All my detailing equipment, gone in a few minutes

[Blueline]

Re: All my detailing equipment, gone in a few minutes

Someone stole my stuff. My stash of M16...................gone. Sorry for your loss.

[Stephan]

Re: All my detailing equipment, gone in a few minutes

Someone stole my stuff. My stash of M16...................gone. Sorry for your loss.

http://www.meguiarsonline.com/forums/showthread.php?60485-Megs-M16-For-Sale&p=541309#post541309

[JGdetailing]

Sorry to hear about that! Specially this time of year. If you need anything please let me know.

[Romad81]

Re: All my detailing equipment, gone in a few minutes

Sorry for the late response guys. My work schedule changed after I posted Thursday and I didn't have time to get on.

The initial determination was an electrical problem with a fridge in the garage but the investigation is still ongoing. My wife and I are separated so I wasn't there at the time. My wife, 6 yo daughter, and my wife's two adult sons were there when it caught fire. All out safely thank goodness.

I'm an emergency dispatcher at a military post and send units to this kind of thing regularly. Being on the other end of it really puts things into perspective. If you ever call 911 for a fire, it helps to answer questions from the dispatcher as they ask them, don't just blurt things out. The first few bits of info should be address, fire, name/phone number, and if there is anyone unaccounted for or injured, all in order of local policy. More questions will follow but the first bit is to get units on the way. Fire usually doubles in size every minute and getting that first bit of info is crucial to get units to you and the fire put out. One of my firefighter coworkers who lives across the neighborhood was on the way to the store and saw the smoke. Knowing my house was in that area he headed that way. He saw it was my house and had the hydrant prepped as the first engine arrived probably saving 45 seconds or more. Once hoses were hooked up, he worked the engine pump for a while as the the firefighters hit the house with the deck cannon then went in with hand lines.

I've compiled an initial list of things I lost in the garage and it's pushing $10k right now, just over $1000 in detailing equipment. Amazing how much stuff accumulates over the years. In addition to the detailing equipment, I lost my ammo reloading equipment, electrical/data cabling/mechanics tools, and almost everything I had from 15 years in the military. My daughter lost a lot of her toys and stuffed animals, not just to fire but smoke, water, and insulation exposure in other parts of the house.The things that really meant the most were my granddad's shotgun shell reloader, my grandmother's bed, and a black beret I earned in the Air Force (hence the name Romad). Most all of it can be replaced one way or another. We got my girl's baby pictures out and I think most of the cards, notes, and drawings she gave me over the years are safe. My daughter probably has more clothes and on her way to more toys than before the fire now. Although we don't have our house right now, we're trying to make this as normal a Christmas as possible for my little girl and she's taking it very well so far.

We'll be repairing what's left and should be back in by summer. My father and I will be the electrical contractors so I can make a few modifications when we rebuild. The smoke detectors worked as designed but there were no devices in the garage that could have given an earlier warning. Although a little late, I'll be adding more smoke detectors through the house and heat detectors in the garage. If a sprinkler system wasn't so expensive I'd put that in the garage and kitchen too. Shame it isn't local code here or insurance would have to pay to bring it into compliance. One way to look at it is I get a free garage cleaning and can build my garage with a focus on a detailing bay. Lots of lights, heat for the winter, and I may be able to figure out a semi-inexpensive way to add air conditioning for these southern summers.

Big thing, nobody was hurt or killed. We'll get through the rest.

Thanks to everyone for your concern. I appreciate the offers for supplies and have PM'd a few although I didn't intend to solicit. I really can't wait to get my hands back on the though and get some help from my daughter. She's the best little helper I could ask for.

Merry Christmas to all.


Jeff R.
tigertacp@gmail.com