Fire!!!

Daejeong, le 21 mars 2021

My friends Joe and Heather had a fire in their home yesterday. Nobody was hurt but they will be out of their house for a little while.

This brings back memories from a little more than four year ago. On December 23, I arrived at my home at the same time the firefighters did. The fire station being on my street, I thought nothing of seeing fire trucks in front of my house. As usual, I parked the car in the driveway in the back of the house. I immediately smelled the smoke when walking around the house to the front and thought this is the real thing and it’s close. As soon as I got in front, I saw the firefighters getting ready to enter MY house.

I identified myself to the only one with a white hat telling him that, inside the house, I had keys for the other apartments. He told me it was OK to go get them. I went in just to be told by a firefighter already inside that I should leave because the smoke was too heavy. Going back outside I saw his colleagues breaking windows and I was shocked by the thickness of the smoke coming out. I then understood the seriousness of the situation.

School had let out the previous day for Christmas break. My wife was at her English department Christmas lunch party. I left a message on her voice mail to call me back as we had an emergency.

We were out of our house for seven months for demolition and reconstruction.

Some of you might be wondering about the cause of the fire. It was set by the roofer as he was welding membranes with a torch. He had done this hundreds of times before without a problem. Fortunately, both the roofer and myself were covered by the same insurance company.

All this started a few months before when I received a letter from the insurance saying my roof was getting too old and needed to be replaced if I wanted to keep my coverage. I got three roofers to come for estimates. They gave me estimates but all said the roof was good to last at least another five years. I let the insurance know only to get a new letter asking the same or else, no more coverage. So, I contracted a company to give me a new roof. When the insurance inspector called me on December 26 to ask my opinion on how the fire started, I said it started with a letter from them.

No one was hurt but three families had to be relocated for seven long months. We did go back to a beautifully repaired and renovated house after getting very good services from the insurance and the contractor.

I wish the best of luck to my good friends Heather and Joe in this difficult time.