Biden says we “almost lost a couple of firefighters” during the 2004 kitchen fire at his Delaware home and thanked them for saving his life and helping fight the effects of climate change
- Lightning caused a fire at Joe Biden’s Delaware home in 2004
- The fire lasted 20 minutes and was confined to the kitchen
- The President claimed firefighters almost died trying to put out the fire
- Arrived during remarks for Tuesday’s Fire Prevention and Control Summit
- Biden has referred to the kitchen fire several times over the past two decades — including in remarks made in Florida last week
Joe Biden claimed Tuesday that firefighters came close to death in a 20-minute fire at his Delaware home in 2004 — and also said the world is increasingly urging these individuals to fight the effects of climate change.
Drawing on personal experience during remarks at the Fire Prevention and Control Summit, the President described instances in his own life where he had to rely on first responders.
Biden has mentioned that his kitchen has caught fire several times over the past two decades, even as recently as last week.
“I was doing Meet the Press,” and lightning struck a small pond behind my house, came through the floor and into the air conditioner,” Biden said in Tuesday’s remarks. “It ended up with this thick black smoke… And from the basement to the third floor, the attic, everything was ruined.”
“We almost lost a couple of firefighters, they tell me, because the kitchen floor — the fire between the joists in the house — and nearly collapsed into the basement,” the president said in his virtual speech on Tuesday.
Biden also brought up the incident during his speech in Fort Myer, Fla. last week after examining the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.
President Joe Biden claimed that firefighters nearly died in a 2004 fire at his Delaware home that lasted 20 minutes and was trapped in the kitchen
He drew parallels with the Category 4 storm that completely wiped out communities and the lightning strike, which he claims “lost a lot.”
“I know from experience how much anxiety and fear and apprehension people have,” Biden said while Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis stood over his shoulder.
“We didn’t lose our whole home, but lightning struck and we lost a lot of it,” he said.
When Biden was US Senator for Delaware, his home in Wilmington was struck by lightning, starting a small fire that did not spread outside the kitchen. No one was injured in the New Castle Country fire.
Firefighters arrived with heavy smoke but were able to control the flames in the kitchen.
“Luckily we got it pretty early,” George Lamborn, chief of the Cranston Heights Fire Company, said at the time. “The fire was under control in 20 minutes.”
Biden also thanked the first responders who got him to the hospital for surgery in the middle of a snowstorm.
The President raised the incident in his remarks for Tuesday’s Fire Prevention and Control Summit. He has referred to the kitchen fire several times over the past two decades – including during a speech in Florida last week
“I was rushed to the hospital by my fire department in the middle of a snowstorm for what turned out to be a nearly nine-hour operation on a cranial aneurysm,” Biden said Tuesday. “They got me down. you saved my life And that’s why I owe you one. And so many other Americans owe you so many families too.’
Biden said firefighters are vital in combating the effects of climate change and commended them for helping fight massive wildfires that have raged in recent years.
“As the impacts of climate change become more evident, we’re asking you more and more,” Biden said.
“Extreme heat and prolonged drought have turned wildfire season into wildfire years,” he added. “And local firefighters are being called out more to respond to the fires in the wildland-urban interface, where we’re moving into the forested areas to develop and it’s going to be local and federal.”