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How would you feel/what would you do if your house was on fire? (Read 205 times)

mab411


Proboscis Colossus

    One of my students' house burned down this weekend.  I'm not sure if they're calling it a "total loss" at this point - they were able to salvage a few things - but looking at it with a completely untrained eye, I suspect the house will have to be completely gutted to be livable again.

     

    Anyway, it got me to thinking, as I often do anyway, about what I would do in the event that my house was on fire, and how I would feel afterward.

     

    Obviously, getting out would be priority #1.  But what if the fire was currently in only one part of the house, would I try to grab anything on the way out?  Probably the dogs, if they hadn't already bailed out the pet door.  After that, I don't know that I have anything that is both vitally important and irreplaceable.  I might try to snag my laptop, just because having it right away would make the process of getting life back together easier.  All of my pictures are on there, too, though that data is backed up to the Cloud.  Passports and other such important documents are in a fire-proof safe, though if I passed by that, I might chuck it out the window, just in case the manufacturer is being optimistic.  I'd grab my Bible for the same reason I'd want my laptop.

     

    All of this is assuming the part of the house these items are in isn't currently aflame and is on the way out, of course.  And it also assumes my wife is able to leave under her own power.

     

    As far as how I'd feel...I know this is very much something you just don't know about until it happens, and I'm prepared to eat my words if it does transpire, but I just don't think I'm that attached to much else in the house that I'd feel that my whole life had been destroyed afterwards.  I'd be sad, of course - that house and much in it represents decisions made by my wife and I in happier times, but we've got insurance that presumably would provide us with shelter until we could rebuild, and as long as we suffered no loss of life, I think I'd be fine.

     

    Anyone else ever thought about this?  Or lived through it?

    "God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people

    zonykel


      You should not attempt to take anything with you if you are escaping a fire. You'd be wasting precious time. Helping people, yes.

       

      I'm NOT  a firefighter, but we did some damage control training in the Navy (you can't call the fire department when underway).  During this training, it became apparent how unpleasantly hot it can get when facing a fire. You'll feel it at a distance greater than you think. Add to that a thick cloud of smoke, and you'll want to escape ASAP.

      Teresadfp


      One day at a time

        We have a very old Steinway grand piano that was left to my husband by his piano teacher when she died.  That would be irreplaceable.  Along with some old photos that I haven't scanned yet.  That's about all I can think of, although I'm sure I would be devastated.  We've lived in our house for almost 18 years.

        mab411


        Proboscis Colossus

          We have a very old Steinway grand piano that was left to my husband by his piano teacher when she died.  That would be irreplaceable.  Along with some old photos that I haven't scanned yet.  That's about all I can think of, although I'm sure I would be devastated.  We've lived in our house for almost 18 years.

           

          You know, that does remind selfish me...we do have the old, old player piano that belonged to my wife's grandfather in the house.  Very significant piece of furniture that we'd lose there.

          "God guides us on our journey, but careful with those feet." - David Lee Roth, of all people

            I don't own a fire box so i would damn sure grab my collection of Hustler mags, and my bong, everything else is replaceable.

            LedLincoln


            not bad for mile 25

              Yep, art and musical instruments would be the biggest irreplaceable loss.  There would be some family heirlooms, too.

              jEfFgObLuE


              I've got a fever...

                I don't own a fire box so i would damn sure grab my collection of Hustler mags, and my bong, everything else is replaceable.

                 

                Be careful.  That fire probably got started by your bong after you "used" the mags.

                On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office.  But you will wish that you'd spent more time running.  Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.


                A Saucy Wench

                  I keep trying to make sure all my photos are on the cloud somewhere...

                  Beyond that...I dunno.  There are a few photos that arent digitized, but not much.

                   

                  Probably the biggest thing for me is I often take off my wedding rings and forget to put them back on.  It would suck if they got lost especially since we never got around to adding the extra insurance for them.

                  I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

                   

                  "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

                  zoom-zoom


                  rectumdamnnearkilledem

                    This is incentive for me to transfer all of my photo files to "the cloud."  Honestly as long as people and pets were OK the only things that couldn't be replaced would be old photos and negatives.  I have a film scanner and have thought about sitting and transferring favorite images to digital, but it's crazy time-consuming and my scanner is about 10 years old, so not great, relative to what's available now.  A fire safe is really a good idea or maybe it would be worth a safety dep. box for negatives.  Right now my external hard drive is non-functional (I think the power source is toast and need to take it somewhere to get the data off the actual disc.  With my nephew so sick I am particularly motivated to do this to get high res. photos of him into a safe format).

                     

                    I'm otherwise not all that sentimental about a lot of stuff.  I've thrown a lot of my kid's artwork out over the years.  We have some really special Christmas ornaments that might be about the most "valuable" stuff we own.

                    Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                    remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                         ~ Sarah Kay

                    stadjak


                    Interval Junkie --Nobby

                      This is incentive for me to transfer all of my photo files to "the cloud."

                       

                      The NSA thanks you.

                       

                      Also, regarding your dead drive: if it's the power source you can probably just drop it into a new enclosure and be good to go.

                      2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do

                        If I'm home, I'd probably have to jump out the bedroom window, since the fire would mostly likely have started in the kitchen, and so the closest door/exit would be blocked. Then I would have to run around the house and let the dogs out the back door. If there is time, I could grab my box with the valuable papers and photos. Also, cell phone. Everything is on the damn phone.
                        zoom-zoom


                        rectumdamnnearkilledem

                           

                          The NSA thanks you.

                           

                          Also, regarding your dead drive: if it's the power source you can probably just drop it into a new enclosure and be good to go.

                           

                          It's such a small drive (160 gig)  that it makes the most sense to transfer everything to a new, larger drive.

                          Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to

                          remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.    

                               ~ Sarah Kay


                          A Saucy Wench

                            I have a fire safe with my wedding negatives in it.  I would drop in a small drive, but I think the odds of me updating it if it is in the safe are pretty remote.

                            As for the NSA, I figure they already know everything about me so pictures are ...meh.

                            I have become Death, the destroyer of electronic gadgets

                             

                            "When I got too tired to run anymore I just pretended I wasnt tired and kept running anyway" - dd, age 7

                            BeeRunB


                              My running log is on-line, so I'd immediately get my wife out then me.

                              Nothing else matters.

                                --- I'm  a minimalist.  I bought this home in the 1990's..  have some nice items in my home and have done alot of the maintenance and improvement work myself, but...  If a fire ever took it to the ground, It would just be another project to take the insurance money and start on the next home.  

                                 

                                --- There'd be some keepsakes and pictures gone, but I remember what my kids look like.  Even though I am only 40, I am already in that "can't take it with you when you croak anyway" mentality.     In short, my wife would likely be very upset for months, I'd just be looking at how to build the next home and how soon can we get it done

                                .

                                The Plan '15 →   ///    "Run Hard, Live Easy."   ∞

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