My house is on fire!

[Chantal]

Christ Grock, was he OK? This was nothing like as bad as that. We were lucky, very very lucky. Tim. Rosie and I are all safe. Tim keeps laughing as I grabbed Rosie (cat) and shut her in the car which I moved from the drive onto the road. She was standing on her back legs in the car yelling her head off with the fire engine flashing blue, yellow and orange lights on her. Tim says she looked like she was raving on a beach in Ibiza. Hysteria has well set in. I think I need to go to bed.

[the grock in a frock]

im carrying on as i ran out of space....anyway,my son lost his eyebrows and lashes and a bit of hair,but amasingly wasnt hurt,the kitchen was ablaze buy the time the firemen got there,but no-one was hurt.i just kept thinking what i could have lost if i hadnt insisted he got his coat,as i mentioned my ubby and daughter were still asleep and wouldnt have known anything,i couldnt stop crying for hours.we were going to the lakes for xmas that day,so i just got pissed,forgot about the kitchen,and enjoyed my holiday.it took months to fix the damage and get rid of the smell of burnt fat.needless to say i no longer posses a chippan,but still have my ubby and kids.i really hope your alright chuck

[Chantal]

Thanks Grock, I'm fine, but as you can see I'm not sleeping too well.

We are so lucky, there appears to be no damage at all except to the chimney itself although I guess come the harsh light of day we may have smoke damage in the kitchen. Luckily I never did get around to decorating in here this year so what the heck. I have a few phone calls to make in the morning to sort this lot out but everything is OK.

[pigletwillie]

Let us know if we can do anything chuck.

[Chantal]

Thanks Piglet but just having you lot to talk to does me all the good in the world. Last night was insane and felt like it would never end but being able to cart my laptop off and chat on here was great. Amazingly I had my first call on Skype in the middle of all that too! The firemen had clearly no idea what it was and were boggling at first my computer ringing and then me talking to it. My friend said he'd ring me back when the soot settled.

[The Grock In A Frock]

what is skype?hope your feeling better hen,but it will take a bit of time just think of all those georgous firemen that could of carried you out the house like richard gere....mmmmmmmm nice

[peter]

Chantal, count your blessings.

When it happened you were not in bed asleep, you were at home and alert, the fire brigade did sort it and you have not really lost anything, other maybe than your peace of mind.

Grock, I hope you lit a candle or two, your son was SO SO fortunate to escape injury.

There are two ways to line a chimmney. 1/. Stainless steel pipes and slinkys. 2/. Concrete, poured in while an inflatable tube acts as the hole.

Try my recent quarter for size.
December's Buncfield explosion took out my employers main office. Guy working next to me died in a car crash on his way to work on 23rd Dec. Mother (87) had three falls over Christmas and had to be strong-armed into Hospital by me & Dr, she is still there and is likely to go into permentent residential care. January, major political row at work. February, sister depressed & attempted suicide. March 13th, sister managed to kill herself, unable to tell mother until Friday as she was not well enought to do so. Funeral Thursday.

Still, must be positive.
Mother is now safe, fed, cleaned and if she falls there is someone with her to pick her up.
Sister is at peace, though we are not.
I still have my brother-in-law, nephews, son, daughter and wife.
My furry friend stil worships me and her food bowl.

[lizzie]

Oh Peter, i'm so sorry for all your troubles. If there's anything I can do gives us a yell.

Chantal, don't fret on it. Could have been worse. I've heard that you can use vermiculite to line the chimney. Don't know the details of how it's done but it might be worth looking into as an option.

You had all those firemen in your house. Mmmmm. When my son was in childcare they had a fire engine come round for the kids. A notice was posted saying that any mums found loitering around the nursery would be forcible removed as the child carers had been looking forward to this visit for ages!!!

Peter, be strong and yell if you need anything.

[peter]

Don't touch vermiculite for this purpose with a barge-pole.

We had it around an enclosed fireplace back boiler, A fire with a door.
The boiler was packed round with vermiculite and supposedly the short steel pipe out the top of the fire had a concrete collar to fix it in the chimmney.

The concrete disintigrated, we did not realise until we replaced the fire, but we had had a semi-continuous chimmney fire, soot built up, fell down outside the steel pipe, and burnt on/in the vermiculite.

[The Grock In A Frock]

peter,really sorry to here your news,if you ever feel like a good rar,im always here,and if you feel like punching someone,the old tarts down the road no really,im good at looking after people.big ugs are now being sent your way xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[pigletwillie]

Oh Peter, a big hug from the piglet, dont fret my trotters are clean.

Some things really put the world into perspective, even if that perspective is one you dont wish to see.

Chanters, it appears that you got off lightly, my friend Chris had a new conservatory last year and used it as a lounge extension so moved his tv etc in there. He left the tv on standby and was woken up by a neighbour who could see smoke puthering out of his cons roof. Luckily his kids were on a sleepover and he and his partner managed to get out. The tv had caught fire and burnt a hole in the cons roof. There was no other heat damage but the whole house had to be gutted due to smoke damage and he lived in a rented house for 6 months until it was sorted. He lost everything, furniture, clothes the lot.

As a postscript, if it wasnt for the neighbour the Fire brigade said he would have died in his bed from smoke inhilation. Please make sure you have smoke detectors fitted and no, dont take the batteries out

[Chantal]

Thanks guys, your horror stories do make me feel better although I've still not stopped shaking. Peter, I'm so sorry for your troubles, I do hope things get better. Mine can all be sorted with a bit of time and a chequebook which, as you say, puts things in perspective.

Yes Piglet, smoke detectors with batteries that work. No smoke in the house yesterday which was huge bonus but it didn't half get dark quickly in my road.

[peter]

That's the spirit Chantal.

Buncefield made the south of England go dark damm quick.

It is at Hemel Hempstead next to the M1, my boy and I were at a rugby pitch down by Ford's old plant in Dagenham when the sun went behind a cloud of smoke that went to the horizon.

Take a look at the third from bottom picture on the left at http://www.herts.police.uk/about/buncef ... cident.htm the square building bottom right emitting lighter coloured smoke was my firm's HQ.

[Beccy]

Just read all this and want to send hugs and other supportive stuff. have to go to let dogs out, but will return with story of best friends fire.

Not trying to depress you, just prepare you, but this is likely to come back and hit you at odd times for quite a while. We will still care, so when it does do tell us so we can go on being fluffy for you.

Beccy

[Diane]

Oh good heavens - I think I'll stay in bed where it's safe.

Or does someone have a terrible tale about the dangers of staying in bed all day?

Chantal - I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles and hope you are soon feeling happier.