Triplex Fire

We got a call from Susannah this morning around 7 our time to let us know our Triplex in Homer was on fire. It apparantly started in some wiring and spread up the wall between the shed and the house, eventually burning the roof on the third floor. Some of our tenant's friends were on the deck around midnight and saw a glow from inside the shed. They saw flames and called 911 and got everyone out. One of our third floor tenants ran around the back of the house and stepped on a bed-frame leaning against the wall. It smacked him in the face and broke a couple of teeth. He had to have his lip stitched up at the ER. Annie and I have been on the phone all day talking to the insurance company and arranging for Kenny Swisher (KAS Construction) to go over this afternoon and tarp the roof and board up broken windows etc to prevent further damage.

The fire apparantly traveled up the wall between the shed and the house, getting into the third floor roof. As I understand it, the shed is pretty much gone and the roof has gaping holes with sheetrock torn down on the third floor to provide access to put the fire out. First and second floors have extensive smoke and water damage. We don't know how much of our stuff (photos, artwork, books etc.) survived.

The good news is, it's just stuff. Annie and I are fine and in New Mexico. The bad news is that our tenants have lost all their stuff and have nowhere to live. Raspberry Lane Pre-School was scheduled to open there next month and already had supplies there. Jeremy Youngblood (Fiddlehead Salon) was on the second floor. His friend, Rene Blanton, had her things stored in the shed (former shed.) Bogdon Baciu and Wayne Wormington rented the third floor, and it appears they lost everything. We just heard that Bogdon has a terminally ill family member in the mid-west and he has no money to travel back there. Susannah has opened an account at Wells Fargo to help the tenants out and if any of our friends can contribute, we would be grateful. Just tell them it's the East Hill House Fire Fund. We always tell our tenants that they should really get renters insurance as our policy won't cover their belongings, but most people don't ever do that, I know we never did when we were renting. I'll pass along more details later.