Our house burnt down

@SaltyCrisp when we were kids we had 2 house fires - thankfully both with damage contained to one room.
One was started by a rag that had fallen on the flue pipe of our big old oil fired boiler - it had sat smouldering for a while before taking hold - thankfully we noticed because we had a glass door we could see from the kitchen table and I happened to notice it had gone white from the smoke and asked my dad why. Thankfully because the doors were shut and had good seals the fire had been fairly contained and only wrecked the utility room, back room and the boiler room. It would have been a different story if it had been at night.
The other one was a spark from an open fire being hoovered up with pine needles from the Christmas tree, the hoover went up like an explosive and caught the carpet and curtains. Thankfully there was an extinguisher to hand and dad got it under control. We all stood in the garden thinking it was all going to go.
We lived rurally and knew that the fire brigade wouldn't have made it quickly so the house we had a few disaster plans thought through and extinguishers/fire blankets in most rooms.
Nowadays I just impress on the kids to just get out.

My kids, husband and dog. Everything else can be replaced.

I'm so sorry OP. We had a fire caused by a faulty Indesit tumble dryer when my daughter was 10 days old. DP wasn't home and was at the station picking up his mother as she came to visit her granddaughter for the first time.
I noticed the fire before the fire alarm went off (I could see an orange glow through the milky glass in the utility room door). Opened the door as I had no idea what it was - lots of fire. Closed the door, grabbed baby DD, my mobile phone, my dressing gown (to put around DD as it wss December and freezing), put on a coat (I was breastfeeding in my pyjamas!) and walked out of the door. The fire brigade arrived within minutes - they were amazing actually.
Luckily the fire was contained to the utility room. I called DP once the fire brigade had arrive, told him not to panic but that the house was on fire. Which he told me was quite the call to get in the middle of Boots at Euston station 😅

I consider ourselves VERY lucky as the utility room was under the stairs and we could have easily died if it had happened at night.

IMO you just grab your kids/pets/loved ones and get out; I felt quite calm from the adrenaline but I was very much in a "must get out NOW" mindset. Although I did try to call 999 about 5 times; in my panic I kept dialling just 9 and it didn't go through (obviously).

It was a very scary experience and not one I would wish on anyone.

Just the family (including our cats). I can let the stuff go.

I'm on many medications but if need be I can even be admitted to hospital. I wouldn't stop for meds - safety is all that matters in a fire.

What a horrific experience for you, glad you all got out unhurt though.
I’d grab my dog, and I now have a plan to photograph all the non digital photos

I meant to add. I found there was an innate reflex of just getting out. Picking up material stuff (apart from coats and phome for practical reasons) never even crossed my mind. It didn't really feel in control, just reacted on instinct.

Fireman are allowed to laugh and joke around after the fire is out they risk their lives day in day out and see so much death and destruction yes it was your home and you would have been upset but pulling them on it was shit at least you are all out alive and have a motor home to live in temporarily

Bubbles

I think it was hugely disrespectful and unprofessional behaviour to be joking in the presence of someone whose house had burned down.

@ISeeTheLight that’s exactly what happened to me. It was in the garage. I could see the weird orange light through the door that opened onto the garage ( old house)

It was like looking straight into hell.

I would reiterate what people say about taking videos/photo of your house contents, interior and also don’t forget garden. Keep them updated. Don’t under estimate value of possessions on content insurance.
also rather than try to take out a memory box photograph everything in it. I know it’s not the same as touching and smelling baby stuff but it is better than nothing. Similarly scan old hard copy photos if you possibly can. Scan all key insurance documents and emergency details onto your phones and put all non confidential stuff onto a cloud and do back ups regularly.

we also have a fire safe…it’s not a particularly strong lock to prevent a determined burglar but gives 2 hours for fire, smoke and water damage. All our legal documents are in there , plus insurance, wills POA etc . Hopefully docs would be relatively intact once fire put out. I also put a spare back up hard drive in there that I update monthly. That includes photo images etc.

remember to keep your door keys next to door so that if you are struggling with smoke inhalation and it’s dark you know by feel where they are. I have a radiator next to my front door and use a magnetic hook on it to always hang my keys on. I don’t leave them in door and they’re out of reach from letter box but right exactly in a set place I’d be able to reach even on my hands and knees and in the dark

my most important possession would be my glasses. I have terrible eyesight and new glasses would take 10 plus days to get meaning I couldn’t drive, or read, write or see people 6 foot in front of me etc. pretty devastating. Phones, computers etc much easier and quicker to replace if you’ve backed up stuff to cloud and have hard drive in fire safe.

Firefighters see lots of really horrible things, worse than a house burning down although that is horrible for you. People who work in emergency services use humour as a way to cope.

Keys bit is because fire service say they do find people collapsed in front of doors or in hallways cos they couldn’t find their keys to get out. Apparently 😢

I'm sorry this has happened to you OP. Have/will the insurance company replace everything, or only the stuff for which you have receipts/evidence?

I have a backpack with spare clothes and important documents in it that I could grab in an emergency. We had a house fire a couple of weeks ago though (faulty electric car charger installation - still no apology from Boxt ) and I didn't even think about it, just yelled for DH and the kids to get out.

We had a small fire in my student house. Luckily only kitchen was badly damaged. I grabbed the cat and got out. That cat was always at my side and keen to be picked up. I now live in a bigger house and have much more independent cats, so I know I would have to leave them, which breaks my heart.

My question is how insurance works with things like clothes. I wouldn't be able to prove what clothes I'd owned, and I don't even know exactly how many t-shirts I own for example.

My aunt's house burned down. They did not have ANY insurance (had it when she bought, let it lapse after). Left with only the plot and a burned out shell to sell and pay off the mortgage (thankfully it was enough with a bit left over).

I have contents insurance only as we rent, but I know a lot of renters who don't even have that (we didn't until this happened to my aunt, I didn't think we could afford it but it's actually really cheap for contents only).

Thanks for the thread OP, I must go and check the smoke alarm is on!

Next door lock their front door with the key, we leave ours on the normal locked setting (that opens from the inside) for this reason. I've been round there when they can't find the key to get out before, would not want to be doing that in a fire!

My post was not nasty you slating fireman was unless you think no one should laugh and joke in any type of job ever, unfortunately I have lost everything before in a fire so I know oh too well what it is like I was just grateful we were all out alive I couldn't gave a shit about anything else I grabbed my son and phone and thata it he was a baby at the time,

I'm sorry OP, that must have been devastating.

House burning down is one of my big fears as I live in a wooden house. A fireman has to come and inspect my house every year to make sure all the fire safety stuff is in order like fire alarms, chimney swept (that gets done once a year even though we only use the oil boiler and not the wood boiler) fire extinguishers and blankets, and ladders fitted to the side of the house so the upstairs rooms have fire exits (though I can't imagine trying to climb down the ladder two and a half stories while carrying my 4 year old. DD's room is downstairs so easier for her at least) and we have a fire proof safe in the basement with the most important documents in and my back up hard drive. My phone is always next to me so I'd grab that but otherwise my main focus would be getting the children out, and my handbag if I can. Doors open without keys from the inside so no need to worry about finding keys at least.

My grandad's house burnt down when I was a child, we were on holiday and had been staying with him but went somewhere else for a couple of days and that's when the fire happened, most of our luggage was lost (and my new hedgehog soft toy - I was devasted about that) but a lot of the furniture was saved, even the grandfather clock. Quite surprised, this was rural Lapland so I don't know how they managed to put the fire out to save so much (also a wooden house). Had to spend the rest of our holiday in tents, and my grandad lived in a caravan while the house was rebuilt (the toilet was still intact but there was no ceiling above it so had to go to the loo with the risk of the builders seeing you from above!)

WRT clothes.

ours suffered smoke damage, so they were all taken away to ge cleaned. But it didn’t work dk we got the money for them. You have to do an inventory which was honestly one of the most horrible things we’ve had to do. You list everything, even stuff like bloody safety pins and pens.

If you don’t have anything at all you just list what you can remember and l think there’s a sort of algorithm thing that adds onto it.

There’s generally one on every thread. Just ignore it.

Insurers will generally either ask you to list items for replacement, or they will use a company to inventory items and then ask you to price. Most people will underestimate the cost of replacing everything if all is lost, clothing, electronics, kitchen items and things like toiletries can be the most underestimated. Receipts would only be requested if items are of particular high value. In general if you are honest and reasonable your claim will be settled.

@Bubblesandsqueak1 you are bang out of order.

@Blurp Good tip - thank you!!! Such a simple thing but I hadn’t even thought of it xx

Sobering.
Thank you OP for raising awareness -I really hadn’t ever given this a thought despite living for years in a timber-framed house that STBXH complained smelt of smouldering wood when I lit a wood fire.
Now definitely thinking about fire safety and exit plan.