Friend lost house in fire
 

An old friend of mine had a house fire last night. Her husband was badly burned, five pets died, their house and everything they owned burned to the ground.

There is nothing in my house I cannot replace or cannot live without, but... To loose EVERYTHING in one shot and have only the clothes on your back, no car, no cell phone... Not to mention having a spouse in the hospital... That's got to suck really bad.

And that is just another example of why you MUST HAVE offsite back up of your data. Sure, you can get a new laptop, but where do you get the video of your child's first steps? Your client list? You suppliers? Your financial records and of course the nude selfies?

I use crashplan - carbonite is also recommended by many.

No excuses. Do it today.

I had that happen to a friend of mine earlier this year (minus the spouse part), he was drunk and did something stupid with one of those bio ethanol fireplaces. The whole apartment was engulfed in flames in a matter of seconds. Luckily no one got hurt. But he lost EVERYTHING and had no insurance, only thing he had left was what he was wearing.

How did this happen to your friend?

Going over her facebook page... It seems they had a pretty serious car accident last month.

I went to Hawaii last year, and I spent a lot of time thinking about how I can improve the way I work. At this point, nothing is stored locally.

Sorry to hear about such a loss. Hopefully they recover well in time.

Not to belittle or say anything bad about your friends just a comment in general. How does this happen?

Every room in my house has a window. My smoke alarms could wake the dead and go off every time I cook bacon they are so sensitive. Renters or homeowners contents insurance is almost free.

I don't know - what little information we know is from a single post on FB this morning.

The area they live in is a very rural area. Translation: No real fire department. Last I heard, it was a volunteer fire department, meaning someone takes the call at the firehouse, calls all of the other volunteer firemen, and then drives the fire truck over there and hopes people show up to help.

Been there done that. House didn't completely burn to the ground but just about everything was lost due to smoke, heat or water damage.

Really sorry to hear man, I'm sorry for their loss :(

I was actually going through a bunch of stuff I have, clothes wise that doens't fit me anymore (I've gained a "few" pounds). Mostly large and XL shirts and jackets, 34-38 waist pants, etc. I'm not sure where they are from, but I'd gladly make the offer to them if they wanted it.

Even ones with smoke alarms still burn down. There was a row home fire around where I'm from that killed two people. They showed the house did have smoke alarms and they DID work, but the time an alarm goes off, it's basically GTFO time!

Older homes are mostly constructed of wood and less brick/masonry, which means they will go up in flames quickly. Ever seen how long it takes to catch an entire house on fire? MINUTES! Very scary shit :helpme

If a fire starts in your house and triggers an alarm or you call the fire company, it will take at least 7-10 minutes for them to arrive... by that time, they are merely stopping the damage.

Fires suck and hard to prevent. I have my alarms tied to a security system and make sure my insurance is up to date. I could live without every single material possession I own, but to lose a loved one or pet would be devastating.

That is what often happens. Growing up a friend I went to school with had their house burn down (and the high school I went to had part of it burn down). In my friend's case the fire department got there pretty quickly and about 30% of the house was lost to fire, but pretty much everything else was destroyed from water and smoke.

My high school had its gym burn down. They contained the fire and it only burned the gym, but the water and smoke took about 10 classrooms with it.

Sorry to hear about your friends Rochard. Like you, I have nothing in my house really that can't be replaced except for some pictures that are now have copies stored online as well as here at home, but just the sheer task of starting over like that has to be pretty mind blowing. Not to mention the medical issues. Burns can be a long, hard recovery. I wish them the best.