Chapter 2: Fire Consumes

In my early years, my best friend’s home caught on fire. It was a basement fire caused by a cigarette flicked into a fireplace. A simple misjudgment that caused the entire home to be filled with thick smoke. Thanks to their cat, Princess, her mom sat up in the smoke, and the family could escape safely. The damage was all smoke-related, and the smell was unforgettable. Her (my best friend) opinion of firefighters was established as heroes from that day forward.

I’ve always held a healthy respect for campfires. We’re campers in the summer, and we enjoy sitting around the fire at night, telling stories, singing (I sing), and eating s’mores. At the end of the night, when it’s all over, we ensure it’s completely smoldering before we go to bed, often pouring water on it to be sure.

We were so excited when we got to RuckHome this weekend. Week Five of updating the house meant this weekend was demo weekend. As we got situated Friday night, we set up our “new to us” sectional couch, watched some YouTube University, and enjoyed a fire in our newly cleaned and inspected fireplace.

STEP BACK TO LAST WEEKEND…

Before using the basement fireplace, the Bearded One had a company inspect and clean the chimney. Last weekend, we had our first fires in the basement wood-burning fireplace. The first night, everything went okay; we noticed the floor vent in the living room above was VERY hot, but we were wholly concerned about nothing. We noticed a lot of smoke in the second fire coming into the basement and thought it was our fault, perhaps too much wood or not having the damper open correctly. Overall, we were happy that it nicely heated the basement, which would be a win in helping combat the electric bill.

FIRE CONSUMES

9:06 PM – Fire in the fireplace, YouTube University, and some quality time with the Bearded One while the Littles spent the weekend at their mums.

11:30 PM – RUCKHOME IS ON FIRE

A Video of the damange can be viewed here…The damage

Looking back at the pictures and the video, we both know we could have lost everything if it had burned for five more minutes.  If we had gone to bed upstairs and not seen the wood sub flooring catch on fire, we could have lost everything, including ourselves. The pictures don’t do it justice, and I count my blessings today.  The smell of fire lingers and is a poignant reminder of what could have been. 

SATURDAY – WATER SNUFFS

The day after an adrenaline-pumping evening that was utterly draining emotionally and physically, we woke up to assess. He had to go to work, and I was left to my thoughts and the task at hand: painting the boy’s room. We thanked God for several things that evening, and I replayed them over and over.

Number One, we had pulled all the ceiling tile in the basement because it was old, and he wanted to understand how the electrical run through the house.

Number Two, we were awake and in the basement when the ducts ignited the floor joists and subfloor.  

Number Three, we had a hose and could put the fire out without assistance. The basement was completely flooded with water. The TV was destroyed, and the water snuffed out a fire, leaving everything smelling like charred wood.

As I write this, I can smell my notebook sitting next to me that was in the living room during the two hours of fighting the flames and snuffing out the embers.

COINCIDENCES AREN’T A THING

As I mentioned in Chapter 1, this home, RuckHome, is a blessing. It’s everything we could have ever wanted. It’s one-level living, and the space inside is huge, not to mention the 5 acres it sits on. It’s everything we wanted, and it was a miraculous gift to us that everything we needed to get this home fell into place. The timing, the previous owners were so willing to go through the inspection process to let us do what needed to be done for us to get approved for our loan. This is our home.  

“I’m starting to believe there are no longer coincidences.” ~The Bearded One

So why would something like this happen? I’ve learned not to question the why but, more importantly, to be thankful for what results from things outside our understanding. The fire was a terrifying thing. We can speculate the should’ve, could’ve, would’ve all we wanted. We could try to understand why the fireplace was designed the way it was, but there is no point in looking backward and blaming the past.  There is no one to blame, it happened, and we’re okay.  That is the end of the story.  TVs, fireplaces, floors and wall are all replaceable.  We have hope that everything will be as intended when it’s all said and done. 

MOVING FORWARD

The basement fireplace has been completely gutted, and we’re looking at other options as a heat source. It’s on pause for now as we will focus on the MasterSuite wing so we have a place to lay our heads at night. I’ve read often, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your path straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6). It’s easy to read those words when life is going the way you intended, it’s a bit harder when something scary happens.  As scary as this was, and how quickly we could have lost our RuckHome, we trust God has a plan for us. The fire wasn’t a step back but a side step to ensure the rest of our home was wired correctly and heated adequately so our family would be safe.