I had a house fire this weekend.

[TitoTheHappy]

Sorry if this is in the wrong part of the forums.

Hi so I have been a lurker here for forever and a half but pretty well never post anything here, but this weekend I had a pretty major house fire and I lost basically all my things. So I am at my sister's house unable to sleep and super bored so I figured now would be as good of a time as ever to actually post here.

So here is some pictures I posted to Twitter of the inside of my place.

http://twitpic.com/2d1gxq

http://twitpic.com/2cmizx

http://twitpic.com/2cmdiy

I'm sorry for being lame and whatnot but pretty much everyone I know IRL is asleep now and I feel like bitching about the fire.

Luckily I was out, my roommate was at work and my son was at his mother's house when the fire happened but less lucky, the dog was trapped inside and did not make it.

Anyway I hope to start posting here on a regular basis but hopefully about less awful things.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[synkr0nized]

Well, it's good that you weren't hurt, but I'm sorry that your first thread here is about such a loss, both of the home and your dog. With luck you have insurance and can get back on your feet/recover from some of the property loss?

Also, any clues yet as to the source (e.g. faulty wiring, something left on)?

Be well, and best wishes.

[TitoTheHappy]

It was a basement suite I was renting and I'm and idiot and had never bothered with getting tenants but I am lucky to have some incredible friends and they are already organizing fundraisers and have offered up many places I can move into till I find a new home to live in.

The fire department is still investigating the cause of the fire but the living room seems to be where it all started so it might have been something electronic related.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Awww man I was expecting some sweet spambot action. Sorry about your loss, fire is pretty ass.

[Kyanbu The Legend]

Man that's got to suck.

But at least you and your family are okay. Hope things start looking up for guys soon.

[TitoTheHappy]

Yeah losing so much of my stuff really sucks but it really could have been so much worse. I'm going to the house today to see what all I can save but if anyone knows of any methods to get the horrible smoke smell out of clothes I would love to hear it, I did a websearch but got a huge amount of conflicting suggestions so if anyone has first hand knowledge on what works that would be great.

@smartymcbarrelpants sorry to disappoint about not being a spambot, if you want I can start posting like this "inlarge ur pen15 today discount meds! african prince neds ur bank info" ;)

[krogothwolf]

SMB is always disappointed because his research hasn't found a way to enlarge his penis at no cost.

Do you know what caused the fire?

On an unrelated note, are you a diehard Melon Head?

[TitoTheHappy]

@krogothwolf No word yet on what started it and I'm really quite anxious to find out about it. I am not as hardcore into the Riders as a many of my fellow Saskatchewan folk but I do watch pretty well every game and the 13th man last year did break my heart. Are you a Stampeders man?

[krogothwolf]

@krogothwolf No word yet on what started it and I'm really quite anxious to find out about it. I am not as hardcore into the Riders as a many of my fellow Saskatchewan folk but I do watch pretty well every game and the 13th man last year did break my heart. Are you a Stampeders man?

Well, I hope you find out what caused it. It looks pretty nasty. Sorry about the puppy though, that's gotta be harsh :( Makes me sad, though glad everyone else was safe since they weren't around.

Yeah I be a Stampeders Man! we rock! Though Burris throws way to many INT's this year, I'm not sure if he remembers what team he is on right now.

[Shyria Dracnoir]

Shame that you lost so much (including your poor puppy), but an even bigger relief neither you or the rest of your family got hurt. Good to know you've got some good friends watching your back as well. You know how much getting back on your feet is going to cost? I don't know what kind of insurance you have (if any) but hopefully it'll be enough.

[bluestarultor]

For clothes, I'm sure you can wash them if they're still okay. Dunno about any smells, but OxyClean and Tide should get them clean enough to wear.

Stuffed animals, not so much. The issue with stuffed toys is that they're usually not washable, and fire produces toxic chemicals that can permeate them. With all the plastics we have in our homes these days, that's a lot of nasty chemicals you won't likely be able to get rid of.

Basically, if it's not machine washable, it should probably be thrown out.

[TitoTheHappy]

So I had spent the day going through my house with my brother and so far about half my clothe, all of my video games, most of kids clothes, about three quarters of my comic collection, my desktop computer and lcd screen, most of my blu ray and dvd collection and all of my son's toys were burnt badly or melted.

BUT in some optimistic news a had purchased a very high end ASUS laptop a few months ago and its LCD screen died and it happened to be at ASUS being repaired when the fire happened, I buy almost all my PC games on Steam so will still have those, of my comic collection that was more or less in readable condition I have all three Atomic Robo trades, half of the Sandman trades, both volumes of Top Ten, the 2nd volume of Nextwave, All Star Superman, Superman:Red Son, Watchmen and several others so most of my favorites made it. All 3 main 4e books, my minis, dice, and even character sheets survived. My son's mother has an incredible amount of clothes and many toys at her house so we are alright there.

On top of all that I met up with some local people on twitter this evening and went out for drinks and food so it was pretty great meeting some people in person that I knew vaguely online.

Tomorrow I plan to start the adventure of trying to remove the smells and stains from the remainder of my clothes. Wish me luck!

@kargothwolf still no word on what caused the fire. The dog was my roommates and she had her for 8 years and my son used to always pretend to be Megaman and the dog would be Rush or he would pretend to be Mario and the dog was Yoshi so we will all miss her a great deal.
ps. That was so painful watching you guys just destroy us on week 4. (sorry about the CFL talk, you damn Yanks!)

@Shyria Dracnoir unfortunately we didn't have any tenants insurance but thankfully we have had so many friends, family and even strangers offering to help that getting back on our feet shouldn't as hard as I once thought.

@bluestarultor Thanks a bunch for the advice!

[Hanuman]

Sorry for your loss, I always hate to see fire played the villain.

I'm considering a career in fire rescue, so I can relate to your loss.

[bluestarultor]

Hey, having a new guy get my name right first shot is more than thanks enough for just that little tidbit. ;)

[Professor Smarmiarty]

Hey, having a new guy get my name right first shot is more than thanks enough for just that little tidbit. ;)

Wait, you mean your name isn't Poo PantsMcGee? All this time... you should have said something.

[bluestarultor]

Wait, you mean your name isn't Poo PantsMcGee? All this time... you should have said something.

Barrel! You wound me! *Shakespearean death*

[krogothwolf]

Barrel! You wound me! *Shakespearean death*

Does that mean he'll actually stay dead this time? Because that would be cause for celebration!

@Tito, you can just short form everyone, it makes things easier that way! And it was a great game on Week 4! It was pure awesome!

[phil_]

Also, the new guy's been here longer than you, blueses.

[bluestarultor]

Does that mean he'll actually stay dead this time? Because that would be cause for celebration!

@Tito, you can just short form everyone, it makes things easier that way! And it was a great game on Week 4! It was pure awesome!

Best buds 4eva! ;P

Also, the new guy's been here longer than you, blueses.

Well, while that's true, it still generally takes people a while to type it right. He showed he cared enough to either double-check or copy/paste, which is actually kind of ironic, come to think of it. XD