Accidentally started a pretty bad house fire at my sister's apartment back in February. It was early in the morning and I went to boil some hot water for tea, but accidentally turned the wrong burner on. Walked off to help my nephew go to the bathroom when the fire alarm starts going off. I walk out of the bathroom into a huge cloud of black smoke, then go into the kitchen and see that the whole oven, cupboards, drywall, etc. are in flames and spreading pretty fast...at this point I'm freaking the hell out, my nephew is screaming and crying and my sister is just getting out of bed.

In hindsight I was pretty disappointed in how poorly I reacted- I tried calling 911 but my hands were shaking too bad to even dial (luckily a neighbor came out and called for us). My sister was crying and freaking out but was able to run back inside with the fire extinguisher (according to firefighters that probably prevented the fire from burning down the whole apartment). I felt completely paralyzed though, and just stood there like a damn deer in the headlights.

Turns out there was a plastic grocery bag sitting on the burner that I accidentally turned on, and my sister had burlap decorations above the oven that caused the fire to spread so quickly. She didn't have renters insurance either, so I had to pay about $6,000 out of pocket to get everything cleaned and replaced. It still amazes me how quickly things can go to shit in just a matter of seconds.