Holy crap!
Aug. 11th, 2007 05:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bladesparkSo I'm sitting here working on a panther head and pondering when I can get JJ to take me to get more thread for the sheep suit, when JJ's cell phone rings. I can't hear much, but then I hear "WHAT'S on fire?!" Next thing I know he's swearing like I have never heard him swear before. His parent's business caught on fire. We dashed down to the scene, mostly to lend moral support, and possibly to keep JJ's dad from doing bodily harm to whoever was responsible for lighting it.
The place was already totally gutted when we got there. They do roofing, so the back was full of roofing supplies. Which are pretty flammable. Apparently something exploded at one point, probably a propane tank. It was a mess, but the front office wasn't too badly damaged, mostly just wet. It must have been a slow day at the fire department, because there were at least seven fire trucks on the scene.
The firemen actually went inside and retrieved the main computer for us, which was totally above and beyond the call of duty. It looks more or less intact, just wet, so JJ is going to have a go at getting it running once it's dried out.
The building is a total loss, they're going to have to bulldoze it and rebuild, probably. The fire was almost certainly started by a team of asphalt workers who were repaving the parking lot. They were using torches to heat the tar, and that's the only possible source of the fire, but they're not admitting to anything. The place was insured, so there's that, but insurance never pays out what something is really worth, especially given the sheer amount of stuff in the building, and all the records lost, and the time lost and so on. But nobody was hurt, thank heavens, even though JJ's dad was actually in the building when the fire started!
The place was already totally gutted when we got there. They do roofing, so the back was full of roofing supplies. Which are pretty flammable. Apparently something exploded at one point, probably a propane tank. It was a mess, but the front office wasn't too badly damaged, mostly just wet. It must have been a slow day at the fire department, because there were at least seven fire trucks on the scene.
The firemen actually went inside and retrieved the main computer for us, which was totally above and beyond the call of duty. It looks more or less intact, just wet, so JJ is going to have a go at getting it running once it's dried out.
The building is a total loss, they're going to have to bulldoze it and rebuild, probably. The fire was almost certainly started by a team of asphalt workers who were repaving the parking lot. They were using torches to heat the tar, and that's the only possible source of the fire, but they're not admitting to anything. The place was insured, so there's that, but insurance never pays out what something is really worth, especially given the sheer amount of stuff in the building, and all the records lost, and the time lost and so on. But nobody was hurt, thank heavens, even though JJ's dad was actually in the building when the fire started!
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no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 12:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 02:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 02:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 02:30 am (UTC)Firefighters are awesome. I hope someone puts the guys who risked their behinds for that computer up for a commendation.
Have they determined what (or, Heaven forbid, who) started the fire?
no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 02:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 05:06 am (UTC)When the firefighters got there (responce time was three minutes), all they could do was douse the flames so the neighbor's house wouldn't catch fire.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 05:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 09:11 am (UTC)Hopefully they can get rebuilt and operating again quickly. And hopefully there are no problems with the insurance company - some of them can be a bit twitchy over fires of suspicious origins.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-12 05:05 pm (UTC)As far as insurance goes, it all depends on the policies that they had in place. If they had a good fire protection policy (likely, considering what they did), the insurance should cover them, and tan the hides of those that caused the fire.
(One of the lovely things about taking risk management, I know far more about insurance than I ever thought possible.)
no subject
Date: 2007-08-13 02:33 pm (UTC)