The Fire

I was getting ready to leave for dinner in Madison when I got a call from Nick. Our house was on fire. It took a bit to determine the severity and whether or not I needed to go back to my hotel and pack up for a long drive home or if it was minor enough where me coming home wouldn’t be of benefit.

The attic light started on fire. Seth noticed a loss of power in his room and the breaker kept tripping. He called for Nick who confirmed something was going on and then let the littles know he’d be right back outside. Then Nick saw smoke and hollered upstairs for Seth to get out.

I came home. Packed up and started the four hour drive in the pouring rain. My drive was full of phone calls with family, friends, insurance and work.

I got home about midnight and Nick showed me around by flashlight. The main level stink like smoke and burnt debris scattered on the floor leading upstairs, all of which was being tracked down from upstairs. As I went upstairs I had to cover my face with my shirt to breath.

The hallway attic access door was down, the roof black. Sam’s old bedroom ceiling was full of holes from the fire department as they tried to stay ahead of the fire. The attic was charred. Our belongings inside were soaked with water and fire extinguisher contents.

It could have been worse. Our fire department acted fast with the help of the Cannon Falls Fire Department.  Damage seemed minimal. Our house looked fine from the outside minus a few broken windows and plywood covering a hole on our roof. 

Nobody was hurt, our pets were safe, or upcoming days suddenly became unknown. As of tonight, all we knew is that we couldn’t sleep in our house again for months.