Just in case any of you hadn’t heard, the house in DC was involved in a fire around 1:30am last night when the house next door (the “drug dealers’ place”) apparently suffered an explosion (gas? arson? meth lab?) that resulted in a fire that pretty much destroyed that house. Our house and the house on the other side also caught fire.
WEF5 is fine, and got out with not much more than his cell phone. He was taken in by David across the street, and has since been able to get back into the house to get some clothes, his wallet, and other necessary stuff. Aunts Terry and Mary Jane are coming in tomorrow and we’ve arranged for WEF5 to stay at the same hotel with them for a few days.
Here’s a couple of pictures of the house taken by David after the fire was pretty much out and the smoke had cleared. Apparently the house where it started is toast inside. It’s difficult to say what the damage is to out house, but WEF5 says it looks like the attic at least is pretty much gone (this is unconfirmed), and the second floor may have been affected as well. You can see the windows are gone there where they hosed things down.
Certainly, there is at least extensive water damage throughout, with about three inches of standing water in the basement. No telling how that affected the plaster and hardwood floors on the other levels.
I know for the next several days, we’ll all remember stuff that was in the attic and is most likely gone, including boxes of WEFers who had left stuff in the attic, as well as WEF4’s bedroom furniture and associated stuff. For me, the worst is virtually all of my books- You remember that I had put them all in bookcases up there. Of course, it’s important to remember how lucky we are that no one was hurt. Property can usually be replaced, and even if it can’t, it’s only property.
Fortunately WEF2 decided last year to pay for pretty much the most complete coverage available, so that’s a good thing.
We’ll probably be getting set up in an apartment or other lodging by the insurance company when we get back to DC after Christmas. WEF2 will likely be returning with us for a week or so to make sure the insurance company is properly energized. Of course as you can imagine everything is up in the air except for our vacation, which will go on as scheduled (WEF2 and I are leaving Baghdad on Thursday, me for the last time).
Somehow the fire found it’s way on to UTube- the video was apparently taken from the other side of 14th street:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eijZ3PsyECE
Comments
Ok. Update time.
I have recently walked through the house with both the USAA rep and some of the repair guys. I notice that the actual fire damage is less than I suspected, but that the water damage was extensive. The repair guy I talked to said that all of the wooden floors would have to be taken out, and that there would need to be a lot of tearing stuff apart to let stuff dry. He said that this would be a very big job, and “nearly a complete demo”. Although I do not think it is that bad, I am sure that we will have to tear out a lot of the walls.
As for property, nothing except the attic was hit by actual fire. There is a lot of smoke damage to things on the second floor, and the only problem with the main floor and the basement is water damage. They sucked out most of the standing water in the basement today, as well as boarded up all of the broken windows. The personal property guy from USAA is supposed to show up tomorrow at 11 to get all of our salvageable stuff out and… salvage.. it.
Not too much else for now. I’ll keep you updated.
When I spoke to WEF2 she predicted we’d have to take out all the wooden floors. I’m surprised about the walls though…I guess I just hadn’t thought about the walls being wood and all.
But what do you mean a lot of ‘tearing stuff apart’ to let it dry? Tearing what apart?
As for the attic…is anything salvageable up there or no?
I feel your pain, WEF1. I had all my books up there too… any chance my keyboard survived? My snowboard?
And will insurance pay for the expensive stuff that burned? Will we get refunded for our things or will all the money stay at HQ?
Hm, good questions WEF4! I’m sure we’ll get our stuff refunded, but what if we just wanted the money and not the items? Would we get that money or would it stay with the main unit?
Interesting line of questioning.
I still want my skis.
The insurance company will pay to replace any item we lost, or they will pay cash for the (depreciated) value of any lost property, and then pay the remainder if and when we buy a replacement.
Most of the storage area in the attic is gone, but most of the stuff that first room in the attic by the stairs is ok.
Not just the wooden wall, but also the plaster and drywall will probably need to be taken down, so as not to get moldy.
They are currently in the process of cleaning out and packing up all of the stuff in the house, to see what can be salvaged. They came by earlier today to pick up and clean things we might need soon, as well as dry and clean all of the rugs. They will be by either tomorrow or the day after to do an inventory and a pack up of all our belongings. We should be able to see what is and isn’t ruined then.
And WEF4s keyboard was in the basement at the time of the fire, so assuming it survived the water down there (which is possible, considering my computer did) it should be ok.
Okay. Good news about the keyboard! I think I will give you a list of things that I am saddened to have lost. Both for productive purposes (if I haven’t actually lost them that would make me happy) and nostalgic purposes.
1) All my books
2) My snowboard
3) My scuba gear
3) All my photo albums
4) My books of poetry/drawing/painting/journaling
5) Mountain Lion.
*tear*
WEF4 You broke my heat with mountain lion. *tears* I’ve shed quite a few of those in the last 24 hours once I figured out that this was more than just a little fire damage. I figured that out when the insurance agent told me we would not be back into the house for 6-9 months. So very sad. I sure hope our “happy house” is still happy once they replace everything.
I am confident all will be well.
I have a very limited sad list…
I just wish my jacket hadn’t be in there!
Everything else that I lost has sentimental value more than anything else, and I’m going to pretend it continues to exist. It wasn’t likely I’d ever get out all my glass figurines again, so I shall just pretend they were never destroyed and are in a box ’somewhere’. And so on.
For those of you not in the loop, it appears that a lot of stuff we assumed lost was actually ok, so that’s good. There was surprisingly little fire damage and for most things the smoke damage can be cleaned.
Mike Carpenter (the USAA personal properties rep) should have (or will soon have) a list of all the destroyed property. They took everything that could be saved out of the house quickly to start restoring it, so I can’t really answer too many questions about what, specifically, is ok. I am in a slightly better position to say what ISN’T. It should be assumed anything that is NOT on Mike’s list is still OK.
Just remember, anything that holds only monetary value is easily replaced. For example, WEF4s scuba gear. I don’t think she had any sort of spiritual attachment to the individual items, so getting a replacement should be fine. That was my clever way of leading into the fact that I saw some of that stuff in the throw away pile. Sorry.
For WEF2, who has been asking where the fire broke through in the attic, there were 2 holes in the roof. It broke through on the 2 corners next to the house that caught fire. (IE- the two corners not by chris’s house). I don’t know if the holes were caused by fire or the fire department. Best guess says stuff closer to the stairs is most likely to have been saved.
Most of the damage was caused by water, so if you are worried about something that is waterproof and NOT in the attic, odds are you’re alright.
…brother. Dear brother. My coat was on the top of the wardrobe in the attic. In the room bordering the wall to the other house. Is it destroyed? If it is, I’m buying a new one. If not, can you bring it with you to New York?
I just sent WEFs 2, 3, 4, and 6 an inventory of the salvaged items by Email. I know I got WEFs 2, 3, and 6 addresses right. Not too sure about 4s email address nowadays.
WEF1 should already have a copy, and I don’t know if WEF7 even has an email address nowadays (Or if she has anything in the house she was worried about)