I put my cat to sleep yesterday morning, then my cousin lost everything in a fire

[UnknownWarrior]

So yesterday was a terrible day to start, got back for my fiances moms and had to put my cat down.. then that night my cousins and 4 other house around them went up in flames, they lost everything they had, they had just moved in 3 weeks ago and unloaded all their storage units and filled the house, they lost all of their daughters close, toys, xmas gifts, all of their clothes electronics etc, my cousin lost his most valuable possessions, in that house, he lost about 15 years worth of TOOL signed pictures, guitars, wine and one of a kind pictures by the bands artist that hes been collecting for years. My cousin was home at the time while his 2 year old was napping and waiting for his wife to get home from work, he noticed smoke in her room and thought it was her lamp and unplugged it, after he did black smoke started to pour into the room from the ceiling fan, all he had time to do was grab his daughter and make it out of his house, he said he literally only had 4 minutes to think and act before his house was up in flames If any one would care to help or donate anything for them you may just PM me, please pray for them in this time of tragedy Four Townhomes Damaged by Fire | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth DEVASTATING FIRE RECOVERY FUND | Facebook

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[Gord's Green Z28]

A tidbit of advice for everybody on CZ28.com

Smoke alarms are hardwired or battery powered. If they're hardwired, most people never change them. For battery powered ones, you need to remove them and replace the 9 volt battery whenever they start beeping at you. We all know this.

What is not commonly known is that smoke detectors are supposed to be replaced every 10 years. The battery in mine needed to be replaced a few weeks back (beeping at me). When I took it off, I saw the detector was 8 years old. (It said to replace in the year 2013)

There are two types of smoke detectors. Ionization (about 90% of them) and Photo cell (about 5% of them). The remaining 5% are ionization/photo cell combination detectors. The cost for a combination detector? A whopping $22 in my case. Replacing my 8 year old ionization detector with a ionization/photo cell detector seemed like a no brainer. For $22 it also came with a 9 volt battery. The cost to replace the battery in my old detector would have been $15 for a long life 9 volt. Granted, the 9 volt in the new detector is a traditional 9 volt. But I can change that to a long life when it starts beeping at me.

An ionization detector is best for large flaming fires.
A photo cell detector is best for small smoldering fires. Think a cigarette ash in carpet. Or an electronic item that has fried itself and is slowly nuking itself to the point of starting a fire.

I would recommend a combination ionization/photo cell smoke detector to anybody.

Most people with houses have fire insurance. But renters in apartments typically don't. It costs me about $200/year for apartment fire insurance.

[Xride]

Sorry for your buddies loss, but everyone is safe and that's what matters.
I hope he was insured though.

Originally Posted by Gord's Green Z28

I would recommend a combination ionization/photo cell smoke detector to anybody.

Most people with houses have fire insurance. But renters in apartments typically don't. It costs me about $200/year for apartment fire insurance.

I also would recommend this.
Insurance is so cheap to not have it. I know two people that lost everything in an apartment fire a few years ago with no insurance. They spent 40k replacing just stuff over the next year or two, and still didn't have what they had before.

Although if you can I would go for a laser smoke detector.
I have the Notifier FSL-751E in my place. They run around 200 each though. I only have them because they were left over from a big job.

I am glad I am a digital age generation. If there was a fire here it would really only be things that I would lose. All my pictures and documents are backed up offsite. I really can't think of anything that I couldn't replace, a few of my paintings I couldn't replace just because there are no longer any for sale, but I would get a sizable payment and can find other art, I have no real attachment to it.

[97QuasarBlue3.8]

That sucks dude. About the cat and the house. I'm glad they were able to make it out okay. If they weren't insured before, I'll bet they will choose to carry a renter's policy in the future!!!

[UnknownWarrior]

Originally Posted by Xride

Sorry for your buddies loss, but everyone is safe and that's what matters.
I hope he was insured though.




I also would recommend this.
Insurance is so cheap to not have it. I know two people that lost everything in an apartment fire a few years ago with no insurance. They spent 40k replacing just stuff over the next year or two, and still didn't have what they had before.

Although if you can I would go for a laser smoke detector.
I have the Notifier FSL-751E in my place. They run around 200 each though. I only have them because they were left over from a big job.

I am glad I am a digital age generation. If there was a fire here it would really only be things that I would lose. All my pictures and documents are backed up offsite. I really can't think of anything that I couldn't replace, a few of my paintings I couldn't replace just because there are no longer any for sale, but I would get a sizable payment and can find other art, I have no real attachment to it.

no they werent, they hadnt had time to get renters insurance yet

[UnknownWarrior]

Originally Posted by 97QuasarBlue3.8

That sucks dude. About the cat and the house. I'm glad they were able to make it out okay. If they weren't insured before, I'll bet they will choose to carry a renter's policy in the future!!!

they didnt, they just finished moving all there stuff in the weekend before xmas, so they havent had time to set it up

[Shockwave]

I'll sticky this for you. Best of luck.

[Xride]

Originally Posted by UnknownWarrior

no they werent, they hadnt had time to get renters insurance yet

No time is a poor excuse. It takes 5 minutes and can be done well before you even move in.
They had time, just didn't. Doesn't change anything now, but "no time" excuse is one that always irks me.

I am glad they made it out safe, and god forbid I should need to evacuate for a fire I can only hope everyone makes it out safe.

Also I hope his most valuable possession is his daughter and not some collectibles, which should have their own insurance.


Also sorry about your cat.

I feel like the Grinch today. I really mean well, and best of luck to everyone involved, not that there is a good time of the year for this to happen, but this has to be particularly bad.

[Camride]

UnknownWarrior, can we send money to you to give to your cousin to help him out with rebuilding? I know it won't be much but I'd like to send something to help them out.

[one wicked element]

Originally Posted by Camride

UnknownWarrior, can we send money to you to give to your cousin to help him out with rebuilding? I know it won't be much but I'd like to send something to help them out.

I, too, would like to send some of Camride's money to your cousin. How can we help?

[Camride]

Originally Posted by one wicked element

I, too, would like to send some of Camride's money to your cousin. How can we help?

I'll send enough for both of us.

[UnknownWarrior]

Originally Posted by Camride

UnknownWarrior, can we send money to you to give to your cousin to help him out with rebuilding? I know it won't be much but I'd like to send something to help them out.

yes you can, you can Paypal it to me or mail a check to me in their name, your choice anything you give would be helpful

the fire department found the cause of the fire, a unlicensed plumber was fixing a water pipe and caught the insulation in the walls on fire with his torch, it then spread through the walls til it burst into flames on all 4 homes

[Camride]

Originally Posted by UnknownWarrior

yes you can, you can Paypal it to me or mail a check to me in their name, your choice anything you give would be helpful

the fire department found the cause of the fire, a unlicensed plumber was fixing a water pipe and caught the insulation in the walls on fire with his torch, it then spread through the walls til it burst into flames on all 4 homes

Damn, I hope that plumber has a very good insurance policy.

PM me your paypal address and I'll send some money your way.

[CeeBee94Z]

Sorry for your cousins loss, at least they were safe. We went through something similar back in September. Ours wasn't a fire though, it was a flood. We got hit REAL bad with a flood and my neighborhood was one of the worst hit in the area. It is crazy how high the water got and how much damage it did.

We were the "lucky" ones on the street since my house sits just a little higher than most. EVERYTHING in the basement was ruined, almost everything in the garage was ruined, I had to replace all of the flooring on the main floor of my home and some of the drywall.

I am still gradually getting the house back to normal and he we are almost 5 months after the flood. Luckily I had flood insurance that covered the structure, but unfortunately it did not cover personal belongings so I lost a lot of stuff that I have to try and replace over time.

So I can definitely understand what your cousin is going through and it certainly sucks. I pray that they can get back on their feet as soon as possible, I would offer a donation but unfortunately most of my money is going towards getting my house back together.

[Z28x]

Wow, so no smoke detectors? I'm a landlord and I have to have one over every bedroom door and in the kitchen, it is NYS law.

The one in my house is so sensitive that it goes off almost every time I make popcorn. It goes off before I even see the smoke most times.

I'm just glad that everyone got out ok. It is very scary when little kids are involved.

Originally Posted by Gord's Green Z28

A tidbit of advice for everybody on CZ28.com

Smoke alarms are hardwired or battery powered. If they're hardwired, most people never change them. For battery powered ones, you need to remove them and replace the 9 volt battery whenever they start beeping at you. We all know this.

What is not commonly known is that smoke detectors are supposed to be replaced every 10 years. The battery in mine needed to be replaced a few weeks back (beeping at me). When I took it off, I saw the detector was 8 years old. (It said to replace in the year 2013)

There are two types of smoke detectors. Ionization (about 90% of them) and Photo cell (about 5% of them). The remaining 5% are ionization/photo cell combination detectors. The cost for a combination detector? A whopping $22 in my case. Replacing my 8 year old ionization detector with a ionization/photo cell detector seemed like a no brainer. For $22 it also came with a 9 volt battery. The cost to replace the battery in my old detector would have been $15 for a long life 9 volt. Granted, the 9 volt in the new detector is a traditional 9 volt. But I can change that to a long life when it starts beeping at me.

An ionization detector is best for large flaming fires.
A photo cell detector is best for small smoldering fires. Think a cigarette ash in carpet. Or an electronic item that has fried itself and is slowly nuking itself to the point of starting a fire.

I would recommend a combination ionization/photo cell smoke detector to anybody.

Most people with houses have fire insurance. But renters in apartments typically don't. It costs me about $200/year for apartment fire insurance.

Great advice, thanks for posting this. I never knew there was two kinds.