Terrible house fire

[wherethewildthingis]

Posting for any experience people have and reassurance it will be OK. We had a terrible house fire yesterday evening. We were at home and could smell smoke/plastic burning. While we were looking for the source, the fuse box by our front door suddenly burst into flames. We were all safely out of the house immediately but in the five minutes it took the fire brigade to arrive, the damage is terrible. The entire ground floor is gutted and the first floor is very bad. We live in a town house and some things on the top floor might be salvageable but everything is covered in soot and filthy.

We are at my mums, we don't even have shoes other than what my neighbours lent us . We are insured but it will be months if not a year before we can go home.

I am so grateful we are all OK but just feel devastated. We have lost everything.

Can anyone reassure me that we will be OK?

Can I ask what caused these fires?

OP has stated they don’t have contents insurance

OP says in her OP - We are insured but it will be months if not a year before we can go home.

My comment was based on that, but I have just re-read OP's posts and cannot see anywhere where she states that she is not insured.

My god OP I’m so sorry this has happened to you

So sorry op. Do let your local community help, it happened here near to me and within a few days the family had an offer of a 6 month let, furniture, toys, clothes etc to tide them until the insurance kicks in, the community rallied for birthday gifts hearing one of the kids' presents were burned, and bikes were sourced for them too.

Let people help

Yes you will be okay. My sister had a terrible house fire. ( rechargeable vacuum cleaner set on fire at 2am in the morning) Everyone got out but they had to move out for six months. The insurance company were good. My niece suffered from affects of the fire for a year or so- loud alarms and smell of smoke made her very anxious. £150,000 worth damage to the house.

We had this some years ago. Our insurance were brilliant. Ours caused by small all-in-one tv and DVD player (a Bush). The loss adjuster said he was just dealing with another case in a school library caused by the same model. They were great. We always refer to the experience as that of 'the burning Bush' (biblical reference).
As previous posters have said things can be replaced, you can't. Our cleaning people did an amazing job. Go with what they say/advise. They deal with catastrophe every day.

Morning, I just wanted to briefly update and thank you again to everyone who replied with support.

We are OK, we have a short term holiday let to go to at the weekend and will be settled for Christmas. Then we will look for somewhere longer term. We are insured for buildings and contents thankfully. Insurance are dealing with everything for us.

We are grateful to be safe and well and very conscious this situation could be so much worse ! Hoping to be back in our house this time next year.

I am so sorry for the previous poster who hasn't insurance and has lost pets. I've been thinking of you all week. I hope things are moving forward for you.

@BMW6 our fire was caused by faulty consumer unit. The insurance company will be instructing a forensic company to examine what is left and see if they can reclaim from the builders as our house is new build- 12 years old.

This happened to us almost exactly 11 years ago. Our’s was caused by a faulty electrical item. We were asleep. Fire alarms woke us (saved our lives!).

We were out of the house for about 6 months (but there were delays getting started). The Red Cross have a fire support service. It’s worth calling them, they will talk it all through with you. Tips: the insurance company will send in cleaners, they will salvage what they can and take it away to be cleaned then return it to you. Don’t try to clean yourself, it could invalidate your insurance. You will replace soft furnishings and things like TVs. You will be amazed at how much you’ve lost and yet how much you get back. Do what you can for Christmas, don’t put pressure on yourselves.

I feel for you. It was one of the toughest things we ever went through. I am still anxious about fire, I unplug everything I can before I leave the house! I check our smoke detectors regularly. But now I am okay day to day about it now.

I have no experience but this thread brought tears to my eyes. I can only imagine the devastation. I hope you are all ok

So glad you've found somewhere to stay.

My little boy has ended up with more clothes than Debenhams due to the kindness of our community!

We're in a really fortunate situation (in a way!) as my grandma passed away back in September so we had a fully furnished house to move straight into. She was definitely looking down on us the morning of the fire!

I keep telling everybody I meet - check your smoke alarms! We would've been in a lot better position had ours been working and Felix the cat could've potentially been saved 🥺

Thank you @Ackity . @CatSophie I am so sorry you lost your poor pet.

I am also now evangelical about fire safety! When you see it happen you just cannot believe how fast it spreads and becomes an absolute inferno.

We are so fortunate to be alive. It is such a cliche but I will treasure every day so much more.

@CatSophie I am also sorry you lost your grandma. What an awful year you've had x

My friend has had a house fire The house is housing association and they've changed the locks and won't let her in until forensics have investigated ....she is now left worrying that they could think she started it deliberately. Has anyone had experience of this and can offer her any reassurance? Thanks.

@Carphel74 Maybe that's normal procedure for an HA property. I imagine the HA will want to establish the cause if they have similar properties - say an estate all built at the same time - in case other tenants might also be at risk if the cause was an issue with the property.

So ßorry@CatSophie and @wherethewildthingis. What an absolute nightmare. I think the problem will be things like passports, driving licences , basically proof of who you are(though of course you can get all that again).
I do hope that in spite of all that you manage to have a good Christmas.

@Carphel74 we have had a forensic electrician come out and remove what's left of our consumer box to examine, so that seems a similar process to your friend. In relation to locking the house, I am not sure how it works with HA but I know its the home owner responsibility to ensure the property is secure, that no one can go in and get hurt somehow. So maybe it's to do with that ?
I would reassure your friend that a forensic investigation seems quite normal in these situations.
I hope your friend is all right.

We had a fire a few years back. Our insurance company (lloyds), was amazing. Two dc were doing gcse and a level exams and needed space si the insurance provided a temporary kitchen and dining room. Luckily due to the house layout we could use the bedrooms and lounge.

Not only did they send some fabulous builders, but the loss adjusters were also brilliant and we were back to normal in four months. Ours was caused by a faulty socket in the kitchen.

Hopefully you've gad a lovely Christmas, it will certainly be one you remember.

Thank you for the reassurance. I hope you managed to have a nice Christmas.

Hey, I hope you're all doing OK first of all. We were in your exact situation just 2 months before you posted this.
We are still in temporary housing and the housing association have just today started to gut our flat and make a start on the works. Meaning we will leave the house were in where we are starting to settle (nearly 2 years it's inevitable) I feel excited to go back but also sad to leave here. We lost everything we owned I was 6 months pregnant and my 5 year old daughter was asleep in her bed, we all gout out apart from our beautiful little cat Luna. The house was a terrible mess it took 7 firetruck to put it out.
Anyway, did you go back to your home? Do you feel differerwnt there or have any nightmares/ptsd? I'm nervous to go home and wonder if I should fight ti stay where we are. Buy then I always wonder if the yearning I have to go home will ever go away if we dont x

Hi , sorry I've not replied straight away as I've just seem your post. I'm so sorry you also went through this and have been away from home so long. Yes, we have got back home now and moved in late Feb so around 14months in all. The house has largely been rebuilt inside and we have new bathrooms, kitchen etc and all new furniture. We were pleased how much sentimental stuff we saved in the end but all our furniture and so on had to go.

I feel fine at home. The smell has completely gone which I never believed it would. We have settled ok. But our experience was very different from yours which sounds terrifying and I'm so sorry you lost your cat.

Have you visited your house ? That might help you figure out how you feel xx

God isn't the smell awful, I've never smelled anything like it before the fire. It feels strange speaking to someone who's been through the same thing! We are only 2 streets down from our flat so j pop round quite alot, I'm not quite sure why it's comforting for me strangely enough. I'm glad you're back home and settled it's reassuring to know things can go back to normal, I've felt very disassociated the whole time we've been in the temp place as if nothing seems real. I do feel I will be happy going back but there will be alot of sadness too. Thankyou so much for replying I really appreciate it I wish I'd found this sooner xx

@CatSophie I've just read your post aswell, we lost our pet too, I'm so sorry this happened to your family aswell. A year and a half later and I still don't feel right, I hope you're all healing x

I had a terrible fire in 2012. The tumble dryer caught fire whilst DH and I had nipped to B&Q. We were gone for about 35 minutes. We came back to the fire engine outside the house. My then teen son outside the house visibly upset and shaking. The tumble dryer had caught fire and exploded. The kitchen looked like the black hole with smoke damage. Anything stainless steel turned to rust over next couple of days. We couldn't stay there. The kitchen door into the hall had been open so black smoke all up stairs and into the teens bedroom because when smoke alarms went off he came rushing out of the house leaving his bedroom door opened. Insurance was brilliant. They booked us into a hotel for 3 weeks while the assessor went to the house. Then we moved into a Premier Travel inn as it was closer to kids schools. We were given £500 emergency money to buy clothes. All our clothing we could either have dry cleaned or a lump sum of £10k. We chose the cash and bought new clothes. Then we rented a house about 1/4 mile from our house for 6 months while our hall, stairs and landing was painted. The kitchen was gutted. The ceiling and walls were re-plastered. I had an Ofsted at my school about 9 days after the fire. I was beyond caring at that point. The final cost for everything was £98k. That included hotel and alternative accommodation. Everything electrical had to be replaced as smoke is acidic. Duvets and pillows had to be replaced as smoke gets everywhere. I paid a bit extra and upgraded the kitchen when it was replaced. I've never been so glad DH always insists upon over insurance for us. It was made worse because company who was supposed to store a lot of our things lost 24 boxes. They did eventually find they had mixed them up with another customers things.