Notfarnow's House Fire

[billybek]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

When I asked him that, being the smartass he is, Jake told me they seemed think fire was the main cause.

I would have guessed fuel, heat and oxygen myself...

[tevake]

Yes Jake great outlook you have going there!.
It must be terrible seeing all of your lifelong possession gone like that.

Get some pics of life at the hotel, kids in the pool, burr, to start a new album.

Is this the house that was squished by the roofing materials being stacked in one place?

At any rate glad you are ok.

Thanks for letting us know Sid.

Cheers Richard

[masraum]

Wow! Glad Jake is still with us and, apparently, doing really well (all things considered) and the luckiest SOB alive.

[oldE]

Geez Jake!
Leave you alone for a decade and look what happens!
Glad you're OK. Things can be replaced.
That doesn't really look like it'll buff out.
Best
Les

[GH85Carrera]

That really sucks. Sorry for the lost "stuff" but it was your stuff. With no loss of animal or human life I say let the insurance folks handle it.

Ain't it great to see a simple plan come together. You have paid for insurance for many years and now you get to find out just what you paid for.

And how lucky, you GET to live at a hotel!

Keep up the positive attitude and the kids will remember it as just a minor inconvenience, or better yet a fun adventure.

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

When I asked him that, being the smartass he is, Jake told me they seemed think fire was the main cause.

Maybe he left the Le Car idling in the garage.

[flatbutt]

That is some terrifying shiz! Glad to hear he is ok. faaaack!

[bivenator]

I can truly feel Jake's pain. So glad this update didn't include any bodily harm. It has been six years since I had my house burn down and am still grateful to the Pelican community for their concerns and generosity.

Glad to hear you are alright Jake.

[KFC911]

Jake's newest sign:

A smokin' deal!

Hope I made you smile a bit Jake

[Scuba Steve]

Originally Posted by tevake

Is this the house that was squished by the roofing materials being stacked in one place?

No, that one was mine. The lawsuit was finally settled and I decided to sell the place while the market is bubbling and use the funds to invest outside of real estate. I would have liked to fix it up but water damage is as bad as fire, only slower. There probably isn't a good piece of wood anywhere but the city won't allow it to be knocked down.

It's terrible to hear about the fire but good to read that everyone is ok. Also curious to hear about the cause.

[techweenie]

Burnt up: stuff

Not burnt up: Jake's spirit

I'm thinking when the repairs/rebuilding is done, some Porsche decor will be in order...

[Hugh R]

Wow, I bought new 9v batteries for my smoke detectors to replace, when we rolled back Daylight savings a few weeks ago. I mushed and its now on my list for tomorrow. I should know better.

[pete3799]

Sorry to hear the news Jake.
Glade you're alright.

[notfarnow]

thanks for the kind words everyone, and thanks Sidney for posting this. Sidney saw my post on FB and has stayed in touch since it happened earlier in the week. The time difference makes a difference... I'm 4 time zones away so there have been a few nights where my mind is racing @ 1-2 am and he's has been online to chat with. It's helped a lot

The house is a total loss, but I don't really give a ****. I was supposed to have my kids that night but my ex swapped nights and I had been super cranky about that... but it turns out it prevented an unthinkable alternative... I just don't let my mind go there. I *barely* made it out alone, and once I was outside the house was engulfed in a matter of minutes. Going back in and seeing the kids bedrooms is disturbing. Enough about that though, because there is too much to be grateful for to spend time thinking about what could have happened.

I've settled into a hotel for the interem, and I'm not thinking about anything beyond the next week at this point. I have my kids 50% of the time, and so they still have a lot of stability and a lot of their stuff. Since tge fire, on my kid days, I've just been taking them after school until bedtime, then dropping them at their moms. I need to get a bit more settled and sleeping better before I have them overnight. I also want to get some stuff that's familiar to them in the rooms here at the hotel, before they spend time here.

People keep saying, "oh you'll get tired of hotel living real fast". I don't think those people know me that well. Last night I was laying in bed having a beer, and had a craving for french fries. Pressed "0" on the phone, and 15 mins later I'm javing a beer and eating french fries in bed. Just got back here a few mins ago and the bed is made, there are no french fries on the floor, and the bathroom is clean. It's like friggin magic.

When I have a bit more time this weekend, I'll give the lowdown on the night it happened.

Thanks again for all the kind words

[hcoles]

Just installed new smoke detectors.

[KNS]

Originally Posted by hcoles

Just installed new smoke detectors.

I did too, five new ones through out the house based on this thread.

[notfarnow]

I typically have the kids on Monday, but this week my ex asked me to trade for Tuesday. I agreed but was pretty pissy about it.

I got home around 5 and got a big humpin fire going in the fireplace insert. I'd had 4-5 fires already this season. I watched some TV, had a nap and woke up around 7pm. I loaded the fireplace again, and hummed and hawed about getting up and going to home depot. They had a truckload sale on kitchen cabinets, and I needed a 15" base cabinet for some changes I was doing in the kitchen in the next few weeks, and I knew they only had two left... I figured it would be just my luck to go the next day and find they'd sold them.

I went to Home Depot to get the cabinet, then went to another hardware store to get a wide pine plank for a threshold between the master bedroom and the walk in closet I was making. I stopped and got a coffee, because I was going to work on the house when I got home.

When I walked in the house around 930, I heard a smoke detector going off and I could smell smoke. I looked around and couldn't see anything.

Years ago, at my old house, I had a wood burning insert as well. When they installed it, they didn't clean the chimney before running the stainless liner. One day at that house, I had a great big fire going and smelled smoke, and could see small whiffs of smoke coming from behind the surround that overlaps the brick... I pulled the cover off and saw a bunch of soot and creosote on top of the stove, glowing red and smoking. Cleaned it and never had the problem again.

So in my mind, knowing I'd had a huge fire going, and given that experience at my old house, I figured that was the issue. The smoky smell was in the livingroom but there was no visible smoke. I couldn't take the cover off this insert, because the apes who put it in had used 6 big screws into the brick to secure it. The fire was almost out, but I pinched it down anyway and decided to stay in the livingroom and keep an eye on it. I pulled the battery out of the smoke detector that was going off upstairs.

I parked myself in the living room instead of doing the work I'd planned to do on the house that night. I did some emails, texted with my girlfriend, and eventually fell asleep on the couch.

I woke up sometime around 11ish and was cold because the fire had been out for hours now. Everything seemed fine, and I debated going upstairs to bed, but the whole thing still had me a bit spooked. I turned the electric heat up and went back to sleep on the couch.

I woke up again on the couch at some point within a couple hours, and everything seemed fine. If there was anything wrong with the fireplace, it was cooled off now. I got off the couch and went to bed.

At 330, I was awoken by the sound of an alarm. I reached over to hit snooze on my phone a few times before I realized that it was the smoke detector (there was another one by the foot of the stairs downstairs). I got up and saw right away that it was smoky in my bedroom. I opened the bedroom door, it was VERY smoky upstairs, and then ran downstairs... I couldn't see or breath downstairs. I fumbled finding the doorway to the kitchen and got disoriented for a brief moment -this part I am still having nightmares about- before feeling around and getting my bearings. Made it to the kitchen, then to the mudroom where it wasn't smoky at all, then out onto the deck. I called 911, then popped back in the mudroom to grab my coat, then on the deck again. Up to this point I hadn't seen any flames, but once I got out on the deck again a window in the livingroom shattered and flames started to pour out. Within minutes all the windows in the livingroom were out and you could see flames in the diningroom and then again within a couple more minutes.

The first police car was there in 6 minutes. The first firetruck was there a couple minutes later. Within a few minutes the upstairs was engulfed and it was obvious that they were not fighting the fire to save the home, but to contain it.

There's a lot more to be said about the whole experience, and I wish we had the setting of a bar to talk it through. It was unsettling how hypnotic it was to watch the house burn, while drinking coffee in the neighbor's porch.

One thing I will say is that we take for granted the services and resources that are a 3 digit phone call away. Within 10 minutes of that 911 call, there must have been a couple dozen boots on the ground, millions of dollars of equipment, and untold years of training and expertise. I watched firefighters going into my burning home hours after the fire had started. I will never forget it, and I don't know that I'll ever be able to listen to people ***** about those salaries and the tax dollars spent there.

I will also say that I am the luckiest son of a ***** I know. There are other ways this could have played out for me and my family, I have nightmares about them. It helps me keep things in perspective when I start *****ing about the logistics and inconveniences I'm facing now.

[pwd72s]

Holy krap! That's quite a riveting tale...thanks for writing it.

[recycled sixtie]

Jake I am happy you are safe and okay. Fortunately the children were not there.

[notfarnow]

Thanks guys, I appreciate the kind words and I love hearing that you guys are checking, replacing and jnstalling smoke detectors. Mine saved my life. The one I didn't pull the battery out of on Monday night, to be precise.

I'm gonna be honest and say I'm struggling at night. Nightmares are pretty bad and I'm not sleeping great. I'm ok in the day and make time to nap.

My work is such that I can't just take a couple weeks off. Sympathy bleed is a real problem in real estate... people don't want to bother me so they will list/buy with other agents if I don't stay "out there" and positive with my work.

Now for something more upbeat and funny. Guess which hotel I'm staying at. This was at 8am today.



That was at 8am, when the fire alarm started going I had to take the stairs to the lobby (they all know me and my situation down there now) and when I came out the stairway doors I looked at them and said "It wasn't me, I swear!"

They said "It's just a detector on the 3rd floor... it's probably just a sensor" Ha, yeah.. well I didn't go back to my room and I left without a shower today