4th of July Fire Tragedy PICS

[CruiserMaiden]

OK, so I wanted to see fireworks for the 4th of July, but not what I had in mind....
(photos pulled from http://www.cherokeecountyfire.org) There is also an article on this site.






On Sunday my boyfriend Will and I got in a fight and I left our apartment and went and stayed with my parents. Monday night we talked but I was still upset with him so I went and stayed with a friend of mine. At about 2am Will was getting off work and he called me and asked me to come home and talk with him because he had been thinking all the time he was at work and really felt like he wanted to try to work things out. I asked if it could wait until morning and he said no he really had this feeling I needed to come home and talk that night. So I left and got back to the apartment at about 3am, and we went to bed around 4am. At 5:57am we woke up to a fire alarm but couldn't smell any smoke or see any flames in our apartment. Everything seemed normal, we thought one of the batteries was dead in an alarm because that causes it to go off, so we got up on a chair and started pulling down smoke detectors. We eventually figured out it wasn't any of our smoke detectors, the sound was coming from a small grate in the wall that we had no idea what it was (turns out its the building fire alarm) - Will went outside and people were running around screaming "FIRE! FIRE! THE BUILDING IS ON FIRE!" The other end of my building was on fire with flames about 6 stories above the top (fourth) floor. I was insane enough to actually grab the animals first, and then get out of the apartment as my end of the building was NOT on fire. We put all the animals in the car with the windows opened.
The article is wrong - its actually 22 units uninhabitable, and about a dozen more have minor damage. The pictures show the flames after the fire department had gotten them down some, they were really high when we first got outside. Right at half of the building is damaged. The water is cut off to the rest of the building until they can get into the damaged part and close off all the pipes as when the water is on it floods the burned/already flooded areas. We have heard everything from an electrical fire to suspected arson for causes, but we had 10 fire trucks there and fire marshall, plus the police, arson k9 units, ATF, red cross, etc. Only 1 person out of all those effected actually had renters insurance. The fire alarm/sprinklers didn't go off until the fire was already pretty advanced through the walls and into the attic above the 4th floor - a woman came home from working a night shift and saw the fire and pulled the alarm, otherwise fire would have been worse and people would have died. Thankfully, I have no damage to my apartment whatsoever and everyone got out of the building safely. We spent the entire day camped out at the leasing office and in the laundry room because I complained all day that it was too hot for my animals to be in a black car in 95 degree heat outside and finally when one of my snakes was clearly overheating despite me going out to the car every half an hour and turning the AC on, I told them that point blank they allowed my animals in my apartment, they better find somewhere for them to go even if it was a closet or something if they werent letting me into my apartment since they were allowing peoples dogs and cats into the leasing office with them. They agreed to let people bring their reptiles into the laundry room to keep from freaking out the other residents. We weren't allowed back into our apartment until around 3:30pm, but all I suffered from this tragedy was a wasted day, exhaustion, stress and a bad sunburn, but got out a whole lot better than many people did. Once we got home we went to sleep for a couple hours, only to wake up being told that the water is shut off for the next few days. So, that's MY drama for the week...

[JuliusSqueezer]

Wow...ya think Will set fire to the other side of the building to divert your wrath? lol..sorry. Glad everyone got out ok! Here comes the lecture part though. You live way too close to a dozen or so fellow members that would have taken your animals in. Don't ever feel that you have to let them suffer in the heat or cold again. Pick up the dang phone.

[CruiserMaiden]

I DID brett. I called jonathan and I called BW when Mystry started getting too warm to ask him what to do. They wouldnt let us leave, nor could we have seeing as all Will had on was a loose pair of pants, and I was in some old jeans and tank top and nothing else - just what we could grab to get out of there. Only reason I didnt call you (since I only have you, BW and Jonathan in my phone) was cause I figured you wouldnt because of the Crypto thing.

[MED04]

Oh my gosh! I am glad that nobody got hurt. Wow, what a day you must have had.

[Lazyguy]

I am glad everyone was ok. That really sucks though. Let us know when you find out what caused the fire.

[VoodooChile]

WOW!
The pics on the link Will posted for me, just didnt do the fire damage justice.
How are you guys faring now? I wish I lived closer, and you could come and hang out at my place. You, and all the critters
Im extremely relieved you guys werent hurt, and thank God the lady that pulled the alarm was coming home at that time.

Somehow, Mary, the mental image of you running thru the apt grabbing "the kids" is fitting It sort of makes one feel the need to be more alert of fire procedures involving the animals.

I'll look into some sort of transport/ temp housing in case there's ever a fire/flood/storm damage here. I think Ill invest in some more plastic totes. I cant see me carrying out a 15, 30, and a 75gallon tank...Not to mention rolling out the waterdragon cage.

Glad everyone is safe. I hope the Redcross is able to help those without renters insurance.

[JuliusSqueezer]

We have other rooms and I'm thinking I may have /probably misdiagnosed crypto anyway. It was definately some form of coccidia but treatments are going well for all but one snake...but even she doesn't seem to have the bug any longer. I'd take something to a vet if I had anything to take. I haven't found an egg or oocyst of any kind in any fecal in quite some time now. I think I have it wooped but I'm not declaring anything just yet...and now I'm kicking myself for not getting a professional diagnosis/confirmation. Because I either over reacted or I've found a cure for crypto lol. Either way would be nice to know...but anyway, in emerency situations like this, there are always people who can and will help just a phone call away....and we would have brought you guys some clothes lol. No one expects you look your best running out of a burning building.