Ever Deal with a Shop Fire?

[Jack]

Where do you Start? 
I received a call this morning from a customer that had a boat at my shop.  He was called at a little after midnight that there was a fire where his boat was located.  I never received any call though, even though this customer gave the emergency folks my number.

At this point we don't know exactly how much loss there is in the shop.  The main part that was damage is the room with all the 100+ old antiques.  Some wood, some upholstered, some collected parts that have been collected for more than 30 years.  The upholstery supply and sewing room wasn't damage as bad, but between fire, smoke and water, I don't think anything in that room will be salvaged.  About 1/3-1/2 of the overall building has fire damage, most of the rest of it has sever smoke damage and then some water damage.  I only had a couple customers pieces still there, but it was also COM.  Two matching chairs that I was almost done with have no fire damage, but completely back from smoke and are soaked from water.  Does anyone know if smoke is absorbed into the wood frame of the chair?  If not, I could take these back down to the frames and completely repad and cover them.  They were mostly straw, hair and cotton.

We haven't gotten any now cause yet, probably won't until tomorrow.  I can't get ahold of the insurance company on a Sunday, so don't know where to even start.  We can't do anything at the building until the fire department does their inspection though.

Fortunately, no one was there and no firefighters were hurt in fighting the fire.

Well, I have to start trying to figure out inventory loss.  I've never been good about keeping an accurate inventory, but then didn't ever think something like this could happen either.

I'll keep you informed as to how things are going.  Should make a good newsletter article about what you need to know before, during and after something like this.  Since this is the first time I've ever been involved with this kind of loss, I'm learn the hard way.

Jack

[kmealy]

Oh, Jack, so sorry to hear this.     As if you didn't have enough on your plate.

[Buck]

Jeeze Jack...
  I've dealt with MANY shop fires but never my own. The last shop fire I dealt with we found an old retired sign painter roasted (along with his dog) in his car. I saw lots of personal memorabilia melted and destroyed. I saw all I needed of the man's body but couldn't bear to look further to the dog... Anyway, I'm getting VERY close to retiring from this... 28 years of roasted lives, homes and businesses is enough.
  My first major commercial fire in '79 started in Norm's Cabinet Shop. It took out three large brick structures in the "downtown"district. The fire didn't get into the building where I apprenticed upholstery but it was structurally condemned. It was no longer used as an upholstery/tack/shoe repair shop at the time.
  I could go on as memories roll... This is some ugly business to deal with... Man... I hate this kind of stuff... I have a shop full of antiques and collectibles with insured dollar values FAR UNDER what they are worth to me... Tornados and fire scare me to death...
  I'm at a loss for words... buzz-kill... I'm here to help you any way I can... Kim
 
 
 

[Jack]

Here are some pictures of the damage.
The first four pictures show some of the damage from the outside on the side of the shop that took the biggest part of the damage.









This picture is some of the bigger parts of antiques that were pulled outside.


This a shot of the room that got the main damage.  This room was almost entirely full of antiques, virtually nothing under a 100 years old.  It use to be so full that you couldn't see from one side of the room to the other.


This shows my main sewing machine and though it doesn't look to bad, the machine is already locked up from rust from the water used to put out the fire.


We took some 69 pictures but most of them won't make much sense and we took them to cover our insurance needs.  Hopefully!

Jack

[Dede]

Dear Lord, Jack - I can't begin to imagine what you're going through right now, and the photos you posted are heartbreaking.  I am so very sorry.

[Agnes]

oh my!!! Jack!!! that's terrible! Is there anything I can do to help? I'm speechless! So awful!

[Cheryl]

Jack..  

I am so very sorry.      Having just gone through a similar thing with my daughter ...   my heart goes out to you and Penny.    Hopefully the insurance will cover it.  What a nightmare.  

Cheryl

[Roger]

Wow, Jack.... I'm stunned....  never think something like this can happen to us, or people we know, and always seems to come at a crisis in life. You must be shattered by this....  All I can do is echo what Kim(Buck) said....  if we can help, just say so.
Roger

[gotya]

Jack,

I fill for you. I too had a fire i was married only 5 months my first husband home sleep with nearly phnenmia I came home from work and fire truck surround apt , remember I live in a big complex up north I fought to get to my apartment was meet by my brother and said they got david my first husband out and everyone carryed my one animal i wasnt suppose to have. which was a monkey dont even ask why?/

After that ive always cared fire insurance and life ins. This is just alwful...i came in to read the chat from shop and was speechless...im so sorry this happen ...the antques that cant be replace...supply could im so sorry..for your loss let us know what we can do. when you find out what has cause the fire. did that guy loose his boat?

well things will work out...there is a reason for everything in our lives..that we can not question...is this is one of them so sorry Jack

[kimel]

Gilda Radner put it best - "it's always something" (Rosanne Rosanadana).

Jack, your loss puts my life back into perspective. I'm going home to hug my kids and grandbaby and thank God they are healthy.

The position you are in, are you looking for replacement items immediately? I know you were in the process of downsizing...please let one of us know what you need in the immediate future so that we can help!

Best to you,
Kim

[Ted]

Jack,

I was online last evening when you first posted about your loss.  I was here when you posted the pictures.  I shared them with my wife.  We both grieve for you and simply dont know what to say.

Your friend in IL
Ted

[Stacey]

Oh Jack I feel so much sorrow for you and Penny. You really didn't need this right now. I have seen this so much as Buck mentioned. When it effects ones we really know it hurts even more to see the results of something that can keep us warm and comfortable. Yet has the bad side of total devastation. We are all here to help if you need it Jack

[Jack]

First of all, I would like to thank everyone for the concern and prayers.  It's nice to know that my friends are thinking about us now.

Does anyone know how to translate Insurance-eze, (like legal-eze)?  What we are slowly figuring out is that we can't figure anything out.  Besides looking like we didn't have enough of all the right kinds of coverage,  the coverage we do have seems to be full of loop hole to the benefit of the insurance company.    We are suppose to be meeting with the insurance adjuster at 3:00 this afternoon.  So is the adjuster working soley for the insurance company and do we need to consider getting someone in our corner to protect us?  Or are we just adding more untranslated legal-eze to the Insurance-eze we already don't understand?  Once you start to just get past the loss of things you have owned for 20-30 years, then you get sickened by all the mess that is going to be involved to try and get things somewhat back to normal. We'll just have to see what we find out this afternoon.

Jack

[Agnes]

I'm not an expert either, at reading insurance paperwork. The 2 times that I have had a disaster, the adjusters were very helpful. Yes, they work for the insurance company, but the ones I dealt with were fair. Even with the last hurricane, when nothing was covered, the guy asked me plenty of questions to make sure that he was not missing something.
I hope you had a good adjuster and that your meeting went well.

[kmealy]

The ones I've worked with, both as a claimant and as a restoration provider, seem to be fair and want to get you back to even.  They get a little short with people who think their claim is like a winning lottery ticket, like the ones that wanted to claim a pair of rusty auto ramps for  $230.  Bought new, without the rust, $29.95.

Hang in there.