The first week

It has been eight days since the fire. I should start by saying that I appreciate the outpouring of support. Almost everyone I know, and a few that I don't, has offered to loan or donate items and/or money. Fortunately, the insurance company has been very helpful and there is little that we need. It took an event like this to teach me a few things: 1) that my family and friends will do almost anything for us, 2) that we can get by with a lot less than I thought we could and 3) I have a wife that is far more organized than I thought.

The Restoration (Part I)

On the day of the fire, we were met at the house by a representative of Servicemaster. I had heard of them, and I had never thought I would ever need to use them. To the outside observer, they may look like vultures circling our tragedy. To us, they were a helpful company that was there in our time of need. The representatives of the company put us at ease fairly quickly, telling us that their goal was to get the damage cleaned and repaired so we could get back in our home as soon as possible.

The firefighters had put our two cats in their pet carriers and had brought them outside to get some fresh air. We brought them to the vet for an exam. The vet wanted to keep them overnight for observation, and that sounded good to us as well.

By 7 p.m. that night, they already had a generator in the yard, and the water was being removed from the basement floor. they also had heaters, dehumidifiers and air cleaners in the house, and the doors and windows were all secured.

We got a call from the restoration cleaner to have us put together an "emergency clothes" pile. We put together enough clothes to last us for a few days, mostly work clothes and clothes for Steven. There wasn't much more they could do until after the insurance company adjuster did a walk-through.

Fortunately, that happened relatively quickly. The adjuster was there by Monday afternoon. He did a cursory walk through to identify the amount of damage. He said that the damage was significant enough that a fire investigator would need to conduct an investigation, and that we could expect a call by the end of the week.

We got the call on Tuesday. He did his investigation and identified a suspected cause. Ironically, the suspected cause (and I want to stress that this has not been confirmed) was the carbon monoxide detector that we had mounted in the basement to protect us. He took the remains of the detector back to his lab for further inspection.


Accommodations (Part I)

All of this time, we haven't been able to live in the house. We needed to find a hotel that would allow pets. The Best Western in Nashua was great! The staff did everything in their power to make us feel comfortable. They worked with the insurance company to get all of the room charges paid for. While the accommodations there were OK for a short time, there was only one room. We contacted the insurance representative to ask if they could find us a place that had a separate room for Steven. The found us a suite at the Residence Inn in Merrimack.

The Residence Inn is nice, but the estimate of time we will be out of the house has gone up to two to three months. With that timeframe, the insurance company is now looking for a house that we can rent.


So far, everyone has been so helpful.

Background

It is now two days since the fire. I have decided to create this blog to keep all of my friends, family, and anyone else who cares up to date on our progress.

The Background:
While we were spending the New Year's holiday with family, we got a notification from the local police that a neighbor had noticed smoke coming from our house. When we got the call, we had no idea if it was a minor fire or if our house had burned down. We immediately cancelled all of our plans and drove two hours home, having no idea what we would find when we got there.

On the drive, we got a few more details. The fire was isolated to the area around our laundry area and furnace. There was some fire damage and water damage to the basement, and smoke damage throughout the house. (For those that are unfamiliar with what "smoke damage" means, it means that virtually everything you own is now covered with a very thin layer of soot and it all smells like burning wood.) The fire department, not knowing where the fire was, broke in the front door and the basement door. All of the utilities were physically disconnected or shut off.

When we got home, we realized that there was nothing noticeable from the outside of the house. When we opened the front door, all of that changed. While there was nothing obviously indicating fire, everything had a greyish tinge to it, and the smell of smoke was overwhelming. I walked around to see what damage there was, and I realized that the fire department was very thorough about ensuring that the fire hadn't spread into the walls. I also realized (and this is in no way a criticism) that they didn't move anything in a ginger way. The contents of closets were strewn all about, beds and furniture were pulled away from walls, and baseboards were pulled off of the walls.

We were asked to stay away from teh area where the fire occurred until the fire marshall could walk through it with us. When he arrived, he was very nice and willing to answer all of our questions. He explained that the local fire department didn't have the resources to do a full investigation of the fire, and he didn't want to speculate about the cause, but that the insurance company would certainly conduct their own investigation to try to determine the cause.

What I saw when I got down to the area where the fire occurred was a bit breathtaking. The fire was isolated to an area of about 20 square feet, and the majority of the damage was in an area of about 10 square feet. In that 10 square feet, the floor joists for the first floor were significantly burned, the subfloor was also burned, and a small wall was completely burned to the studs. What the fire marshall told me next was a bit surprising, and also a bit of consolation. The fire had burned hot enough to unsolder some of the pipes. While this contributed to the water damage, it also served to contain the fire somewhat.

I know that this could have been worse: we could have been home when it happened, and who knows how it would have affected us, the fire could have spread to more of the house, there could have been more damage. While I won't say that we are lucky, I will say that we are thankful for the neighbor that reported it, for the fire department that responded quickly, and for our family that is here to give us the moral support that we need right now.