so as most you know we had a house/apartment fire on Sept 26th around 1030pm.
the house is completely destroyed, cause was electrical fire caused by our HP laptop computer, (the black box on the cord overheated and blew up) the computer was off and on a surge protector that was also off, my wife is big on turning everything off. So PSA, unplug youre laptops when not in use, cause having them off is not enough apparently.
we lost 99% of everything in the house, clothes, furniture, pictures, food, etc, I mean everything. Even the clothes that had smoke damage were not cleanable by a professional company. so were basically starting from scratch.
the fire was located in the living room and spread to the kitchen. everything is either burnt, melted from the heat (even stuff in the bathroom which is 2 rooms down), covered in thick black soot, or smoked damaged.
The stuff in the basement got smoke, heat and water damage, most of my fishing gear was in the basement under the living room, so 90-95% of it is gone.
My wife suffered smoke inhalitation and some mild burns from us going back in the house and trying to rescue our 3 dogs. which we couldnt find even with a fishing headlamp, the smoke/heat was too much to handle.
two dogs made it out alright and Rocky (the oldest one) had to be rushed to the ER Vet, in the ambulance and needed oxygen, he was let out the next day. they are all with us at the hotel, which is dog friendly. Place is ok, its clean and quiet for the most part, pool and free breakfast help.
We both went back to work the same week, and are trying to piece the puzzle back together day by day, its been really hard on the wife and shes not sleeping well, only getting 2-4 hours a day of sleep. which is no good. its been stressful to say the least.
we havent been able to get back into the house to see if anything else is salavagable/worth saving.
ive been able to wet a line a few times, and clear my head and just zone out for a while, which has been very theraupetic.
whats been getting us thru is the amount of support from friends, family, people at work, guys/gals on the fishing forums, facebook friends, gofundme account and complete strangers. Its been really amazing the amount support weve received from donatations, $, fishing gear, clothes, checks, gift cards, stuff for the house/hotel, stuff for the dogs, etc. its been mind blowing and very touching. The wife and I cant thank everyone enough and we hope that no one else has to experience what we went thru. its been very surreal.
Thanks to everyone on the site/fb that called, texted, donated, offered help, we truly feel blessed to be on the receiving end of all the help.
Things will come together in time Chris and when they do...all this will be a bad, distant memory! Hoping you and your wife find your new "Happy Place" soon!
Yeah Chef, can't imagine the amount of stress that must put on ones mind. Seems like your slowly making it work.
Being an engineer I have to think if the wiring in that house was correct. If a surge protector and the black box were the culprit. That should protect the hot leg of the circuit. I have seen on the ship surge protectors fail that were meant for shoreside applications that only protect one leg.....on the ship you need the more expensive protector that protects both legs.
I just wonder if the outlet was wired backwards with the hot and neutral swapped...hmmmmmm.....
Yeah Chef, can't imagine the amount of stress that must put on ones mind. Seems like your slowly making it work.
Being an engineer I have to think if the wiring in that house was correct. If a surge protector and the black box were the culprit. That should protect the hot leg of the circuit. I have seen on the ship surge protectors fail that were meant for shoreside applications that only protect one leg.....on the ship you need the more expensive protector that protects both legs.
I just wonder if the outlet was wired backwards with the hot and neutral swapped...hmmmmmm.....
It's an old house, but that plug where we had our desk had that strip on it since January when we moved in. So no idea if that was an issue
Another issue could have been that guy upstairs also converted his whole living room into a weed growing area, which is a whole different situation. He's not licensed either so he's got his issues.
Also done of the houses fire alarms went off, our place had 5 and the guy upstairs had 4-5 too. Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device
at least everyone and dogs made it out safely . I cant imagine what your going through . Things will only get better from here . the pictures are devastating . Im praying for yours and your recoverytoo .
Man oh man I'm so sorry Chef, but the thing to take away from it all is that you all made it out alive. I'm glad you're still with us to be able to tell the tale no matter how dark it is.
Don't hesitate to PM me if you need any help with recovery health wise or fishing wise, I've got plenty of stuff here
"Your first word was "Fishing", not "Mom", not "Dad", "FISHING." - Mom
Black, White, Chartreuse/Parrot = the Holy Trinity
Thankfully you nor your wife suffered any serious injury.
Emotional injury, although not a physical hurt, can be just as bad...if not worse sometimes.
Support each other as much as you can during the healing process. Surviving this experience together can only strengthen your relationship.
Thanks for sharing the details. Many times when a house fire is reported, you only hear that it was "electrical"....I've often wondered what caused it exactly, ,,,,I wouldn't think that possible??...surge-protector powered off and power brick exploding? You just never know I guess...
Be patient, the ride will be long to get back to where you were. Think things through and utilize the insurance as best as possible. I had a friend who's place went up....she ended up with a much better place. The personal items can't all be replaced, and the sentimental things are gone...so might as well take advantage of what you can.
Good luck and God Bless ~
...it finally happened, there are no more secret spots
Glad they were able to source the cause, can't say I am surprised it was a laptop brick. There are several battery related items on biz/consumer tech products that can do that: Laptop Bricks (like in this case), of course Laptop Batteries, and other batteries like cell phones, and even UPS batteries. I have had occurances at clients where the UPS battery begin to go into a Thermal Runaway condition.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightfighter
Glad to see this report, Chris. It will get better, just not in the timeframe we want. Keep the faith!
For those who haven't yet, but wish to help out, the following thread will give you two ways of how to direct a contribution. (page 2
JR, I will donate one of my custom Danny plugs for Chris's cause
Awesome !
And I found the Plug. It is a Freak Flag plug, I paid $150 for it at the CT Surfcasters Stetzko Auction, that I figured is worth raffling to support a good cause.
Good info for you to share with everyone, thanks. This fire was in Fall River Saturday morning (yesterday 10-17) and the cause of fire was electrical. Started at the laptop cord, and melted all the cords plugged in the same strip....spread from there. Its very important to unplug everything not in use. Also those air fresheners that plug in and stay in......bad news!!
Anything you need Chris, please drop me a line. I am only around the corner.
T&Ps with you and yours Chris. Pictures just look horrible, that's pretty bad that the smoke detectors didn't even go off, sounds like you are very lucky to have made it out alive. I can't imagine what you are going thru, but we are here for ya!
So sorry you are going through this. Reember that in the end, you are lucky that all living things made it out OK. Stuff, as sentimental as many things are to us, isn't as important as life.
Hope you can feel that so many here are praying for a quick and mimimally taxing return to normal for you and your family.
Not sure if you need clothes if you pm me your size I'll be glad to go through what I have. I am 5' 8" and have clothes that don't fit but won't throw away.
...it finally happened, there are no more secret spots
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