DEAR ABBY: This is a letter of thanks and a warning.
For Mother's Day, my adult children and spouses brought all the fixings to my home for a barbecue. I didn't have to do a thing. We had a wonderful time, and everyone went home by 9 p.m.
Around midnight, I was awakened by the sound of sirens and got up to see where the fire trucks had stopped. To my horror, they were parked in front of my house! One of my sons had cleaned the barbecue grill, swept the hot ashes into a paper bag, put them on the wooden deck and forgot them. They smoldered for hours, causing my deck to become engulfed in flames. That's the warning.
My thanks go to the unknown neighbor or passer-by who called 911 and saved our lives. -- NADINE MEEHAN, SAN FRANCISCO
DEAR NADINE: Talk about throwing cold water on a warm memory! Embers should be disposed of in a metal container with water or allowed to burn out in the barbecue.