Lost everything..........

[DuckiesDarling]

Had a job interview this morning, got home and saw something weird. I asked my dad, "Dad, is that smoke?". Sure enough my entire front room was ablaze. Front room is where pc was and pretty much where I spent the majority of my time when awake. The entire place sustained major damage and is considered "unlivable" at this stage. Funny thing is the rooms where there was just some smoke, the fire department busted out every window. At this point in time, I am homeless. Crashing at mom and dad's til I can figure something out.

Poor Duck, I was so lost I called and woke him up this morning, must have been around 4 or 5 am his time and just cried my heart out to him.

With the loss of the pc I lost every single picture I have of my kids from birth til now. I lost important paperwork, I lost my life in a nutshell.

It was ruled an electrical problem with an outlet that caught on fire, if I had been home, I could have possibly contained it before it wiped out antiques and memories.

I won't be on much right now, cause parents only have dialup and to be honest, I really don't want them to see me on this site LOL.

I'll be in touch with Duck, so if you need anything let him know he'll pass the message on to me.

[love1234]

Sorry to hear that.

[elian]

Oh wow DD, I'm very sorry to hear about your loss, thank goodness your folks can take you in. I hope you are able to find some sort of new home soon.

[12voltman59]

Sorry to hear that DD---I wish ya luck in getting back on your feet as soon as possible--take care.

[Annika L]

My gods, DD, that is terrible! Very best wishes to you for getting things back together as quickly as possible. *hugs*

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

Oh Sweet Baby, I am SO sorry. All I can offer right now is a hug. I know that isnt much help, but its the best I can do. Was it a rental place? I think I'd be sueing if it was. Please have Duck keep us posted, ok?
More hugs and love.
Your Fave Pussy.

[ohbimale]

I am so sorry to hear of your loss. These things often have a rainbow at the end, often something or somebody we would not have seen otherwise and I hope that your family and faith help you along your path so that you can something positive out of this. Blessings.

[Doggiestyle]

WOW,,, Twyla (or is that DD?) I really hate to hear about that!!! :(
The real problem is that as you clean up the mess, you will have to also start all over again. And attempting to replace some things is also impossible too.

All just such a tragedy. :eek:

I hope you can "get it back together soon"

Your friend, :doggie:

[biguycancun]

That is just so terrible. I feel so sorry for you. I went through a similar disaster several years ago. It will take time to rebuild a place to call home, but in time, you'll have a home again.

If you haven't already done so, don't throw out the computer. Depending on the amount of heat and water it was subjected to, you may be able to salvage the hard drive. It way just work if installed in a functioning computer. If not, a data recovery service may be able to salvage some, if not all the data within the drive.

If the drive has been preserved, PM me and I may be able to get you in touch with a data recovery service near you. Your insurance may even cover the costs.

[taz321]

Sorry to hear of your loss, I know what it's like to lose everything you own and see your whole life's worth of memories ruined. I hope you can salvage some of your things and keep your head up cause things are just things, at least you still have you! Good luck DD with getting things back together.

[Realist]

Damn! My house burned down, a while back, too! I also wasn't home at the time. In some ways, it's worse than a death! You lose things that can never be replaced. At least, you weren't burned alive!

Can I help?

Did you get the job?

I'm so sorry, Lady...and Duck, too!

[Trinity-Fl]

The advice about saving the hard drive is good...

I worked in the computer industry for 25 years and facilitated several recoveries (one for a local township whose official computer was damaged.) So, get it to a recovery service. There will be money involved but the information may be invaluable. Good luck!

Charlie

[DuckiesDarling]

Thanks guys, but the computer is completely gone, it was on the desk directly in front of outlet that caused fire. The tower is completely melted and the components appear to be a complete write off, I did save it just in case and I have a friend in town who specializes in this so he might be able to if I can't just hook it into a new tower.

As for insurance, nope not a drop. I have $180 bucks from American Red Cross to replace some clothes and food. I used it all on clothes cause I'm eating at my parents.

Not sure about the job, I'm hopeful. Thing is if I had been home, I very likely would have been asleep and died in my bed from smoke inhalation. As it is I have one minor place on me from where I grabbed up a large branch to try and shove the ceiling that was collapsing out of the way so we could open the door and use the hose.

Fire was just about out when fire department showed til they pulled the rest of the ceiling down and it blazed up again.

A fixture at the far end of my trailer was warped and twisted from the heat even though no flames got that far.

Right now just not enjoying being a 39 year old child again living with my parents, subject to their times awake and things. Luckily I can set my phone and wake up to call Duck while they are snoozing so we can actually have a fairly private conversation.

Just hanging in there and trying not to cry everytime I think about something else, like cell was about flat earlier and I realized my charger was on my computer desk which is now so much ash. Luckily, Dad has exact cell phone style so his charger is working magic on my phone at this very moment.

[Vikkster230]

Sorry for your loss... I know it's a hard time, but know ppl all over love you and are sending good energy.

[luv3ways]

If you still have the hard disk/s, even if the plastic connectors & circuit boards are melted, they can be salvaged.

[Darkside2009]

Shocked and saddened to hear of your loss. Most of your items can be replaced, perhaps even your photos if the hard disc can be salvaged. You might be able to get copies of some of them from other family members or professional photographers, if you used any.

In all, I think you have had a very lucky escape, if you had been asleep, you might well have been overcome with fumes and smoke before waking.

Being spoiled by your parents for a while will be nice until you can get back on your feet. I hope the job interview went well, it will help.

Keep in touch, thinking of you.

[mikey3000]

Oh man, DD. I'm so sorry to hear that. I know exactly how you feel as I'm just recovering from a house fire myself. I know everything you're going through. It really is so shocking. PM me if I can help ypu in any way.

[crazy_cat_lady]

hey sweet heart. Like everyone else has said I'm soooo sorry for your loss. I know losing your valuables can be hard but think of it tis way. Its just stuff and at least you are ok, and no one was hurt or killed. I personally would search the internet for fire survivers support group near you. I wish you and duck my well wishes and love. ;)

[Bisexualnewbie]

I'm so sorry to hear that, I know it must be a terrible time.
I don't know how messed up your pc is but try to have the hard drives taken out and sent to a recovery place, they may be able to pull some information off them and possibly save your pictures.
I sure hope you are ok and can get through this, life seems to be going downhill for most people I know and I just split up with gfofabiguy, I miss her terribly but we all will get through our hard times.

[coyotedude]

I'm so sorry about your loss. Hang in there!

[gfofbiguy]

Oh no DD! I am so sorry to hear this! I wish there was something I could do to help you, but I will be keeping you in my thoughts and prayers. Please keep us posted, you or LDD - and too, I hope your interview went well and you have some good news with that.

Sending you my love ♥

~~Gfofbiguy

[bullhead69]

I am so sorry for you DD. My Dad and Mom lost their home to fire a long time ago. I wish you the best. I hope you got the job and time DOES heal all wounds.

[JinJan]

I am so very sorry, to hear about your loss...I don't know what to say, except that you, and LDD, will be in my thoughts and prayers. I don't know you very well yet, but you have been very nice to me, so I just wanted to say that I am thinking about you! Please take care, because I CARE...JinJan.

[PolyLoveTriad]

You didnt loose everything, it may seem so right now, and yes its devastating, but its just a hurdle to overcome. I lost my entire house and everything I owned in hurricane Rita. The insurance company screwed us over, FEMA did nothing for us because of the morons who wasted money from Katrina. We had a few clothes, our marraige license, our pets and our car, most important was our lives. Be glad youre alive and not hurt, it was only items that you lost. Hope you can start rebuilding soon, prayers being sent your way

[_someone_]

I'm sorry about the loss. Kudos on the part about at least informing your hubby, for I would be very concerned no matter what the time was. That said, I'll have to second the suggestion to archive the documents via flash drives and the like, to prevent this from occurring in the future. It'll save you so much time.

[ErosUrge]

I know that no words can alleviate what it is you're going through and I can only imagine. But my heart, prayers, and spirit are sent your way hoping that you will recover and have even a better life after all this.

[darkeyes]

Just spotted this darlin' darlin.. maybe don pop in like me used ta but can't pass the opportunity by without saying.. OMG!:eek: The main thing is u r ok... stuff is stuff..it can eitha b replaced or new stuff got.. u cant.. an wudn like owt 2 happen 2 ya.. big kissie n huggles:)

[CatRocks]

I'm very sorry love =/

[bigbadmax]

Sincere regrets.
Money can replace most things however sentimental things can never be replaced.
Only good thing is that no one was physically hurt.
Hope you get back on feet soon.

[tenni]

I am sorry that this tragedy has happened to you. I wish you well. The loss of your children's pictures must be very difficult. I hope that others in your family have pictures to share with you.

[Yoyome100]

At least you're safe DD!

[welickit]

Very sorry to hear of the problems you are going through. This may well be a wake up call for the rest of us. A fireproof safe is not expensive and makes a good place to keep back up copies of pictures etc. that we can save on a CD. I have been putting off installing the hard wired fire alarm but think I will do it right away. I already checked our fire extinguishers and see that we need to either recharge or get a couple new ones. Perhaps this post will have a very positive effect. We wish you the very best and hope you will find the future holds better times.:bipride:

[DuckiesDarling]

I thank you all for your support, it helps, believe me it helps. Welickit makes a good point about backups, unfortunately mine were on a 320gb external hard drive that was sitting on top of my tower. Fire completely destroyed that, I do hope my hd from the pc can be saved and the tower is now sitting in a shed at my house until I get money to get another pc and see if I can recover any data.

[lizard-lix]

Oh DD, sorry! I had missed this thread, I do hope you can get back to some semblance of normal ASAP. Glad you are OK!

A word about backups, forget any in house backup, fire safes often can get hot enough to ruin CDs/DVDs/Disks.. Make a deal with the neighbor and keep your backups at each other's house (encrypt to hide personal stuff, keep the stuff high to prevent kids and such from finding them and playing with them), or put them in a safety deposit box at the bank.

For smaller stuff, online backup is safe and reliable. Mozy.com will do an automatic online backup regularly, without any intervention on your part (just pick the files and/or folders). It is free up to 2 GB and really reasonable for more space.

Hang in there DD!

Liz

[Okie1970]

Hi. I know you don't know me but I just wanted to say that I'm so sorry for your loss. There have been a lot of fires around my area over the winter and I've seen how much it has messed with peoples lives. The whole thing just sucks. Wishing you better days ahead and a full recovery from this ordeal. As others have said... at least you are still around, and that is a blessing for all who know and love you.