I just watched a house burn down

audiobliss

Title says it all. I was home alone listening to tunes on my new ASL's (actually preparing to write a mini-review of them) when Mom called. They were coming back home, driving down our street, and she said there was a house a few streets over on fire. So I grabbed a sweatshirt and ran outside. I didn't have to get far down the street before I could see flames dancing over the trees. I can't explain the feeling I had as I ran down the street. The nature of the event obviously put me 'on the edge of my seat', and the earnestness in my mom's tone made me more so. I didn't know if there were people inside, or around there, if there were firemen there yet. In short, I didn't know if I was going to be one of the first people there and so be running inside the house helping people and what not. That was a strange feeling, wondering if I would be called upon to do it, and if I would actually. I suppose I would have, but there were already firemen there.

It actually ended up being a barn beside the house. When I got there, there was -no- hope of saving it. It was just a matter of not letting it spread. The whole building (rather large - the size of a house) was engulfed. It was a strange feeling to stand there and watch the flames, watch this thing called fire. I don't guess I have ever seen its destructive powers in person before. It was awing, to say the least.

There was some (nice) furniture and lawn equipment in the building, as well as a few heirlooms. The guy had no insurance on the building.

Made for an interesting evening, for sure.

nadams

I've watched a few barns burn, living in rural PA all my 19 years. It is an odd feeling to watch a big, strong building be taken down to rubble in the matter of a few hours. Though usually it's longer for the barns around here because they're full of hay, so they smoulder for about a week before they bring the 'dozers in and start pushing it around.

audiobliss

A few hours? This one took less than an hour. But I guess that's becuase the firemen finally started putting it out. I wonder how long it would have burned if they had not interceeded.

brettw22

You think that's bad......I got to watch San Diego burn a few years ago........

They had the freeway blocked off completely and when it had basically moved on, they opened up the road and it was like literally driving through hell......blackness and smoke everywhere......small spot fires remaining.....ash raining all over.......for MILES of that place.....

The ash actually rained up into LA for a week after that and the gutters in the streets all over the place were just piled high with that crap. The funniest thing I saw out of that was when people were all out wearing those face masks (cover the nose and mouth).......I was at a stop light and looked into my rear view mirror to see a guy pull his off only to light up a cigarette......I was laughing so hard I almost didn't even go through when the light went green.....idiot.

TroyD

My first trip to the desert, some tents caught fire. I row of four was gone in less then five minutes.

BDT

BlueMDPicker

brettw22 wrote:

The funniest thing I saw out of that was when people were all out wearing those face masks (cover the nose and mouth).......I was at a stop light and looked into my rear view mirror to see a guy pull his off only to light up a cigarette......I was laughing so hard I almost didn't even go through when the light went green.....idiot.

How uncouth! I usually cut a small slit in mine for the cigarette.

ND13

Am I the only person that is bothered by the fact that Mikey didn't actually see a house burn, but aFREAKING BARN. :mad:

It's almost like the boy that cried wolf in some ways. There's a MAJOR difference between someone's home burning to the ground and their utility shed(barn) burning, don't you think??? :rolleyes:

BlueMDPicker

"Excitable boy, they all said
Well, he's just an excitable boy"

avelanchefan

nadams wrote:

I've watched a few barns burn, living in rural PA all my 19 years. It is an odd feeling to watch a big, strong building be taken down to rubble in the matter of a few hours. Though usually it's longer for the barns around here because they're full of hay, so they smoulder for about a week before they bring the 'dozers in and start pushing it around.

Yep hay is a Killer, I had heard of 3 hay fires in six years when I lived in Iowa. What was the hottest one's where the rolled hay. If they rolled them wet then it could spell disaster.

Sami

brettw22 wrote:

You think that's bad......I got to watch San Diego burn a few years ago........

I also was in San Diego when it was in fire. I lived next to Yellowstone when it burned down back in 1988. And no, I wasn't responsible for either...

nadams

avelanchefan- Yes, the most recent fire was actually large bales (not rolls). They're larger than standard bales for use with cow feeders. Anyway, they were impatient and baled it green. Spontaneous combustion in a packed-to-the-gills barn is a ****. The farmer obviously is a bit slow because he did the same thing 3 years ago, and this was his replacement barn after that fire.

Just FYI- don't bale hay green, and don't pack it into a barn with no airspace. Metal roof on barn bakes hay, hay ignites, barn burns for a week, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Another barn I saw burn was a pig barn. Smelled like bacon big time that night... that was right down the road from my old house.

Oh, and there's a huge difference between barns and houses. And if you're smart, you insure it and everything in it, so you're only out the time to clean up and rebuild.

Sami

nadams wrote:

Oh, and there's a huge difference between barns and houses. And if you're smart, you insure it and everything in it, so you're only out the time to clean up and rebuild.

You still lose a lot, like those 50 year old pictures you've been saving in the closet. Of course you can now digitally transfer them to a save location but no insurance can cover the emotional pieces (like the original printed photos).

nadams

If something's that important to you, I don't think you'd be keeping it in a barn. Having a barn burn down shouldn't be that big of a deal as long as it's insured. Houses contain a lot more of the memories and "sentimental value" pieces, which is why it's a bigger deal when you lose a house.

The only thing I'd be worried about in our whole barn is our two horses. Everything else is just material, it can be replaced. Technically, the horses can too, but after having them for 17 years, you get kind of attached to them. Those are the only things I don't think we could keep in the house

Sami

nadams wrote:

If something's that important to you, I don't think you'd be keeping it in a barn.

Oh, I thought it was about a house.

nadams

Our barn (notice the lightening rods...) http://www.king-nerd.com/dood/images/minigal/New%20house/47.%20Few%20misc%20pics%20from%20the%20property%20with%20my%20new%20camera,%208-18-05/thumbs/tn_med_100_0027.JPG

Our two Arabians- http://www.king-nerd.com/dood/images/minigal/New%20house/47.%20Few%20misc%20pics%20from%20the%20property%20with%20my%20new%20camera,%208-18-05/thumbs/tn_med_100_0010.JPG

audiobliss

Ok, ok IT WAS A BARN, yes. BUT, Mom told me on the phone it was a house, so that's what I thought as I was running toward the fire last night.

It's not really a barn, per se. It might have been a house at one time, for all I know, that was 'converted' for storage purposes. Maybe a better way to put it is a 'complex shed'. It had probably six or seven room, two stories, a deck off to one side, etc. It was kinda elaborate (though not very nice).

They were temporarily storing some pretty nice furniture in it, he had just bought a new Toro riding lawn mower, they had a lot of the toys (dolls, cradles, etc.) from their children's childhood, etc. So, I'd say it was a pretty big loss, especially considering they had no insurance on it.

I'd say it burned pretty quick. When I got there it was completely engulfed, the whole thing was just up in flames, absolutely no use in trying to save it, and they said it had only been twenty minutes since the fire started.

ND13

Hehehe!!!!!!

PolknPepsi

When I was about 6 our barn burned down and it went fast. :eek: Funny how some things just stick out vividly in your memory.

swerve

Yea... we had an arsonist (spelling?) that lived on my block... let me say the following:
Two Houses... and a garage...
in one week.

kind of scary considering the guy had no real reason to be doing it.

LiquidSound

When I was about five, my family and I watched our huge two story log home burn to the damn ground. Total loss. All because of a little spark from some faulty wiring upstairs by the library. It was so hot upstairs that day, little did I know it was because the walls were filled with fire!
I remember so vividly the fire pouring out and curling upward from the windows..and the intense heat produced from the place I used to call home. What a memory...

Get this, about a week before it happened, my brother and I got in bad trouble and got all our toys taken away and put in a little pull behind trailer. So our house burnt down, but we still had all our toys!! Talk about making lemonade, huh.

Oh yeah, Nationwide..is not on your side...