It doesn't take much for a tragedy to occur

This Sunday, my parents, brother, sister-in-law and their two children had a close call. The house they stay in is more than 3 decades old, the home I grew up in, got married from, and where I go every summer vacation. Sunday, they had pest control done. There were termites, too, along with other pests, and the pest control people had sprinkled close to 4 litres of kerosene all over the house, along with everything else that they do. The house was kept sealed for the requisite period after treatment, so everyone had gone out for the day. 

Around evening, my brother came home alone, opened all windows - they could be kept open as there is mosquito netting on them - put on the exhaust fans, and went out again, to return with the rest of the family after an hour. The house was cleaned, dinner was cooked, and everyone went to bed around 10 p.m. after a long and exhausting day. My parents were in their room. Sis-in-law was in her room along with her younger daughter. My brother sat in the hall with his son for some time helping him with some school work, then they both decided to sleep on the sofa-cum-bed their, as they didn't want to disturb those sleeping inside.

Sometime in the middle of the night, my father, who cannot sleep deeply, woke up with a sense of unease. He got up to go to the bathroom, and what he saw there got him in a panic. The exhaust fan had remained on, and had burnt out. It, along with the mosquito netting on the window, was in flames. The flames were already spreading along the lines where kerosene had been sprinkled. He cannot move quickly, so he started banging on the bedroom door of my brother. My sis-in-law woke up, saw what was happening, and rushed to switch off the mains and the piped gas inlet. Once this was done, she and my father proceeded to throw large mugfuls of water on the flames. I know that this should not be done for electrical fires, but thankfully the mains were off, and who keeps sand or fire extinguishers in homes? 

By then the other adults were awake, and thankfully the fire was extinguished. The bathroom had a gas geyser just 2 feet away from the flames. Imagine what could have happened if my father hadn't slept fitfully.

Still shaken. We take so much for granted, don't we? And I wonder if sprinkling kerosene around the house is standard procedure?