Notfarnow's House Fire

[billybek]

PTS?
Maybe having a quick chat with someone that knows their way around the human mind might help you out.
Glad you are OK and that the kids were not with you at the time.
Working though this might be the best thing you can do.

[Oh Haha]

Sorry that you are dealing with this, brother. Our best to you and yours.

[creaturecat]

take care. wishing you the best.
lots to be thankful for here, amidst the to-be-expected personal trauma.

[oldE]

Jake,
39 years ago we were renting an old house on the farm where I was working. There was a sleet storm through the night and I managed to convince myself the snapping noise was ice pellets on the steel roof. When I got up in the morning I could smell smoke. There was a fire in the attic where the old chimney had failed. Within two hours there was nothing but a smoking hole and the stump of that GD chimney.
Every now and then I let my foolish mind go there. Bad idea.
Glad you're OK.
Best
Les

[motion]

Sorry you're having to deal with this, Jake, but you appear to be doing very well, considering.

[jyl]

That is amazingly scary. You did everything right and still almost died. Gulp.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Scary stuff Jake, I have anxiety just reading it. Glad you came out of it ok, and even gladder that your kids were not there! Best for a speedy recovery and I hope insurance continues to be fair to you.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by jyl

That is amazingly scary. You did everything right and still almost died. Gulp.

I am really bothered by the fact that I removed the battery from the upstairs smoke detector. It's always been sensitive. If I burn something in the kitchen, the upstairs smoke detector would go off way before the downstairs one. That should have caused me to replace the downstairs one ages ago.

I have no idea how long the downstairs one was going before I woke up.

[john70t]

When I was a child, I'd stay up late and put a blanket over the reading light to prevent the motherly 'goodnight reminder visits'. One morning awoke to a hole burned through several layers after the light had been left on.

Jake, you have some amazing stoicism and pragmatism in the face of complete loss.
Hang in there man.



for perspective for us all:

[notfarnow]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. I got new adjoined rooms at the Delta last night, and my new room has a king size bed and is much bigger... feels a lot more comfortable. I had a good 5hrs sleep last night and feel like I could kick the devil down today.

They're saying it was an electrical fire. Had nothing to do with the fireplace. It had been smoldering in the basement, under the livingroom.

[notfarnow]

and with that in mind

[oldE]

Now that's irony right there.
Best
Les

[recycled sixtie]

You seem to be surviving this quite well Jake. How old was the house? It helps that the insurance co. is cooperating. Do you plan on rebuilding? The main thing is that you are alive and well.

[jhynesrockmtn]

I own a 6 unit apt. building originally built in 1912. It has been re wired. I had a maintenance guy go through the building a few weeks back with my wife and replace batteries in all of the smoke detectors and put ones in if needed. I went yesterday to check on something. There is a 12 by 12 mechanical room with all of the breaker panels, 3 water heaters, etc. The smoke detector in there had the battery pulled and was pulled off of the ceiling. He didn't check in there.......

Glad to see you and your kids are doing well. Scary stuff. A lot to be thankful for. Hopefully the devil stays down.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by john70t

When I was a child, I'd stay up late and put a blanket over the reading light to prevent the motherly 'goodnight reminder visits'. One morning awoke to a hole burned through several layers after the light had been left on.

Jake, you have some amazing stoicism and pragmatism in the face of complete loss.
Hang in there man.



for perspective for us all:

When I was 13 I was like a lot of kids that slept HARD. It was very hard to wake me up. In the middle of the night our family bulldog was licking and almost chewing on my face. He was dancing on my chest. I finally woke up enough to tell him to leave me alone when I smelled smoke. It was dark of course and this was long before smoke detectors were around in homes.

Anyway I woke up enough to check out the house. I walked room to room sniffing and no smoke order. I got back to my bedroom and it was a strong odor of smoke. I turned on the light and my electric blanket was smoldering at the foot of my bed. My dad was off in Korea due to the Pueblo incident so I woke up my mom up with a line no parent ever wants to hear. Mommy my bed it on fire! She stood straight up in her bed and leaped towards my bedroom. She grabbed up the bedding and tossed them in the back yard. 30 seconds later they exploded into a large fire. We hosed that down with a garden hose and called the fire department. They woke up the neighborhood and hosed down the bedding even more. They set up some fans and evacuated the smoke from the house.

I was totally unhurt and zero doubt my dog saved me from injury at the least and possibly my life. The dog was a biological smoke detector.

I got a new bed and bedding the next day and all was fine.

[glewis80SC]

Scary story but glad you are ok.

[Deschodt]

Scary stuff... I always fail to understand how a house fire can propagate so quickly and people can still die in house fires in this day and age, it's not like walls are soaked in gasoline.... And yet there is no denying it happens, a lot, and that was another good reminder...

I guess it smolders inside the walls and then when it breaks out that's when you've got seconds to get out ? I have a spare CO detector in my old bimmer right now (detection exhaust leak I guess), gonna bring it back in the house (on top of all the existing ones)... Hope your insurance treats you well and you rebuild something even better !! (big garage?)

[rusnak]

Wow what a tale.

I want to point out that the firefighters did their job, but you save your own life by installing the smoke detectors. You had your own power over the situation and used it. So give yourself credit for that.

Also, the kids were not there. It's not their trauma, and if they lost some stuff, at least they didn't lose you. Stuff is just stuff, and kids are resilient.

No rest for the weary. Stay positive. It's ok to freak out and go to pieces at night. We all do that to some extent. But the next morning go hard or go home.

[Eric Coffey]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Scary stuff Jake, I have anxiety just reading it.

+1

One of my biggest fears.


Jake:

Holy fook man! Good to see you found the silver lining here (and it is a big one considering the "what-ifs"), with levity intact. Pretty commendable considering...

Hopefully the insurance process will be a smooth one, and try to enjoy your "staycation" in the mean time. This too shall pass...

[jyl]

My aunt and uncle went through something like this. Their house was flooded out, had to be stripped to studs and entirely rebuilt. They lived in a hotel for a year. You will probably get moved to an extended stay residence hotel where you have a little kitchen and can live more of a normal life. A steady diet of takeout food is lethal.