Topic: House Fire

[Scott S]

 A co-worker had his house burn to the ground last weekend. Two story house with a basement. It was still burning 4 days later.
 He lost EVERYTHING.

 We swing shifts and he and his wife were in bed on Sunday afternoon. The smoke alarm went off and they awoke to find the kitchen fully engulfed in flame. They had time to throw on some pants and get out. No shoes, even.
 They lost two dogs, two cars, ALL personal possessions. A third vehicle, his truck, was severely damaged by the heat. It melted the tires and the glass in the headlights. An aluminum boat, parked ~20 yards from the house, was literally melted in half. The rear of the boat still looked like a boat. The front was just a puddle of aluminum.
 No keys, no ID, nothing......
 
 Be thankful for what you have and check the batteries in your smoke alarms.

[my78k]

Sobering news and a good reminder!

My thoughts are with your friend! It may sound trite but it could have been worse...with the exception of the pets, most everything can be replaced (except the sentimental stuff). Either way a terrible event and I feel for him I really do...

Dennis

[Bob Wessner]

Good advice on the batteries. We (I) religiously change them twice a year. As 'they' suggest, the twice a year daylight time changes make good reminders. Hope they can get everything squared away and glad to hear they are alright.

[Skunk Stripe]

Reminds me to get additional detectors. The ones I got plug into a/c power so I do not have to worry abot batteries going dead but what if my power goes out? Guess it is time to get a couple battery detectors.

[Bob Wessner]

Ours also. We had an addition put on 10-12 years ago and at the time everything had to be brought up to the then current code which included at least one AC powered unit on each of the three levels that are interconnected, but they have battery back-up.

[78 k550]

 Sorry to hear of this.

Paul

[demon78]

Been through it, the things that were the greatest loss were Granny's letters and memorabilia (there were letters from her sons in Europe with the Canadian Army during WW2, there were letters from her husband about homesteading on the prairies),if they have insurance the items that were lost can be replaced, the things like pictures and letters, no, disperse things like those with your kids or siblings so that the history isn't lost.
Bill the demon.

[techy5025]

I have all my digital pictures stored on CD roms in a safe deposit box. All the old slides
I scanned in also....boy did that take a lot of time.  I think everything else can be
replaced. No pets.

Really brings to the forefront the need to have plans made in advance for things like
this. Glad they escaped..wow.

[Scott S]

 The co-worker mentioned that, had the grand kids been there, they would have been upstairs and he would have probably died trying to get them out. It all happened that quickly.
  He said in less than 20 minutes the entire house was on fire and in 30 it was gone. This is (was) a newer home...about seven years old, brick and vinyl. He said the vinyl siding acted like fuel for the fire, dropping off in big, flaming globs...like Napalm...and spreading the fire so fast it was incredible. The fire department arrived and just sprayed the propane tank. They told him the house was beyond saving by the time they arrived.
  The basement acted like a big grill or fire pit. Several days later he could kick over a smoldering log and the fire would re-erupt from coals and ember still smoldering several feet deep in the basement. It even melted or burned the gunstocks INSIDE his gun safe.