Tuesday morning my little 2 year old Havanese Bichon saved my life. I was getting ready for work at my grocery store a few minutes before opening and his wild barking caught my attention. I opened the bathroom door only to discover hot dark smoke coming all down the hallway. Immediately I knew I was in a house fire. I got my brother up and told him "We've got a house fire. We need to get out right now!". Coming down the hallway the power went out and through the dark smoke I cut my head on something in the dark and breathed in plenty of hot toxic smoke mildly burning my throat and lungs. I later found out the fire temperature might have hit as high as 1600 degrees.
I got outside the house, and borrowed a cell phone from a contractor working across the street to call 911. My brother used a chair to break a window out and used a garden hose to fight back the growing flames. Soon four fire trucks and numerous emergency workers arrived.
Both my brother and I were treated for smoke inhalation. Paramedics and firemen insisted I go to the hospital and rolled out a stretcher. But, I refused to go. I signed a release clearing them from liability and acknowledging that I wished to manage the aftermath details of the disaster instead.
The likely cause turns out to be a Coby LCD TV/DVD unit that I learned after the fire had been the subject of November 8, 2007 U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission recall due to fire hazard. For some reason, Coby Electronics of Maspeth, NY, which has these units built for them in China never bothered to do adequate safety testing of these units which can be powered by house current, batteries or by an automobile cigarette lighter outlet. Consumer complaints after incidents drove the recall. In my case, if the dog hadn't of barked, my brother and I probably would have died in the blooms of hot black smoke inhalation or the 1600 degree flames.
Most of my 10,000 or so record collection was either burned or melted with the searing heat. And many movies and books were lost as well. My brother and I will be homeless for three months or more, but living in some rental unit while the work to repair as much $250,000 in structural damage and personal property loss is addressed.
And my home is one of very few to have a Wikipedia listing. It was designed by the famous architect Francis Marion Stokes. Now the home requires extensive repairs.
Not good.
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Comments (7)
Good pup! Glad you guys ar... (Below threshold)1. Posted by JJ | June 11, 2010 5:20 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Good pup! Glad you guys are ok. "Things" can be replaced, not so peeps and pups.
1. Posted by JJ | June 11, 2010 5:20 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 11, 2010 17:20
2. Posted by ed davis | June 11, 2010 9:30 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Wow. That is a sweet looking house. Good to hear you'll move back in some day. As far as all of that music, well, dammit! That sucks, man. Hope you can keep your chin up. I am really glad you and your brother made it out okay.
2. Posted by ed davis | June 11, 2010 9:30 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 11, 2010 21:30
3. Posted by Michael Laprarie | June 11, 2010 11:27 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Hi Paul,
Beautiful 1920's home you have. Sorry to hear about the fire and especially the record collection! Glad you and your brother made it out okay.
You'll have challenging months ahead as you will have to replace everything made of cloth (including carpets, drapes, all upholstered furniture, mattresses, bed clothes, clothing, etc.) and perhaps leather items. Your home can be scrubbed and treated with ozone to remove the smoke smell, and if the ozone treatment was done right then new carpet and drapes, new paint, and new wood finish should pretty much eradicate the smoke damage.
Photograph everything, catalog your possessions (if possible) as they are boxed up to be cleaned, save all the paperwork, document all your phone conversations with insurance people and contractors, and make sure everything is done to your satisfaction before signing off on anything.
Good luck, and once again I am thankful that you and your brother and your dog made it out safely.
3. Posted by Michael Laprarie | June 11, 2010 11:27 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 11, 2010 23:27
4. Posted by epador | June 12, 2010 1:57 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Hope your dog is OK. Glad to hear you feel healthy enough to be kicking butt.
There can be fatal delayed effects from the smoke inhalation 12-24 hours later, so you are lucky nothing bad happened. I'd still recommend getting seen with at least a chest Xray and pulmonary function tests including a DLCO, and oximetry on room air now with a follow up in 3-6 months. A carbon monoxide test, even at this late date, might also be appropriate. There can be slow scarring and later damage, or things wrong you might not detect, that you would want documented now and later.
Might be good to invest in some CO and smoke detectors that don't require doggy biscuits to fuel them.
4. Posted by epador | June 12, 2010 1:57 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 12, 2010 01:57
5. Posted by bryanD | June 12, 2010 1:14 PM | Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Glad everyone is OK, Paul. At least, that sweet house didn't burn to the ground. As for you ginormous record collection? Forget it ever existed---it will be easier that way. (I lost a Mad Magazine/Creepy/Eerie/TV Guide/Playboy/Cavalier/assorted comic book/football card collection covering the years 1955-1974 to fucking flood. So I know the feeling.)
Money/insurance aside. I had a friend who had a big fire in his house. As he oversaw reconstruction over the weeks, the smoke smell was rather strong---even with the smoke specialists doing their thing, and the painters. But once he was moved back in for a few weeks, the smoke ran away. (Yes, ran.)
As for epador's recommendation to step into his Happy House of Death for a lung-scraping; smile, nod, accept card while backing slowly away.
5. Posted by bryanD | June 12, 2010 1:14 PM |
Score: -1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 12, 2010 13:14
6. Posted by Paul Hooson | June 12, 2010 2:31 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Thanks so much for the kind words and advice from everyone here. I only wished that I would have known about the fire hazard safety recall in 2007 about that little Coby unit. I used it safely at my grocery store recently with no problems. But, it hooked it as monitor for my DVD recorder to record the NBA game on Sunday, and by Tuesday morning it created a crisis that changed my life.
6. Posted by Paul Hooson | June 12, 2010 2:31 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 12, 2010 14:31
7. Posted by Shawn | June 17, 2010 9:04 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Paul,
Treat that little pup like a king!
I am sorry to hear of your troubles, but glad you, your brother, and your own little "Lassie" are in good shape.
As per the house, it's good to hear it is repairable.
Looks sweet! I dig that stucco look.
Shawn
7. Posted by Shawn | June 17, 2010 9:04 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 17, 2010 21:04