If you have followed along my blog you may already know I take my boys to the Lake Crowley fish opener yearly. We normally do this because it’s a special time for my wife. She is a twin, an exact replica of her sister. Minus personality, age the list goes on.

They will travel to each other for their birthday each year and enjoy that special bond. However this trip will prove to be quite different then the rest. While planning their trip, this particular year my wife choose to meet her sister. I started making plans for Lake Crowley as well, but this time the lake was booked, boats all rented. Thus me and the boys decided to stay home as mom would be away.

The day was like any other, I went to work and my boys were home alone. Keeping in mind my kids were of the age where this is generally they can feed and water themselves. My son called me at work knowing I was about to get off and asked if I would like him to cook dinner. He suggested hamburgers and I agreed and told him I would be home in about 30 minutes.

As luck would have it my mother called as I was just getting into the truck, so I took the call and we started gibber jabbing. Soon my phone started ringing while on the call. First my wife, I choose to wait taking the call as I hadn’t spoken with my mom in a bit. Seconds later my mother-in-law. I thought gezzzz I am popular today. Then my son, I explained to my mom I should take the call because three people calling is not a fluke. I hung up an immediately my phone rang again this time my wife.

She frantically explained what she was hearing from my son. Keep in mind I work about 7-10 miles from home, turning my head to the direction of my home resulted in a strange moment. A plume of smoke rising hundreds of feet in the air. Naturally I started home in quick fashion. On my way I had to pull over for responding fire trucks.

When I finally arrived, while learning the kids were ok and family was there along with my loving neighbors who immediately took action with the kids. Thank you Howard and Carol!

The event was described by my kids and neighbors in great awe. When my son was cooking these hamburgers he decided it better to use a griddle, he was almost done when he became distracted. The hamburger caught fire, he decided to throw it in the sink and douce it with water. Granted this part is mom and dad’s fault because we never went over a grease fire. We did however have a fire extinguisher and alarms.

Some may know with swamp coolers you crack a window to allow exhaust of heat. It did just that, as the air pulled the fire to the window ignition of the curtain quickly ran up the wall in seconds. He did the best thing ever at this point and got his brothers out of the house. Someone Interesting happen next because they were gaming live with friends who then proceeded to watch the event. The other kids then informed their parents, all of which are close family friends.

My son then tried the fire extinguisher which was good but futile. The neighbors heard the alarms and took over at that point. They then watched from hundreds of feet away and still could physically feel the heat. As the fire grew and the front porch fell it did so in a way that the falling porch sheared the BBQ propane tank just right which then created a huge flame thrower melting the steel front doors.

During all this my wife was of course having a mental meltdown. I assured her family was here and the kids were ok. Grandma went and got the boys basic things like shoes and clothes. We stayed with them that night. Good news is we had great insurance, within hours the insurance had us cash in hand and was setting up temporary housing, and in the end paid the claim by the end of the week.

The days and weeks to follow were stressful to say the least. We eventually decided to buy a new house rather than rebuild and to save money we choose to do the demolition with the help of friends and family. Which resulted in buying a cool dump trailer pictured above. In the end we took 87 thousand pounds to the dump with the trailer and truck. Go Tundra!

Yes my beautiful wife did in fact help with the demolition. So cute!

Living in a hotel for a week was unpleasant while the insurance company found a house fully furnished, but in the end immediately gave the family some much needed normalcy. We took full advantage of the hotel services like restaurant, housekeeping, and the beloved pool.

It took about three months to buy a house and close the deal. Something most don’t know is when one has a fire the insurance company reports claims like a credit company’s. My realtor instructed me that if we can close quickly due to the timing of it all we were at the beginning of the quarter. Meaning we had three and a half months before the fire would hit the insurance reporting agency and doing so would result in no lapse in coverage. Way to go Clint Freedman!

At the same time my eldest son graduated high school. As a reward and a mental reminder that accidentes happen we took a few buck and let him pick out his first ride. I tried to have him explore his options but like any young man he went for fast and bold.

There are many details I am sure I am missing but for today that’s all.