Not us - Kent's folks' house.
Mid-afternoon, I got a phone call from Rob, Kent's baby brother, saying their house was on fire! Now Rob (a senior in high school) has been known to play a joke or two, so I wasn't sure if he was serious or not, until I heard Lyn in the background saying "it's true!" I quickly threw a chicken casserole in the oven and took off for the house, just a 10-minute drive away.
By the time I arrived most of the excitement was over and reality was setting in. Dean and Lyn had been called at work, and Lyn was so scared that Rob was home, she fainted (in relief) to see he was safe. When things calmed down, we all came back to the apartment for dinner. Dean and Lyn stayed in the girls' room for a few nights (Rob stayed with a friend) until they found a rental. Of course, Kent was in California on his first business trip.
The exterior was brick and sustained only minor smoke damage, but the upstairs inside had to be gutted. It was destroyed, except Rob's room. His door had been closed and there was just a small amount of smoke damage under the door. It was surreal to see everything around blackened and charred, and then to open that door (also blackened) and see his room untouched.
Lyn was most upset about the fact that she had been in a hurry and hadn't made her bed that day and the firemen saw that! It was later determined that the toaster, not the microwave, was the cause of the fire. To this day, I always unplug the toaster when finished with it! But then, my grandparents' house burned while grandma was baking, and that has never stopped me from making cookies! :)
The next day we were allowed in the house to start an inventory for insurance. Lyn and I used a brass lamp that had been tossed out in the yard as a battering ram to knock down the plywood over the door. She laughed at what a way that was to get to know her new daughter-in-law.
In college I helped clean up a friend's after a fire. The apartment had been closed off for three weeks before we got into it. I vividly remember opening and closing the refrigerator in one move, the stench was so overwhelming. I made sure we emptied that out the first day here! After taking inventory of what we could (amazing the things you can't, and can, remember) we went shopping since they both needed clothes. My mother-in-law was not a big fan of shopping, but she did have some fun spending insurance money on a new wardrobe!
It took a few months, but everything was repaired and they settled back in to the "new" house. And for Christmas we all started replacing Lyn's Precious Moments collection.
Mid-afternoon, I got a phone call from Rob, Kent's baby brother, saying their house was on fire! Now Rob (a senior in high school) has been known to play a joke or two, so I wasn't sure if he was serious or not, until I heard Lyn in the background saying "it's true!" I quickly threw a chicken casserole in the oven and took off for the house, just a 10-minute drive away.
By the time I arrived most of the excitement was over and reality was setting in. Dean and Lyn had been called at work, and Lyn was so scared that Rob was home, she fainted (in relief) to see he was safe. When things calmed down, we all came back to the apartment for dinner. Dean and Lyn stayed in the girls' room for a few nights (Rob stayed with a friend) until they found a rental. Of course, Kent was in California on his first business trip.
The exterior was brick and sustained only minor smoke damage, but the upstairs inside had to be gutted. It was destroyed, except Rob's room. His door had been closed and there was just a small amount of smoke damage under the door. It was surreal to see everything around blackened and charred, and then to open that door (also blackened) and see his room untouched.
Lyn was most upset about the fact that she had been in a hurry and hadn't made her bed that day and the firemen saw that! It was later determined that the toaster, not the microwave, was the cause of the fire. To this day, I always unplug the toaster when finished with it! But then, my grandparents' house burned while grandma was baking, and that has never stopped me from making cookies! :)
The next day we were allowed in the house to start an inventory for insurance. Lyn and I used a brass lamp that had been tossed out in the yard as a battering ram to knock down the plywood over the door. She laughed at what a way that was to get to know her new daughter-in-law.
In college I helped clean up a friend's after a fire. The apartment had been closed off for three weeks before we got into it. I vividly remember opening and closing the refrigerator in one move, the stench was so overwhelming. I made sure we emptied that out the first day here! After taking inventory of what we could (amazing the things you can't, and can, remember) we went shopping since they both needed clothes. My mother-in-law was not a big fan of shopping, but she did have some fun spending insurance money on a new wardrobe!
It took a few months, but everything was repaired and they settled back in to the "new" house. And for Christmas we all started replacing Lyn's Precious Moments collection.
