Fixed

First things first. I've been so busy with school over the past few weeks that I've barely had time to breathe, so just yesterday I got around to taking pictures of our new and improved casa. Yes, we did order shutters for the top window, but they came in in the wrong color, so we're waiting for a replacement pair.



For comparison's sake, here's what it looked like about 7 weeks ago.



All I can say is, THANK YOU ALLSTATE. I know this is exactly why people pay for homeowners insurance, but we really did figure we were in for a huge hassle. On the contrary, we had a check in the mail for the damages less than a week after the fire. Their claims customer service was amazing (which is more than I can say for the company who actually fixed our house), and the experience is going to make that bi-annual bill a little less painful to pay. -- OK, maybe not. But still. <3 Allstate. :)

My psyche is on the mend as well. For about a month after the fire, I barely slept. I woke up at every little noise and walked laps around the house at 2 a.m. to make sure nothing was burning. I refused to use the oven at night. I had nightmares nearly every night and played the scene over and over again in my head when I was awake. Oddly enough, the turning point was probably the insanely rainy Hurricane Ike-inspired weather we had a few weeks ago. That pretty much changed the season from summer to fall, and it really put me in a different state of mind.

Cleaning up

Since Saturday, both Brad and I have pretty much avoided Ground Zero. Being near it is creepy and disturbing, kinda like looking at a car that's been smashed up in a bad accident. If we look away, we can almost forget that Home BBQ 2008 ever happened. And as long as we don't go into the acrid, stinky basement of our house, things almost seem normal. (At least during the day...I've been having a LOT of trouble falling asleep at night. It's hard to relax when you assume every weird house noise is fire-related. But I think that will pass in a few weeks.)

But we're going to New Hampshire this weekend for a wedding, and didn't want to leave Ground Zero like it was. It invites gawkers, and it's just ugly. We've already had our insurance inspection and our repair estimate -- so it was high time to clean up.

Last night, my brave husband spent many hours stripping siding, shoveling ash and boarding up windows. Now, it pretty much looks like a home improvement project gone wrong -- which I realize is not good, but it's better than the remains of a blaze that almost destroyed our home. Here's Brad with one of his many "manly" tools (seriously, as artsy and sensitive as the guy is, he can't pass up the opportunity to use a power saw). It made me nervous to watch him go up to the top of the ladder to get the siding on top, but I kept telling myself, "families don't have two disasters in one week..."



We need to get some stuff sorted out with Allstate (for the most part, they've been awesome) and our contractor, but it looks like they'll be able to get everything fixed up within the next two weeks, and we'll be as good as (or better than?) new. I have a feeling that even after it's fixed, it will take awhile to walk into the backyard without feeling nauseated. The whole thing is still so weird.

Back to the grind!

Everything is pretty much back to normal in the Brad and Alison household (normal, that is, in relative terms). Sure, the exterior of our house is still partially melted off, but you can't have it all!

More than 24 hours later, my emotions are still going a little wild. Brad slept downstairs last night to keep an eye on things (as directed by the fire department), but I still woke up in a panic at every little sound. I had the fan turned off so I didn't miss anything -- and believe me, a 1930s-era house makes a lot of freaky noises! I walked a couple of 2 a.m. laps around the house to make sure everything was safe and sound. We're definitely in the clear.

The only problem is, now I've got a whole new set of things to worry about in my already anxiety-packed life. Today I've been going around the house checking wires and mapping out escape routes, per Smoky the Bear or whoever the kids' fire safety mascot is these days. Tomorrow I'm replacing all the batteries in the smoke alarms whether they need it or not. I'm also keeping a flashlight by the bed, which is probably a good idea regardless.

While I'm not recommending that all of you become all freaky-paranoid like me, it can't hurt to brush up on your fire safety tips from time to time in case you're ever caught in a smoky situation. Stay safe out there, my friends!

The story

It was 11:30 a.m. and Brad and I were sitting on the basement couch, eating lunch and having a friendly argument about whether we should watch the Olympics or season 1 of Arrested Development (what can I say - we've been together for 6 years, we don't have real exciting stuff to fight about). Suddenly, there was a knock on our front door, which is right above the basement stairs. The door opened immediately, and a female voice shouted "hello? hello?"

My first thought was that it was my friend Katie, who lives in my neighborhood and occasionally pops in. But the "hello" was immediately followed with a frantic, "your house is on fire! You need to get out NOW!" As we'd later learn, it was a woman who'd been driving by, had noticed the flames and pulled into our driveway to investigate. Her teenage son was already on the phone with 911 by the time she knocked on our door.

Brad and I raced up the stairs and out the door. Flames were shooting up the back of our house, spreading by the millisecond. I always thought I'd be calm in the face of a REAL emergency, but I was wrong. I was utterly hysterical. Like, screaming hysterical. I ran back into the house and grabbed Danny Boy, but I couldn't find Taka in the front of the house and was too scared to go any farther back in case something exploded. I ran out, threw Dan in the car, and screamed to Brad, TAKA'S STILL IN THERE!!! He went back in and found her sleeping soundly in the computer room.

I got in the car, turned on the air and drove it across the street to get it away from the house. The cats were crying, I was hyperventilating...we were quite the crew. Gawkers were starting to come out of their houses -- I'm a champion gawker but have never been the person that was gawked AT. The fire department showed up a few minutes later and put out the flames. They blocked off our street with a police car and sent two fire engines. I have no idea how long it took to kill the fire, as I was in complete shock at that point.

The siding of the back of our house is destroyed and we need to replace our windows and shutters, but the windows were closed and the fire never actually came inside. The basement window is broken and some smoke got in, but no significant damage. Just a lot of stank. The house is safe to live in, but they told us to keep an eye on things until nighttime to make sure nothing sparked up again. I know I won't sleep a wink tonight.

We were so unbelievably lucky. The fire inspector told us if one of the two rear windows had been open even a crack (and since it was a beautiful morning, EVERY OTHER WINDOW was open in our house), quote, "you would not have a house right now." And thanks to the good samaritan who called 911 for us, the fire department showed up early and was able to contain the fire before it spread to other parts of the house.

The fire was caused by charcoal from a mini-bonfire we had in our backyard Friday. It had been burned out (we assumed) and doused with water more than 12 hours earlier. This morning we shoveled it into our trash can, certain that it was no longer burning. It was cold to the touch. The fire started in our trash can and spread to the house.

I'm trying not to focus on the "what ifs." What if our window would have been open like it normally is. What if it would have happened in the middle of the night and nobody had seen it. What if the flames hit our gas line. It's hard not to think that way. It was an extremely traumatic experience. Watching the flames spread across the back of our house, I truly thought we were going to lose everything. I felt completely helpless.

But, we're OK. The cats are OK. Our valuable possessions are OK (we lost a trash can and a blanket). Our homeowner's insurance will cover the damages. And it's going to be a long time before we have another fire in our backyard. :)

Brad and I have been hugging every 30 seconds today. We are so thankful.

We are lucky bastards.

We had a house fire this morning. We and the cats are all OK...just really shaken up.