This past Monday morning, (June 21st, 2021) I woke up to SIX MISSED CALLS, and a text from my mom that said: “Call me as soon as you wake up.”
*INSTANT PIT IN MY STOMACH*
“Who died?” was my awful first thought.
I call my mom right away, and she starts with: “Grandma’s house caught on fire in the night…”
Uhhhhhhhg. I am not ready for this.
“They are both ok, we all just got here.” She continues..
“I am on my way.” I respond.
I got myself and Remi ready as quickly as possible, and drove the route I have driven so many times before.
On my way, I let a few “coulda, woulda, shoulda” thoughts cross my mind. We have been meaning to spend a few hours there a week helping them organize their house, especially all their old pictures and memories. I have been meaning to make time to work on our llama quilt we started sewing together last year..
That house is the house I grew up in. I spent all of my early child hood there from as far back as I could remember, to about Jr. High days when we moved to Holladay. We then moved back briefly the last year of high school while my parents built their home in 2005.
My whole entire family, [all 28 of us] gather in my grandma’s kitchen almost every single Sunday. She always makes WAY too much good food, and gets quite offended if we miss it. I really actually love and cherish my Sundays up there, and ANY time I get to spend with my grandparents. They are very special to me, and I am so lucky to have had so much time with them..
I get to their house, and it looks better than where my thoughts took me.
At least, It was still standing.
It is unclear at this point in time, exactly how it started. The fire department believes it was something electrical inside, or right outside of the garage. Everything in the garage is practically melted, INCLUDING HER CAR. The fire spread quickly to the attic where all my grandma’s precious holiday decorations and crafts from her mom were kept, and then started to spread into my grandparent’s bedroom!
My grandma: the smoke alarm.
My grandma and grandpa sleep in different beds but in the same room. My grandma woke up around 3-4am to what she describes as a “hissing” noise, and a gut feeling that something was just not right. She figured my grandpa was tinkering in the garage, so she turned on the light to go investigate. My grandpa, to her surprise was in bed fast asleep, and the room was a bit hazy. She woke him up to help her figure out what was going on. They both went downstairs to the garage, and my grandpa said the door to the garage was extremely hot. [The two steel doors that lead into the house are most likely what had stopped the fire from engulfing more of the house sooner.]
At that point, they realized it was a fire, and woke up my uncle Andrew in the basement. He called 911 and they all got outside safely!
The fire department had to slowly cut off the garage door, because if they opened it all at once, the oxygen would have fed the fire enough to cause an explosion. There are so many little lucky things that could have been worse– they definitely have some guardian angels watching over them.
My grandma literally saved all of them, including most of the house!
So much bad, but we are trying to focus on the good..
The bad:
- There are scamming companies that sit and listen to the police scanners, so they can show up first and take advantage of people and their burnt down properties.
- There are looters out there, that will look for houses that have caught fire and go rob anything that is left.
- Even though there is not a ton of FIRE damage, the water and smoke damage is great.
- THE EMOTIONAL TOLL. It’s been a rough week for our entire family.
- It is going to be such a long hard road for my grandparents, going through all their precious things, and rebuilding their home.
The good:
- [MOST] Things can be replaced, lives are irreplaceable. We are so, so, SO glad the three of them are unharmed!
- They have had such a huge outpour of love, prayers and support from family, friends and neighbors.
- Their house can, and will be fixed. Updated even!
- They both have positive attitudes and are very resilient. These old birds are inspirational.
- We have a strong Mellen patch, as long as we have each other— we will figure out the rest.
