Catastrophic Fire Destroyed Everything.

At least everyone in your family is OK.  I wish you the best of luck going forward.

There will be better days ahead and before you know it, you will looking back at this terrible disaster.

We are reminded every time tornados come through our area causing such devastation.

Hang in there.

Very sorry to hear this. Hope your back to normal soon.

Hopefully, it's the last time, too.

I always worried about losing my beloved dachshund in a house fire, but now I have yet another reason to worry.

It's not just 'things', it's all the work you put into building a layout as well.

I am so sorry to learn of this, Bruce. A number of our friends have lost their homes to fire over the years, and all indicated how emotionally devastating it was, especially in the early days.  I hope that your insurance helps you get resituated soon. The lives saved are the most important matter. We'll keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

So sorry to hear this, but thank you for sharing your healthy perspective and the lessons learned.  We would all be wise to heed your advice.  Hoping for the best for you and your family.

Regarding inventory, and other valuable documents, I email them to myself so that I can access them even if my computer is gone.  (If it's something that you don't have in soft copy form, you can scan an image and attach it to an email.)  Copies in a safe deposit box are good, too.

Very sorry to hear this, happy that you and the family are ok.

I'm glad you and your loved ones are okay.  Thank you for sharing the lessons learned.  

So very sorry to hear of your loss. Very pleased that you and your family are fine. May God bless You and your family as you go forward in your rebuilding.

Sincerely

Frank 

An additional word = my homeowners will not insure my layout or collection. They referred me to a specialist who now has my business. 

I have take an inventory and posted that to the cloud. Now I am trying to take pictures as well as PDF all my invoices.

The one thing I like about the American Collectors Insurance is the people and the fact that you can insure based on a dollar amount not an inventory or condition list. So if you feel your collection is worth $50K after validating it with say Greenberg's Pocket Guide, the will provide a quote based on that.

Kevin

Forgot to add, glad you and your family made it out safely. Sorry for your loss.

K

Sorry for your loss and thankful that everyone was safe. 

quote:

The one thing I like about the American Collectors Insurance is the people and the fact that you can insure based on a dollar amount not an inventory or condition list. So if you feel your collection is worth $50K after validating it with say Greenberg's Pocket Guide, the will provide a quote based on that.

But what does it take to collect a claim? Don't you have to provide some sort of proof of value?

Electroliner, 

i am new to the forum but have read a number of your posts over the last few years and always enjoyed them -- including photos, etc.  Your enthusiasm for trains and tinplate shows.

I can only imagine that you feel as though your world has been turned upside down.  My thoughts and prayers are with you and I wish you the very best in getting re-situated.   

I admire your "glass is half full" approach to life and look forward to a time when you can show all of us some re-building of your tinplate world.  

God bless and best of luck!! 

keep us informed as the tv article (in the link provided some posts back) said it was the transformer out front..

My heart and prayers go out to/for you and yours.  God's blessings on your recovery.

Condolences and Best Wishes!

I'm thankful that you and yours are safe and sound.

A house that is a "home" is more that just bricks and mortar - it becomes a virtual member of the family.  The heirs to Sigmund Freud have determined that "changing residence" is one of the top 5 most stressful life experiences. Your's has certainly been a most dramatic change-of-residence, it really constitutes a death in the family - especially considering the loss of your layouts and equipment.  You have my heartfelt condolences.

Conversely, you have the opportunity to contemplate even more satisfying layouts as you enjoy an Electroburger in the Tavern Lounge.  With luck, your home, layouts and Nos. 801-802 will be fully restored and operational in 2016!

Best wishes,

Sam

Sorry to read of your loss.  I am glad everyone is okay.

thank you for the advice.  One never knows!

     Sir I am glad to hear that you and your family got out ok. I hope you find your missing animals. I am speaking from experience when my parents new home caught fire Christmas night 5 years ago the insurance co did not cover the trains. They said if we had A train set or 2 that ran around the Christmas tree that would have been covered not the big collection we had. Everyone please check with your insurance co to see if you need A Ryder on your insurance policy. Take care and God bless. Choo Choo Kenny

Bruce,

So sorry to learn of your loss. Best wishes to you and yours for a quick and successful recovery from all of this. May your future layout be even more fabulous than the ones before. 

Wow Bruce, this is a bummer. Sorry to hear about it, but glad you are all Ok.

I agree on the inventory, but also you need to keep it somewhere else besides your computer, which may be destroyed. E-Mail the data to yourself every few weeks so it will be stored on your E-Mail provider server.

Steve

I should have been more specific - my apologies. I did provide them with a list, manufacturer, model and estimated cost to replace because they asked me what at the time what "everything" related to my collection was worth. They did that to help me select the proper coverage and quote a price. Plus, I honestly at the time, did not know what I had so I did the inventory list more for my benefit.

They also have other policies that don't require a list you simply tell them the value and they quote you a price with "qualifications." I did not investigate that as I had prepared the list.

Just and FYI, after speaking to TCA, LOTS, my insurance company, people in the industry and a few lawyers at my club - list and pictures made sense.

If your concerned with insuring your collection, call your company, some companies, like mine, will not insure collections of any type. This means if I suffered a disaster like a fire, they will not pay me even though I have the list. I asked about adding a rider to my HO policy, they immediately told me that was not possible NOT so they directed me to American Collectors Insurance.

I am not an insurance agent or affiliated with any insurance company. I found this stuff out via research, from the forum, from people who lost items due to flooding, hurricanes, super storms, etc. You need to do your homework.

What I did find out is that American Collectors Insurance knows how to deal with "collectors." They have different policies, with different requirements and you can work out the details with them. For example, you could select a policy called Collection (Limit) Deductible + Collectors Choice (Options) + a deductible or - a deductible.

One other item, the cost, depending on your financial status can be pricey or not. 

No chance it was a lightning strike?  I  know someone who had just closed on a new

built house, had not moved into it and was in there hanging curtains before leaving for

his old house.  It was not a storm, but lightning hit the electrical box in the garage

after he left, and the wiring carried the fire through the whole house instantly, per the firemen. He promptly yanked his old house off the realtor's listing and lived in it for a year or more until the new one was rebuilt.  He only had a few things, like mowers, etc. in the garage that were lost.  There was, around that time,  a newspaper article in another city addressing frequent lightning fires in new houses built alone on the prairie, as one of the first houses in a new subdivision.  A little girl was staring out

her upstairs bedroom window over on another street, and saw the strike, but it was a total loss to the foundation.

Sorry to hear this, what a terrible thing!  I hope that you find your two missing kitties and they are okay.

So VERY sorry to hear of your loss, Bruce! I can't even imagine what it must be like to go through something like that, but I certainly want to thank you for alerting your fellow forum members and for keeping folks up to date on all that is involved in the aftermath of such a truly tragic event. Here's hoping that all goes well for you and your family as you move on and rebuild your lives.

Yes, I have a specific rider on my home owners policy. I update the inventory every year and the agent keeps a copy on their computer as do I on mine.  Hope I don't have to test the system to see if they cover everything (minus a reasonable deductable).  I also have plenty of photos on my internet web site to back up the inventory.  Keep in mind that in most inventories 20-25% of the line items represent about 70- 75% of the value so make sure you insure that 20-25%.

Lew Schneider

GOOD GOD MAN THIS REALLY BAD!!Your are in my neck of the woods.I live in monroe nc just a few miles from you.The house is only 15 years old.I very very sorry this has happened to your family.Well the main thing is you are still with us.I hope you will in time will be able to get some more trains.

I'm sorry to read about your loss. Everything you said in your opening post has been taken to heart. Good luck and God Bless buddy.

I am so sorry to hear this. Hope your cats are just in hiding.

There have been more fires in the last month than I can remember. Just tonight a 140-year-old church in Benwood, WV burned down, cause unknown. It's scary.

When I saw the topic I did not want to read it because it was too painful just thinking about it.  I hope your spirit recovers quickly.

Sorry you are suffering through such a tragedy.From your posts,I see you have fantastic attitude to keep going forward.

Dan

Sorry to hear about this...

I notice they are saying that green breaker box outside exploded causing a fire in your house?

Is not the maker or the firm that owns that green outside breaker box liable?

George

The investigation by a electrical engineer on a forensic basis might clear up the origin of the assumptions that this was an electrical fire. The firemen on scene said it smelled like an electrical fire. Interestingly, the next day following the fire, I spotted a utility truck at the transformer location which is on the corner of our front yard. The top of the lid was scorched and he was cleaning out a substantial amount of red clay from it that resulted from an equally substantial fire ant hill or colony. Who knows? As soon as I find out more, Ill pass any information along.

Bruce

Thanks for the update Bruce, and again I am very sorry this happened to you, but very glad you and your family are safe.

I like many, have one of those green boxes on the corner of our property....

Also, just to pass along some information from a flood we had in our house once that flooded the whole first floor about 1-3", but affected upstairs as well.

We had Allstate Insurance, and the Allstate adjuster asked if we wanted to handle the money and contractors ourselves or let Allstate handle it.

I first told Allstate to go ahead and handle it as it seemed like a good idea.

However, the contractors they brought in ONLY provided the oldest and cheapest flooring (carpet, vinyl, ceramic tile) and wallpaper...it all looked like OLD designs from the Bundy household (married with children TV series), and would have left no money from what Allstate was giving us.

Thus, I quickly asked Allstate to just hand over the money to me as one of the 2 options they originally presented.

Well, not only were my wife and I able to find upgraded, NEW designs, and good quality products, we even upgraded to wood flooring and had money left over!

Just an FYI

While not used in homes it is still commonly used in utility transmission lines.

Aluminum cable is commonly used upstream from the breaker box (including between meter & box), even if not used in the house wiring.

Bruce, I am very sorry to hear about your loss and like everyone else I am happy that no one was hurt. I wish you the best of luck in getting through this difficult situation. If there's any way I can help please do not hesitate to ask. I mean that. 

i am a big advocate for fire extinguishers and have been known to give them as birthday or christmas gifts.  i have 7 throughout the house (three in the garage).

however, they are good for open flames.  it sounds as if this was in the walls immediately upon ignition. i doubt you could have doused this even if you had been right there.

i have learned from experience to investigate odd sounds immediately, phone in hand.

Bruce, Sorry to hear, but glad you are o.k.

Bruce - the offer stands - just let me know     Hope everything works out for you

Best wishes on your recovery!!!!   So sorry for your losses!

Take care, Joe.