Austenp405 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 So, Sunday morning I am out of town, and the cell phone rings. When I answer the woman identifies herself as working for State Farm's 24 hour hotline, calling to tell me that my apartment building has caught on fire, but she doesn't have any other details. So, I call the apartment complex, and the manager says "There's nothing left of the middle of your building (mine and three other apartments)." On the drive back, we set up a claim number through our insurance, and come up with several pages of items that were in the living room alone. They were still investigating the cause of the fire, and I realize we had just been given a high-powered tv antenna, that it had been left plugged in, we probably just burned down our neighbors' houses, and every other thing that goes through your mind when something like this happens. By the time we get home, though, it was obvious the fire didn't start in our apartment. This is the view we were greeted by: Our entryway: The view from the back: Our unit is the one in the bottom left. The other three were completely destroyed. The fire was started in the unit next to ours when our 82 year old neighbor fell asleep smoking. Her bed caught on fire (picture below) and she got out of the house. The tennants above her smelled smoke and saw her pacing outside the building. After saying her bed was on fire, he grabbed the guy living above me, and they both went down stairs with extinguishers, but by that time flames were pouring out of the bedroom. The building was evacuated, and the fire quickly spread to the unit above it, and then through the walls into the apartment above mine. We must have been living right, because we were unscathed, with the exception of some smoke and water damage. You could see where the fire had burned each stud on the wall that seperated our apartment from the one the fire started in (see picture). We were the only ones not accounted for, so the guy above us kicked our door in (pic below) and then searched in every room, including the closets, to make sure we weren't home. The fire was so hot that it actually melted the aluminum frame of the window. It is the 'drip' in the right side of the window picture. Two fire departments arrived, and put the flames out in about an hour. Everyone in the building was unharmed and relocated to vacant apartments in the same complex, but not everyone had something to move. The people above the old woman's apartment did not have insurance, and their unit was a total loss. She also did not have insurance and was moved to a nursing home, we think, since she could obviously not take care of herself. All of our stuff needs thorough cleaning, which we have contracted a fire restoration company to do, and it's going to be paid for by our insurance. IF YOU DON'T HAVE RENTERS' OR HOMEOWNERS' INSURANCE, GET IT TODAY!!! It will obviously take time to get our stuff cleaned, so this is what our new 'well furnished home' looks like: And both Z's were safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2003z Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 wow, sorry to read that. Thank god for insurance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 ouch, sorry to hear that. i'm glad now that i purchased renter's insurance Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roninjiro Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 do you live in austin,tx and if so how much is the insurance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Renter's insurance is a good idea, especially if you value your possessions. Make that list complete!!! Hopefully you'll be reimbursed for everything properly. Most people forget everything that was affected (like clothes for example) and realize they've been shorted for the most part once the check arrives. A couple of suits is $1000. A few of your lady's bra's are $150 easy, maybe more. Hopefully most of your things can be salvaged. Wish you the best. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
denny411 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I empathize with you. We went through a major home garage fire in feb 92. When it was over, all I had left was in a laundry basket in my car. keep close tabs on your ins co. They WILL screw you if they get the chance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Scott Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Sorry to hear about the fire. Glad you....and the Zs are alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRTY260Z Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Sorry about the fire. hope you get compensated for eveything. Hey, your new apartment looks like mine.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flames_187 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 thank god no one was hurt...ima go ask my parents if they have renters insurance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5foot2 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I'd say you came out of that very well. I'm a fire fighter in a small town and the water alone just saturates everything, then you add on the smoke and heat and most people are left with very little to salvage even after a small fire in a single room. A while back we were called to assist at an apartment fire (our town is 99% single family homes). It was an eight unit building, two story with a large open stairway that ran up the middle. In a top floor apartment some knuckle head had setup a small growing opperation in a closet. The lights fell over or overheated (or something) and lit off the bedroom. 20 minutes later the apartment was gutted, the one next door was fully of smoke and very hot. The unit below was like a smokey wading pool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 Wow, that sucks. It's cool you have neighbors that would look for you in a burning building. This make me want to make lists of cd's and other small items. They add up quite a bit. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austenp405 Posted October 18, 2006 Author Share Posted October 18, 2006 Thanks for your concerns everyone. We are dealing with the insurance companies right now, and things are going smoothly. Right now we are still without furniture, though we are renting a couch, chair, plasma tv, dvd, microwave, etc, all on State Farm's bill. The adjusters were surprisingly easy to deal with, allowing us to use our own cleaners instead of the ones they are allianced with. They also wrote us a sizable check so that we have money to get by on, are paying for all our meals, and helping us total stuff up, including items we had never thought of. We discussed the food that was in our fridge and freezers since the power was shut off, and they said it sounded a little low. Our initial guess was around $200 in food, but after talking it over with them, we settled on $450. We could also have gotten a hotel room, had we wanted to, but we decided to move into our new place instead. I will repeat it. IF YOU DON'T HAVE INSURANCE, GET IT!!! My premium was a whole $12 a month after the multi-line discounts, and we have almost $54,000 in coverage. If we had not had coverage, I can't imagine how much worse things would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavyZ Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Glad to hear that State Farm is covering you well. I use them too, but for my auto insurance. Good luck with everything--hope it all works out. Davy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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