In Memory

THE FIRE (02-01-03)

    The Foxden was originally an attached 2-car garage when our tri-level home was built in 1965. Previous owners finished and converted the space, into a family/recreation room and an office for his home business, and built a detached 3-car garage. The Bedroom level of our home is directly above the Foxden.

    We awoke to the smell of something burning about 2:30 Saturday morning Feb 1^st. The urgency in Steve’s voice when I woke him to ask him if he smelled something burning made me realize I was not dreaming. We bolted out of bed, down the stairs to the main level of the house. It was thick with the most horrible toxic smoke. Some night lamps were on so we could still see. I ran into the dinette area where Steve’s new baby MOBY was sleeping in his pen. He was in the safest spot at that moment, tucked behind a kitchen counter peninsula. The smoke was rolling over the counter and his pen and was being drawn up the fireplace chimney. He was all right. I thought for sure I would be grabbing a limp little warm body. Where are Bonnie & Oliver? I assumed they were in the basement level doing their evening mousing. Of course cats will not come if you call them. I prayed they were in the basement, which was lower than the fire, and they could possibly be safe. I ran a few feet out the patio doors only to go back in to grab the phone that was above Moby’s bed. It was then I saw Steve trying to go down to the Foxden level with the fire extinguisher. My throat was sore for days from screaming for him to please don’t go down. He immediately retreated, thank God. He said he could feel the heat. We ran out the front door, down the stairs and stood in front of the Foxden. The night lamp was still on. You could barely make out the glow because the smoke was so dark & thick. It seems as though there was a fire already but the smoke had snuffed it out. Then the lights flickered and the room burst into flames. The windows started cracking and bursting. We watched in shock and disbelief. I watched what I had worked on so hard for 3 years be destroyed in minutes.

BONNIE & OLIVER

    A firewoman found my 9 yr. Old Calico Bonnie already gone. She seemed to have passed in her sleep. When the fire was out, they searched for Oliver my 10 yr old black and white long hair. They found him in the basement; he was soaked and scared to death. They could not catch him. When they cleared the way for me to get down to the basement it took me almost an hour to soothe him enough to grab him. He just cried and coughed. He finally gave up from exhaustion. The fur on his front paws was burned. I just held him until we could track down his Doctor. He met us right away. I knew on the drive over to meet Dr. Schmidt, Oliver would have to be put to sleep. He had just inhaled too much smoke. His gums were pure white and bleeding. I was their Mommy, how could I have let this awful thing happen to them. My heart is so broken.

THE AFTERMATH

    Besides almost everything in the Foxden burning up, the fire went up to the bedroom level through the office ceiling. Had the Foxden not been a garage in its previous life, with fire rated wall and ceiling boards, at least half if not more of our house would have burned to the foundation. The whole house was very badly smoke & soot damaged. At least 10,000 Flip Tops burnt up. It seeped into every drawer, closet & cabinet. When I opened my kitchen cupboards I could not tell what color my dishes were. The soot immediately starts to etch into anything electronic. Every electronic device in our house was considered a loss. Which includes every one of our CDs, videos, cassettes, & DVD’s.

PROGRESS

    It took us and the cleaning agency hired by the insurance company 11 days to inventory, pack everything in boxes, label, and decide who will try to clean the item (them or us) and get everything out of the house. I had been having severe anxiety attacks about going through the remains of the Foxden. About 15 of our Family and Friends started showing up between 9 & 10 am (the day we saved for just the cleaning of the Foxden). By 12 noon the entire Foxden was sifted through, packed up, labeled, and moved out to one of the garages. My dear girlfriends dug through the charred and wet remains to find every last bead that could possibly be salvaged. It was so much less painful than I had anticipated. We will never be able to thank all of you enough. We have so many people to thank for all their acts of kindness over the months. Please know we love & appreciate everyone of you so very much.

(abbreviated 10-05-03)