad. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that you can't clean something that has burned.
I can't remember any consequences from Mom and Dad. I certainly never forgot that you don't put out an oil fire with water.
