[Malibucdl]

I got a call today from my mom around 6:00PM. She is panicing like crazy and she "tells" me that my brother's new house is on fire. I am currently at my dads house, about an hour away. I imediatly jumped in my car and floored it. I made it to my brother's house with in 30 Minutes. You do the math. The Fire Dept had the fire extinguished by the time I got there and were going through some of the debris to try and figure out what had started the fire. From what they can determine as of right now, it was a faulty electrical outlet in the kitchen. The house did not burn down, the fire was just limited to the kitchen. The kitchen is totaly trashed, the den/living room is trashed as well. Water damage to everything in these 2 rooms. The rest of the house did not get damaged by fire or water, but by smoke. EVERYTHING smells like smoke. The A/C kicked on, and sucked the smoke through the unit and blew it into the rest of the house.

Jason got to the house (from what we can figure) maybe 10 minutes after the fire started. He called 911 right away and got the FD on the roll. He then went into the house to try to save their little dog, who was in the kitchen in the kennel. He grabbed his fire extinguisher out of his car and went into the house, sprayed the fire, but it did not go out, it was to big at this point. He then spun around and got the dog out of the kennel before it melted (you will see pics in a min). He went back outside with the dog and laptop in hand and called 911 again to give directions to the house since it is a fairly new street. In my mind he is a hero for saving the dog and reacting the way he did. I am very proud of him for that.

Unfortunatly, just about everything in the house is a total loss. The smoke got into everything, and the water did even more damage. The real sad part of this is, they bought the house in Jan. 6, 2006 after evacuating for Katrina. It is just one thing after another down here. When does life return to normal?

I uploaded the pictures I took tonight to my photbucket account. Here is a link: http://photobucket.com/albums/a381/m...?sc=1&multi=18

The suspect:


"kitchen"


Pray for them guys/gals.

Chris

[poncho62]

Overloading kitchen outlets is a big problem, especially in older homes that were not designed for all the appliances we have these days. When I had my house remodelled/rewired afew years ago, the wood behind a couple of recepticles were discoloured from the excess heat in the old plugs.

Hope your brother has insurance to cover all the damage.

Give him and his familly our best.

[Malibucdl]

Thanks Poncho, I will send it along.

THe house isn't old, but only about 3 months old. The outlet had nothing plugged into it either. They do have insurance as well.

Chris

[HemmiGremmie]

Sorry to hear that.
I'll throw a nice one in tonite at bed time to help.
I had a fire back in 96. My wife was 5 months pregnant trying to work with some complications. I was sick (thought I was dying) and working part time. I was home with my girl (1-1/2 years old) watching a cartoon and I noticed smoke. I went back to see a 5 foot blaze coming outta the vent in the bathroom.
Grabbed mty girl and went outside and put her in my car. Came back in to try to extenguish it and call the FD, but it was to big. We lost everything, but a few things in the back room which was a lot of pics and VHS tapes of family things because the back door was closed with Christmas stuff in it.
It was Dec, 14th and we had no insurance, no money and only the clothes on our backs.
We pulled thru and your Bro will to. Just be thankfull no one was hurt. Im thinkin of you all. Good luck. HG