After having some time to process what happened, it is much easier to sit down and write a blog about what transpired at my parent’s home a couple of days ago. As many people heard/read about, Davis County was declared a state of emergency and an official disaster area on Friday. Class 2 hurricane force winds 100 + miles per hour blew through the Wasatch Front, with some places being hit much harder than others. Driving through Bountiful (because that’s the only hard-hit place I happened to go to,) was insane! About every 4th or 5th house had massive trees (mostly pine,) completely uprooted and knocked over. Fences were blown completely down, shingles, siding, patio furniture, barbeque grills, and other debris strewn about, signs blown over, etc. You'd think it was the midwest after a tornado!
My dad called in the evening to let us know that they were okay, but that one of the massive pine trees in their backyard had fallen over and very narrowly missed the house, his workshop, the neighbors’ homes, etc. My dad built a beautiful little boat house for their kayaks a couple of years ago, and as the tree uprooted, the root ball pulled part of the boat house up. It wasn’t super significant damage, but enough that it was going to be a big enough project to repair. The tree spanned about 50 or so feet, so the tree itself was going to be an enormous cleanup project. My 3 fabulous brothers had already volunteered to come the next day to help my dad chop/saw it up and haul it away. My dad also mentioned that the wind had blown a giant garbage bin into my mom’s truck that morning while she was driving, causing damage to the truck. Their power had been out since early that day, and when I talked to my parents that night, they were in bed all bundled up with lots of blankets and warm clothes. My parents are some of the LEAST dramatic people I know, so for them, it was just an annoying thing that had happened that they weren’t going to make a big deal about. Fix it, clean it, be done with it.
The rest is my account of what happened after visiting with my parents. Sorry mom and dad if some of the details are off a bit!
So before going to bed that night, my parents set their bedside lamps to the “on” position, so that they would be able to know when the power came back on. At 1:30 AM, their lamps came on, waking them and signaling the power had finally come back on. My dad laid there and listened for the furnace to come on for a few minutes. Instead, he heard some unusual noises, popping, snapping. He got up to investigate. The office is just down the hall, and he smelled what he thought was electronics burning. Thinking it may be something with the computer, he went into the office. Before he had time to really look, he heard what could only be fire coming from downstairs. My dad ran back to alert my mom to get out! Within a few seconds they were both out of the house, running down the long driveway. Smoke had already filled the house as they were escaping. They did not have a second to grab anything, because it was obvious they had to get out NOW! No shoes, no coat, no phone, no wallets, keys, etc. It was a frigid cold night, but they were certainly working on adrenalin.
As they crossed the street to run to the neighbors for help they turned around and all the front upstairs windows were glowing bright orange. They were sure that the fire had made it upstairs and that they entire house was burning. They reached the neighbors across the street a few seconds later and banged on both their front and side doors yelling for help. They were not able to wake them up immediately. My mom ran back across the street to their south neighbors who have a pebble driveway, that is about 50 -75 yards long. My mom remembers running up their driveway barefoot, watching her house burn and thinking about the fact that she was running through rocks, but that it didn’t hurt. Adrenalin? My parents were both able to successfully alert 2 neighbors at the same time. There were some problems with the phones at first because of the power outage, but they were able to call 911 relatively soon. The fire dept. got there about 5 minutes later. Despite my dad’s efforts to tell the firefighters that the side doors were unlocked, they spent several minutes instead trying to knock down the locked front door. They ended up using the side door anyway. Ack! My dad stood at the bottom of his driveway, shoeless, for 1 or 2 hours watching them fight the fire. The neighbors did everything they could to offer them some comfort (refuge, warmth, tea, etc) during the whole episode. The firefighters stayed until the wee hours of the morning in case the fire struck up again. My grandma lives several blocks away and some time after 3 AM, my parents made it to her house, as they continued to be in total shock.
It turns out that the cause of the fire was from an electrical surge that chose the icky treadmill (I always thought running was for suckers,) as its path. When the power came back on the surge caused a faulty wire to choose the treadmill. The treadmill motor started on fire and because the treadmill was near a couch, the couch caught on fire. It just burned from there. I was at first very confused because my parents said they saw the orange glow from the upstairs windows, when the fire was downstairs, but the damage upstairs was from heat and smoke. It turns out that something caused the fire downstairs to have a huge burst (I don’t know the correct fire term) and a giant explosion of fire made it upstairs, through the main living area, then extinguished itself (the flames that made it upstairs. The giant burst of fire that made it upstairs didn’t actually catch the upstairs on fire, it just scorched and melted everything. Very weird, and terrifying! There were a couple rooms in the house with doors shut, and when you walk into those rooms, you can hardly tell that the rest of the house is in ruins. So, I guess the lesson is, shut the doors when you and your kids sleep if you can, just as an extra barrier to smoke and flames!
I got a phone call that morning informing me what had happened that night. I was very upset, mostly because it was hard to think about how scared my parents must have been, and imagine them in the situation. Thinking about their home ablaze was also very emotional. The worst part, was imagining what could easily have happened. It was the kind of thing that you hear about in the news, or see in movies, but that you never imagine could happen to you or someone so close to you. I was, obviously, SO relieved to find out that my parents were both safe and aside from mentally, they were unscathed physically. Isaac saw me upset and asked why I was crying? Why are you scared, mom? That was sad, too. I also thought a lot about what would have happened if they had not set their lamps to come on when the power came back on (which is what initially woke them.) What a horrific thought! Pregnant or not, I would have been upset, but the damn pregnancy hormones really do a number in situations like this!
A few hours later, I talked to my parents again. They were still a bit in shock, but doing pretty well. They were on the phone with insurance agents all morning, getting the details of their policy, what the next steps would be, etc. Very fortunate for them, they have a great insurance policy that will cover absolutely everything. It will cover all of their losses, including any cost of living while their home is being rebuilt. It also included upfront money to cover things like clothing and incidentals…things they would need right away. I can’t imagine how horrible it would have been had they not had good home owners insurance. My grandmother has a very large house, so they will stay there for now.
When Dave and I went to visit my parents, we walked through the house and I took some pictures. I had to hold cloth over my face the entire time. The smell was terrible, and the smoke/soot (everything was totally cooled by then, obviously) made your eyes sting. I was in there for absolutely no more than 10 minutes, and my clothes wreaked of smoke. It smelled like I’d been bathing in campfire ashes. We moved to that house when I was 14 or 15, but I still have a lot of memories there. That is also the place where my immediate family gathers, as well as extended family gatherings, so there are many memories associated with that as well. It was sad to see so many sentimental things destroyed – things that cannot be replaced. While inside, the eeriness definitely overshadowed any sad feelings, though. It was so creepy to stand in the epicenter of the fire and imagine everything burning.
My parents have been nothing but saintly their entire lives. They give and give – labor, time, money, emotionally, mentally. They are some of the least selfish people you could encounter. It was hard for me to be at peace with how a tragic event could happen to such good people. I definitely believe in karma, and the concept of “do unto others…,” and I am seeing firsthand how the amazing lives they have lived have brought them an incredible amount of good karma during this situation! Dozens upon dozens of people have been willing to help in any way they can. As my mom said it “they are wrapped in love” right now. They truly are. Thanks to everyone for your support and willingness to help if need be. Luckily, there is not a lot they need or even want right now, but knowing there are so many people out there who care is definitely impactful. So many people have asked me what they can do, how they can help. I truly don’t know right now, but if I think of something brilliant, I’ll let you all know!
Oh, and on a side note, the morning after, in order to keep things lighter and find a silver lining, I thought "well, at least those damn curtains I hate are gone, the linoleum in the kitchen my mom detests is history, and the green carpet we ALL hate downstairs is untraceable." :-)
Now for some creepy photos…
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| My youngest brother Ben, standing in the upstairs living room. |
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| Staircase leading to the area where it started. |
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| The chandelier (another piece of my their home that I was NOT a fan of,) fell down in the fire. |
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| That frame on the left was a giant mirror above the staircase. |
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| Good thing I was a quitter and gave up on piano after a couple years, otherwise I would be really weepy about this piano. |
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| A rocking chair from when we were wee ones. |
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| The part of the living room that was furthest from the stairs. |
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| More upstairs. |
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| Aw, my mom's cd's. My dad is an MP3 person, but mom still likes her CD's! Damn. |
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| The office that my dad made from scratch (he does woodwork during his free time.) The ceiling fan melted from the heat, this was upstairs. |
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| What was left of the pine tree after my brothers and Tara had chopped it all up. |
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| The downstairs family room where the fire started. |
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| The evil treadmill. |
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| This is only about 1/3 of the books that were destroyed. |
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| A clock my dad built when I was a little kid. |
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| My dad's TV watchin' and reading chair. |
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| HOORAY!!!! Later, they discovered that the fire hadn't burned through this cabinet downstairs. This is where all of the family photo albums are! |
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| Just more staircase. |
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| My dad hand built this desk when I was about 8 years old. |
