So finally here are the pictures I promised about the fire. It was two and a half months ago, and it was a relatively small kitchen fire. However, between the fire and water damage, we had to move out the apartment.
The cool thing about the fire, is all the things that happened afterwords, and the neat way that the church really took care of us. I hope to be posting about that tomorrow.
This first picture is of the damage done directly by the fire. The pot was on the front right burner.
When I left the apartment, the flames were up to the cabinet above. Interestingly enough, the fire didn’t ruin much that was in those cabinets.
When the firemen came in, they took out all the drawers to make sure that the fire was 
completely out. You can also see that they removed the charred vent over the stove as well. After the water stopped going off, they took out all of our furniture in the dining and living rooms and swept out the standing water. Before that day, I hadn’t realized all that they do. I am very thankful!
completely out. You can also see that they removed the charred vent over the stove as well. After the water stopped going off, they took out all of our furniture in the dining and living rooms and swept out the standing water. Before that day, I hadn’t realized all that they do. I am very thankful!This second picture shows how much water came out of that little sprinkler. A fireman told us that the one sprinkler shoots out 45 gallons of water a minute. It was on for 20 minutes, but the fire was out almost immediately after that sprinkler went on. You can see how much the water ripped off the ceiling and the wall.
Fortunately, only one sprinkler went off since they are on individual sensors. The water damage was mostly limited to the kitchen, dining room, and about 6 inches of most of the rest of the apartment, particularly my bedroom since it was the closest.
The crazy thing about the water damage, is that it stayed for days. As we worked on cleaning and removing our belongings, the apartment started to smell of mildew, and not just the after-fire smell. Here you can get a glimse of the standing water on the ground in the kitchen, several days after the fire.
Take a look at our fridge. It was covered with magnets, photos, and other momentos, so it said white underneath all of that. Many of the magnets had plasticy-papery fronts to them that were ruined by all that water. One of the girls from the church who helped us left her mark in the soot on the fridge, “Nat.”
This last picture shows you the pot that was actually on fire. Other than the oil that was caked on it, it remained intake. Needless to say, we decided to throw it out.Tomorrow I’ll tell you more what happened in the days after the fire.
Ronnica
NaBloPoMo, Day 8
How do you even know where to begin cleaning??
This is awful, I’m so sorry that happened!
Oh! You can tell it was bad but could have been worse as far as the fire is concerned. Oldest Daughter burned Easy Mac in the microwave (the kid left out the water). The smoke smell stayed for a while and this nasty greasy film was over surfaces in the kitchen. It was technically NOT a fire so I can imagine how much WORSE your situation was.
I’m thankful y’all were OK.
Oh No! What a scare that must have been. We had a “flood” once in our kitchen and it was a big messy mess to clean up.
BTW, thanks for your encouragement about my photo fix it attempt! I appreciate that.
Yes it was a mess, but fortunately since we didn’t own the place, we just had to get our stuff out of there and clean it. Water was standing in that kitchen for days (in late August, with no air conditioning), so you can imagine the smell!
Pingback: Ignorant Historian » Blog Archive » Rambling Thoughts of a Sickie