Fire!

[droserakid]

So i went to my parents house Christmas eve. having one of the best ever watching my son open up his new gifts (and daddy getting his new tool set)

I was just getting ready to sink my teeth into my mothers PRIME prime rib and i get a call from the next door neighbors telling me that my house has smoke coming from the roof and window...

so i rush home witch is a 30 min drive i made it in 10 and when i show up, sure enough, my apartment is on fire. and the fire was in my plant room. so me and my girlfriend knew if we went inside we had to be fast because we could already here the fire dep. coming and we can only grab a handful of things so ran in and she grabbed all the pictures of our family and a box of as much of her clothes she could stuff in.

you guys should already know what i was going in for

i went straight to my sons room and grabbed his favorite blanket and his favorite snuggy bear then went to my plant room to see how bad things really were and the hole wall was up in flames and half of the other wall where my terrarium sits on its table and. the fire was so hot and so close that the plastic around the top of my tank started to melt. but i ran in and grabbed my nepenthes alata and threw it right in the tank (crushing a brumannii and my capensis in the process), grabbed it as fast as i could and got the hell outta there.

they ended up getting the fire out 5 hours later not a hole lot of our things got wrecked BUT everything in my plant room and half of my sons things but nothing of my girlfriends of course. but i lost a lot of plants,seeds,lights, everything that i had for growing is gone with the wind it sucks i finally had a good little collection going and bam just like that Santa forgot to put out his cig and left me the best present of all.... but at least i saved my droseras my nepenthes and my venus. somewhat. i think a few got to hot and are looking kinda ify! serious heat stress!

so that's my Christmas story of 2011... hope yours went better

p.s. o ya i for got to mention the ring i got for my girlfriend for Christmas, i gave it to her 4 days early it was to big so i had it lined up to get it sized but she didnt want to do that she wanted to show it off... well after the fire we find out she lost it.... FML!

what a Christmas

 

[Av8tor1]

glad everyone is ok and the damage was no more then it is but geeze...

 

[lance]

sorry about the losses but in the end glad you guys made it out ok

 

[RL7836]

Wow! The grinch sure took a bite out of your celebrations - bummer. Let us know when you get back on your feet & I'm sure the TF community can chip in to help you rebuild. I know that I can make a few spares ...

 

[jimscott]

Wow! The grinch sure took a bite out of your celebrations - bummer. Let us know when you get back on your feet & I'm sure the TF community can chip in to help you rebuild. I know that I can make a few spares ...

What Ron said!

 

[Av8tor1]

.... I'm sure the TF community can chip in to help you rebuild. I know that I can make a few spares ...

absolutely.... I have the heli end covered

 

[DragonsEye]

Man, that sucks. So caused by a cigarette, you say? Amazing how many fires those little things manage to cause. Well, most importantly, you & your son & gf are okay. The other stuff is just that -- stuff. It can be replaced.

 

[Rocketcaver]

When you get settled I have a couple extra pings I can send your way.
Glad you are all safe!

 

[Dexenthes]

I am sorry to hear about the fire, that is sad news!

I hope your new years goes a lot better.

What kind of lights and setup were you using? Do you think the fire was caused by your lights? I'm interested to know the details, this could be a learning experience for all of us who grow in confined, flammable places.

 

[RL7836]

DK,
When you have some free time, create a rough wishlist so we can start to propagate &/or label spare plants (& yes - we all know this is probably your lowest priority right now - so obviously no rush...). Give us an idea of what you might want (or are able to grow - HL/LL). I don't want to propagate a Mexican ping if you hate pings or a Heli if you can't do HL conditions or a D. ordensis if you can't do LL, etc, etc, etc ...

 

[GrowinOld]

Wow Aaron (Droserakid),
that sounds like a real Christmas event you won't soon forget!

A fire like that is always a terrible thing. And it is amazing that like you said, nothing of your girlfriend's things were wercked at all! Extremely lucky for her, especially since smoke & water damage would normally destroy most everything in the place.
In fact you are lucky that you didn't lose everything altogether! :-(
To have flames encompass over an entire wall like what you described, usually means total disaster, especially if it was that bad while you were in there to see it, before the fire department even got there. And that it took the fire department 5 hours to put the thing out means it amazingly didn't do the damage that fires like that usually do.

To have the fire burning the walls like what you described, without more damage to the place is a real miracle! You don't know how unbelievably lucky you are! I have seen fire situations as you describe, and you don't realize just how amazing it is to only have the small amount of damage that you did. The smoke & water damage alone takes its toll even rooms away & thru closed doors (especially on things like womens clothing!), so from the sound of it, she indeed had a real Christmas miracle happen! For as bad as all this sounds, you don't realize how fortunate you have been thru this!

It does seem like you were able to save a good bit of your plant collection however, as when we (you & I) were working up a trade this past month, I know you didn't have a lot of CP's to begin with. From the sound of it however, you were able to save the nep you originally had, along with some of the dews & other plants I sent you. Too bad if all those sundew babies didn't make it, as there had to be a ton of little plants there... Do hope the "Ivan's Paddle" & some of the more desirable plants made it however, and not just the Capensis.

On a side note...I'm glad to hear that your son is apparently feeling better... no more trips to the hospital I assume... (you mentioned it to me how sick he was recently). I hope he is doing well now.

Well again, sorry to hear about the disaster. Fire is one of the most horrible things to go thru, especially in the winter time. But from the sound of it (to look for the silver lining) you may not have actually lost that much to begin with, and in fact you may be able to come out ahead in the long run as far as plants are concerned. (Gotta see the bright side in things!)

Seeing that many of the plants you had thru the fire seem to be the same plants I just sent you a month ago, it's not like you are losing plants that you spent much money on nor spent a lot of time tending to & nurturing. And from the look of things, many people have taken sympathy on your situation and are perhaps willing to help you out. (Now that is a silver lining!)

Since sending you as much free stuff as I already did however, I don't have anything left to share with you!... But it is nice of everyone who offered to help you out. It indeed shows the integrity of some of the people here. In fact it is things like this that reveal a lot about people.

Well good luck to you in rebuilding, and to everyone involved in wanting to help. As someone I think already mentioned, no matter what else may be lost, keep in mind that the important thing is that everyone is safe!

Paul

 

[mass]

Good God man.. at least everyone is okay. I've lived through a serious house fire, so I know how you must be feeling. And believe me, it could've been a lot LOT worse. Plants can be replaced. There's enough generosity around here that you'll be back on your feet in no time.
Any sort of renter's insurance?

 

[GrowinOld]

Indeed it is a concern to all of us running set-ups, as to the cause of the fire.
It is something we all are aware of the potential of, and often worry about.

Be sure to let us know what the cause actually was,
and do post some pics of things.

It would be interesting for many of us here to see what the affects can be under the circumstances,
and could act as a warning & education for people to be especially careful.
This is something none of us want to have happen.

 

[jht-union]

Oh

Sorry to hear about that.
I should be able to spare some drosera seeds to you if you are interested.

Let me know and good luck with everything!

 

[nightsky]

Sorry about this horrible news. I mean I guess it's good news that no one got hurt, but still that sucks. So are you able to live there still or did they boot you? In any case that's gotta suck. I must admit I worry about something going wrong with one of my lights someday.

 

[mass]

Any pics of the aftermath? Kind of interested in seeing the damage, and rebuilding process.

 

[jht-union]

Huh, If this is a lie, then many other people would fall in this joke, this should be removed then. Did all of you who post here receive this message from Riceman? I received this yesterday from him( i guess he doesn't mind me posting this in here since it is to help others not to fall on this trap, which i'm now confused on what is the truth or not?):


Just to let you know that Droserakid's fire was all a big lie. We had agreed on a trade and he didn't fulfill his end of the trade. After receiving my plants he cooked up this story of a fire as an excuse. I am not being petty about it. It's a matter of principle. Just to forewarn you so you won't be another potential victim to his scams. Please see attached email below. Sorry to have bothered you.

Regards,
David Soh


From: Laura Doty [Laura.Doty@ci.eau-claire.wi.us]
Sent: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 11:06 AM
To: David H [PLP M] Soh
Subject: Re: confirmation of fire

Good morning David,
Eau Claire Fire and Rescue has no record of responding to a fire at 2821 Ruth Street on December 24, 2011.

Laura Doty
Secretary
Eau Claire Fire & Rescue
(715) 839-5012

>>> "Soh, David H [PLP M]" <dsoh@iastate.edu> 12/27/2011 8:17 AM >>>
Dear Sir(s),

I apologize and realize that this is highly irregular and taking away your time on more urgent matters, but I am writing to request confirmation if there was a fire at 2821 Ruth Street, Eau Claire WI on the night of Christmas eve around dinner time ? The occupant of the said apartment is Aaron Bakeman. Thank you and I appreciate your time and cooperation.

Sincerely,
David Soh

 

[LeafKirby]

No, i'm not special enough to receive pms...but

R U SERIOUS?

 

[mass]

yes I did, but I was trying to let Aaron admit it before making an accusation.

 

[Presto]

I think we will all be curious to see what Droserakid's reply is, but for now I'm going to lock the thread.

Droserakid, please PM me or one of the other mods when you're ready to reply. Hope all is well.