Home Fire!

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honestjoe68

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2018
Messages
318
Location
Mansfield, Ohio
Hello Everybody,

I just wanted to let you all know I am ok and so is my partner Robbie and our dog Kermit.. but on Easter 4/12/2020 our Home Burned.

We got out with only the clothes on our backs and we are grateful for that and of course thankful. But it has been difficult to say the least dealing with everything and the loss. I Lost all of my Vacuum cleaners, all 250 of them and even though it is just "Stuff" to most and again, I'm grateful to be alive, it is devastating to lose my entire collection.

A lot of my vacuums can be replaced, and we have insurance... but this Fire just made me lose my love and passion for my Vacuum collection considering they all perished and seeing them burned and broken was a lot for me to handle! I do have about a dozen vacuums that can't be replaced and the only one that breaks my heart is my Bissell Anna Hybrid Vacuum. It's all just so overwhelming that I want to take some time to figure this all out.

I will have that time as sadly it will be 6 to 8 Months before we will get to move back into our home. The structure is still standing, but basically they will have to gut the entire home and everything on the inside will be rebuilt and renovated. So I am going to think about everything and figure out what I want to do. But I did want to share with you guys and let you know we are ok, but had a home fire.

Ok, well I hope everyone is safe and healthy during this pandemic. If I get some replies and comments from this post, I am considering paying to upgrade my membership here again, since it ran out a few months ago. I'm just feeling so overwhelmed and disorganized that I am taking it day by day. But I will say I missed you guys here and it would be nice to keep in touch. I hope some of you want the same. Take care!

Patrick McConnell

P.S. I am sorry this is NOT the forum to post this thread, but without a membership my choices were limited and since my entire collection was all brand new and newer than the last 20 years.. I chose this one. Thanks
 
Sorry to hear :(

If you need help replacing vacuums - do not hesitate to reach out here - people can help you replace what ones you lost. Someone here a couple years ago had the same thing happen and the vacuum community helped him out.

Will insurance pay for a rental place to live too during it? Or staying with family? I don't know how it works in those situations. Maybe you could buy a cheap camping trailer for $1k or so and park it in the backyard while they work on the house so you have a place to sleep and relax at. Or if you had a garage that was safe and unharmed, set up shop in the garage like a makeshift house for the time being.

I assume this was the damage report:

Sounds bad :(


At least you didn't lose the entire house - that is a positive. Also it's good this happened in spring and summertime and not the dead of winter, so you at least will not be freezing to death either - that would be so much worse.

Sucks about the vacuums :( I hope at least some can be saved. Don't let it discourage you from collecting though. If the vacuums were included on the insurance loss, the more recent ones I am sure could be re-bought with the insurance evaluation. Some stores still have vacuums that came out 5-6 years ago even just laying on the shelves - so I have faith you will recover from this. Just hang in there and take it one day at a time.
 
Patrick!

I'm so sorry for your loss! BUT, thank God you, Robbie and your pet are OK.
Yes, you can rebuild the house.............. this time, exactly the way you want it.
You'll see a positive way out of this.
What vacuums do you collect? Kirby? Hoover?
IF you had one that I can replace, I'd be glad to do that.
One day at a time.
One step at a time.
One vacuum at a time.
John
 
Patrick,

I'm so sorry to hear this.
Echoing what others have said; the most important thing is that you guys, and Kermit are okay.
It is heartbreaking that you lost your collection though. The one bright spot there is that, if most of them were newer, hopefully you can replace them over time. I get it though. Speaking for myself, I know I almost bond with certain things. Even though they're inanimate objects, it happens.
Whether or not you decide to rebuild the collection, the important thing is, again, that you're around to make that decision!
Thoughts and prayers will be sent your way as you put your lives back together. And, like John said, you can rebuild the house even more to your liking!

Barry
 
Best wishes through all of it

Sorry to hear of your loss. I’ve been through a disaster myself, and if it is any consolation the insurance company was really great about everything including things I had “forgotten about” reporting as lost at first.

Best wishes to get your lives back to some sort of normal, but it’s going to be a process as I’m sure it already has. Glad no lives were lost.

My disaster unfortunately occurred as a result of a close friend passing away in my home I rented to her so I had discovering her passed away in my completely flooded house with water pouring from all sides to deal with all at once after someone noticed me that water was coming from my house. It seemed overwhelming that day but I got through it and each day got better but it took longer than expected to get things restored so don’t get frustrated at delays and emotional days, etc. It’s all part of the process.

Jon
 
Thank you Everyone!

Wow such kindness and thoughtful words! I appreciate everyone here and especially those who have commented. I will give details for those who have asked. More information as this goes on.. but for now this is what's happening.

We are grateful and very fortunate to have excellent Insurance. We are put up in a very nice Hotel and it has a kitchen so it's like a small home. Insurance is looking for a home to rent for us as the time frame now is 6 to 8 months before we will be back in our own home.

Insurance will rebuild and renovate our home and we are very happy with how fast they are working, considering Coronavirus is still making delays for many businesses.

All my vacuums are covered with replacement value, but sadly some of them that I wanted to keep are no longer available. I had limited edition vacuums and as you all know I had a new/unused Bissell Anna Hybrid Vacuum and extra parts and filters.. gone and it cannot be replaced as I have yet to find a brand new Bissell Anna for sale.

But we are grateful, and stuff is stuff... it can be replaced and if not... oh well. I think it's just overwhelming as you find joy and passion from certain "stuff" and then in an instant it's all gone. Not like if you sell it off or give it away.. but years and many thousands of dollars all gone.

So with a heavy heart and lots of consideration, I have decided to forgo replacing my collection. I will buy a few vacuums to actually use in the new home, but I won't be collecting again. It was just too much to go through and I'm STILL not done making my inventory list, of the hundreds of extra vacuum bags, filters, belts, accessory parts and so on. I had brushroll replacements and lots and LOTS of HEPA bags and Filters that are all gone. But again.. it is all just stuff and obviously I'm so glad that Robbie and Kermit and me all made it out safely.

The cause of the fire and what happened:

Oddly enough something I had no idea could cause a home fire did.. the basement Dehumidifier! I had two dehumidifiers, one on either side of our basement and both were less than 6 years old. The one caught fire and caused major damage in our basement but the horrifying thing was to see afterwards all the major damage caused by the Smoke and Heat upstairs where there was NO Flames. The entire inside of the house will be gutted and renovated due to the extensive damage.

I'm also grateful I had Vector Security! They had four Fire Trucks, Two Ambulances and the Fire Chief at our home in under 6 minutes. Our Vector system had Smoke Detectors in all rooms upstairs and downstairs and Carbon Monoxide detectors as well, and that is what saved us. The system reacted so quickly that before we could even figure out what was going on, the touchscreens indicated where the fire was and before I even got out the front door my cell was ringing with a Vector agent telling me the Fire Department was dispatched and on the way. The system even shut off our Furnace (which was on and running during the fire) so as to prevent the air draft/circulation which would have made the fire burn faster and hotter making the damage much worse.

So for now the three of us are in a lovely suite at a very nice hotel, they are practicing great pandemic cleaning methods and using PPE. Kermit (Our Chihuahua Corgi Dog) was sitting in our car (safely parked on the street) for his own safety while this was all happening and the firemen were working so bravely to save our home! I held him and while looking at our burning home, tears were running down his little face. Kermit still keeps wondering why we aren't going home yet. But thankfully all the employees of this hotel are Dog owners/Lovers so he is getting spoiled with attention and treats.

Thank you all again, so very much for your kind words!

Patrick
 
VERY SORRY to hear about such a devastating loss, but very glad to hear no lives were lost or injured and that insurance is playing well with you.
I hope it keeps going smooth, although it will be a long time before everything desired can be replaced. Hope you do find what you do want to replace.
If you had any old Kirby stuff lost, I could have certainly fixed that for you. :o)

I really hate to hear about the cause of the fire, as dehumidifiers from those years were causing many fires and there were many recalls on many brands. Gree is one I remember well. Most of these units were 90% plastic and when they burned, only the compressor shell and fan motor case was left! I have a picture of the remains of one somewhere. Makes me appreciate my 20 year old Kenmore, a 50lb steel tank on wheels.

I wish you all the best of luck in the rebuilding and keep your spirits up!
Gotta be strong in life! :o)
 
Oh no! Not a dehumidifier!

You might be able to pull money out of the company for that. They just had a massive recall on them back in 2012 and many local FD's have been keeping the recalls going indefinitely because they are still burning up and it has bankrupted some of the china pride companies that made them (good).

This is the website I used when I bought one at a thrift store that I found out was later recalled. The company handling the recalls gave me a $200 check for it.

https://greedehumidifierrecall.com/ProductEntry.aspx

There is a video here of the same model I found - this guy caught his in time and brought it outside, and it caught fire as he was carrying it. The motor bearings on these or the motor governor is what overheats and starts melting the case and then it starts a big plastic fire.



texaskirbyguy is right - the old ones are many times better and if they do short out - its impossible for them to burn because they are solid steel.

You are super lucky you got out of there because you would not have made it out if you didn't. Plastic fires are very toxic and will kill you within just a few minutes. Someone watched over you all that night for sure.
 
Texaskirbyguy wrote:
Makes me appreciate my 20 year old Kenmore, a 50lb steel tank on wheels.

I reply:
Roger that! I've got an early '80s model Kenmore in my barn with a second one in reserve. I didn't know the new ones were such fire hazards. It's one thing to put self-destructing circuit boards in modern plasticrap appliances where they take themselves out after the warranty expires, but when they take your house with it when they go, that crosses a HUGE line! Makes me glad I cheaped out and got the second hand all-metal unit at Goodwill for $15. I later rescued the reserve unit from my parents' basement when they were moving four years ago.
 
Sorry

That is so horrible! I can definitely imagine how depressing it can be to just live quietly and happily with a fun vacuum collection, and see it all go the next day. I haven't heard of the Bissell Anna, but after a quick search on google.com and a image match, I've found one for sale for $464 on evacuumstore. It looks like a pretty cool vacuum!

https://evacuumstore.com/p-28659-bissell-anna-upright-hybrid-cordless-vacuum-1422.aspx
 

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