Our house burnt down

[baddayattheoffice]

What would you pick up as you left your burning home?

Most people will never face the reality of their home burning down. We never expected to go through it, but if it can happen to us it could happen to anyone.

AMA.

I’ve just taken a picture of my passport, so I can cross that off my mental list now.

We have a fire safe for that reason. At least we would still have things like birth certificates and special jewellery.

You can rebuild op, see it as a new chapter if you can.
Your last life was clutter, this one can be even better.
You are alive, you are safe and thats all that matters.

My house burned down Christmas Eve year 2000 I was 10, we didn’t get anything, but the fireman managed to get me and my sister one present each from the wreckage, mine was a gold necklace can’t recall what my sister got.

Lots of people have said I must have always remembered it as the worst Christmas (at least) ever, but I don’t remember much about it at all.

aside from my parents taking us to my grandparents and then sitting drinking a bottle of wine and then the fireman coming to give me and my sister our presents - in hindsight I commend my parents for getting us out and making the whole thing a non traumatic event.
i think what was worse if I see my parents showing someone a video of our house all burned (probably for insurance purposes) and that scared me as the whole house was burned.

So sorry OP it’s a shocking thing!

Spend this evening taking photos on your phone of at least 20 of them. Upload them to Google or Apple photos. Then you'll always have some, even if you never get round to properly scanning them.

Gosh op how awful for you. I'd only care about getting my children and dh out. My phone is usually right next to me and if I could grab it to ring 999 I would. Otherwise nothing. Were you in the house when it happened op?

Those of you who've had a house fire? How did it start?

I’d grab my dog, my work bag as it’s got everything in there for work and my jewellery as some of it can’t be replaced. Other then that nothing.

@PeterPomegranate the fire brigade arrived 20 minutes after my 999 call. Then it took them a further 10 minutes to locate a working fire hydrant, all the time the fire was taking a greater hold of the house. There were 5 engines attending at ine point.
Next day they came back to check that the fire was completely out. One of the firefighters thought it was all a great laugh and was shouting to his mates and joking. I called him over and told him I wasn't impressed, that his joking about wasn't appreciated. He apologised.
Best thing the fire brigade did, apart from putting the fire out, was calling out the amazing Red Cross who came out at 11pm and gave us new clothes, toiletries, blankets, cup of tea and a warm van to sit in.

How did the fire start?

@MarshaBradyo there's no conclusive explanation for how the fire started but the consensus is that it was mice in the roof space chewing through wires. We live rurally, so not surprised.

@JellyBellyNelly we all got out safely thanks, mainly because it was 9pm and we hadn't yet gone to bed. A couple of hours later, I honestly don't know if we would have got out unscathed because we'd have been in bed, asleep.

Sorry to hear you went through this OP.

Having been through this, what do you now do differently for fire safety?

Also how did going through this impact your thoughts on life and loss in general?

@pilates all I picked up was my phone to call 999, my dh got my df and ddog and grabbed a few coats. By the time I got outside (just a few minutes after discovering the smoke filled bedroom) the flames were shooting through the roof.

I live in a flat so it depends if its in my flat or outside. inside I'd probably just run and either grab any cats I could or leave the door open as I left.
If its communal then the advice is to stay put. I have a heavy fire door so would feel safe.
However if it started in an adjoining block I'd get ready to go and grab clothes/practical stuff and put cats in carriers. theory being I should be safe as the fire shouldnt spread too far and be out before it gets to be but wouldnt want to risk it.
Documents/photos etc are all online in some way so no point grabbing those.

Wow. Must have been so frightening.

I've always wondered how it works with insurance- do they actually give you enough money to rebuild an equivalent house? How much do they quibble? Not sure whether you're at that stage though?

We keep an emergency-exit grab-box containing all essential papers/documents and some letters/photos of sentimental value.

@Garfieldismyspiritanimal thanks x

We live in a thatch. We have all important documents in a fire box, smoke alarms on each floor and fire extinguishers in several rooms. I do think about it quite often, but I would take nothing but my children, it's too dangerous. If I had pets, I wouldn't stop for them (it's one reason I don't have any).

@whensmynexthol1day The valuation of the house for insurance purposes is the rebuild value. It's nearly always more than the market value. For a thatch, I pay premiums of £185 per month (not a typo).

I have a grab file (labelled The End) in the office. It has some irreplaceable paperwork.

@PlantingTrees luckily we were still up watching tv, an hour later we'd have been in bed and half an hour after that, in deep sleep. The consensus is that it was caused by mice chewing through wires in roof space.

My cats

@JustTheOneSwan I didn't think of picking up anything other than my phone to call 999. My dh grabbed coats for all of us after getting everyone else out and that was quick thinking, seeing as it was night time in March.
The insurance company have been okay.

This would terrify me.
My mum was always terrified of fire, so she instilled in me to always have an exit plan for fires on different places, im not sure in a panic that would be any good.

We always leave some of our sons medication in the car, just incase we need to get out ASAP.

I would get my DS, my DH and then the dog if possible throw my memories hardrive out the windows in its safety case.

I feel for you OP and how rude of the fire fighters

@museumum my quick thinking dh also grabbed the car keys and got the cars off the drive, including our motorhome which is back on the drive now - we're living in it.