I was working at Renaissance Day Spa in 2005 I was in the middle of a pedicure and the owner came in and said I had an urgent phone call. I apologized to my client for the interruption and went to see what was so urgent.
"Hello?"
"Jodi! Get home now, the apartment is on fire!" Said my new husband.
"What do you mean it's on fire? Where is Summer?! [our 10 month old]. Where is Angel?! [my 4 pound dog]
"I have them, just come home now! Everything is burning."
"I'm in the middle of a pedicure, is it that bad, can I come home after?"
"JODI. NOW. LEAVE NOW!"
I was mortified.... I apologized to my boss telling her that I had to go home and see what all the commosion was. I went back to my client, and told her that "apparently my home was on fire" and I needed to go. My coworker assured me she would finish my service... I got into my car on the cold December night and began the 5 min drive home... I couldn't smell smoke... but wait... "Why was the road blocked off? I turned to go another way.... Why the hell is this road blocked off.... FINE, I'll go around the back...." An orange glow began emerging in the black sky.... "That couldn't be the whole apartment building is it", I thought. I parked as close as I could in the back, and my heart started racing.... I now could see flames leaping into the sky like they were dancing with the stars. Summer? Tim? Angel.... Tim never told me where they were.... I ran to the side of the building where a fireman stopped me. "My husband and daughter... They were in there... They called me.... where would they be?!" I asked panicking. He told me he didn't know but that I could not access through this way. I ran to the other side of the building and across the street stopping neighbors as I saw them and frantically asking if they had seen Tim.... I was yelling for him..... In what seemed forever finally Tim emerged with Summer and Angel from a little convience store.... As we walked up and down the street, checking in, figuring out how to locate other neighbors to notify them we watched helplessly as the fire over took one unit, after another, after another.... The awe and wonder of the sheer force over taking all of us and yet feeling helpless, hopless to do anything in that moment.... Or the moments after.....
Waking up the next morning.... We could hardly say it was a "wake up". We didn't sleep much with our minds racing throughout the night.... We were lucky. We had my mothers to go to... However... Putting on the same underware... The same socks... The same pants, bra and shirt.... It was in those early moments that it started setting in.... We had nothing.... We drove to the apartment to see if our unit had been spared as we were on the end.... Half of it was gone... I could see into our storage space, our kitchen, our nursery with the hand carved cradle that Tims step dad had made for his daughter to be used by next generations.... My great grandmothers crocheted baby blanket hanging on the side of the building.... My china cabinet chared and frozen in ice like a frozen fish tank.... In the next coming weeks it was deemed unsafe to re-enter and within seconds a bulldozer smashed everything to peices.... Heirlooms, pictures, keepsakes, china... All gone. I kept saying "but we are safe. My family is in tact and no one got hurt." Lies that I told myself. Internally, mentally, spiritually and emotionally... We were not safe.
You see 4 months prior, our home had completely flooded and needed to be rebuilt. We had only been moved back for a month and a day before it all burnt down. We had not even closed the flood insurance claim and we had to open a fire claim.... My family was not fine. We were far from it. Nothing was fine at all. Two days after the fire we stood in line at the walmart with two full carts.... The teller asking us if we were one of the families affected by the fire. I asked how she knew... "The amount of things you have in your cart and the items that you are purchasing... It's all your basics to restart." There was no hiding.... Everyone in that store knew why we're there. In the first few weeks there was a lot of meetings, a lot of insurance questions.... Red cross and Salvation Army contacting us. Good will, strangers, teachers we had from long ago all trying to get a hold of us... It felt like chaos... It was chaos and I didn't even know where to start.
Eleven years later my knowlege of fires came flooding back. Fort McMurray #Albertastrong was burning and with only one exit out of the town I was petrified. My husband worked up there and I was four hours away. Where was he, was he ok, was he stuck on the highway like thousands of others.... Phone lines were not working as they were flooded. My husband worked for #surmontsandandgravel and their company in fire season were on fire watch. They pushed trees, pushed gravel, sand, had water trucks. They stayed and helped keep the town from burning. During that time I went down to the collisium grounds and after talking to a few people, decided to bring a mother and her daughter back to my home and help them find a home of their own. It was surreal. Shopping for sleeping bags, water, packaged food. Mike [my husband] would come home for a night, stock up for his crew and show me the make shift shower they made and the tents in the shop they were sleeping in to stay warm. they had code words to use on the highway to be allowed back in. Without the updated password, they wouldn't be allowed to go back and help. Helping the mom get access to donations, such as clothes, toiletries. Taking her shopping. Then looking for a new home and finding one for her. Enrolling her daughter into a school.... It was months of this, helping fill her pantry up once she got into her home, getting donated furnature.... The list was endless. Time seemed to stretch on without hope, or insight for the citizens of #fortmcmurray
#Jasper There is no handbook. There is no guide, but both experiences taught me more about how to make things easier. What to do if.... This is why I share this, this is why I am writing this. For those that want to know, for those that need help and for those that WANT to help.
For your home insurance. They will want a list of contents. Start with the most expensive single items first such as appliances. Your fridge if left without power will have to be tossed. Your washing machine if you left clothes in it the mold that will have grown... Toss it. [Thats if there is no fire damage]. If there is fire and water damage all of your appliances, list them. Your china, jewllery, power tools. THINK HIGH TICKET.
The reason why you start with high ticket items first is it will save your sanity. You have to "prove" that you deserve what your content insurance was. It takes pain staking hours to think of how many pairs of underware, what brand they were and when you bought them and then to figure out how much they depreciated for the time you had them... They do this for every item... Clothes are NEVER worth what you paid. Its pennies in comparison to the big ticket items. You will hit your content insurance number faster this way and save a lot of frustration and anger.
2. Clothes/toiletries/food. Think ahead. This is not a time to be thinking about what your friends needs. This is a time for you to think about what you and your family will need. Not just for the next few months but for the next YEAR or more. Don't just take one toothepast. Take three or four. Don't just take enough clothes for a week, take what you like and think enough clothes for two to three weeks. Same with stocking your pantry/freezer when the time comes. This fire has altered the course of your life forever and the less that YOUR insurance money has to pay for the better. You will need that for other more important things.
This is where I went wrong. I took ONLY what I needed. I wasn't thinking about the next year. I was thinking for only the next few months. Kids grow fast. They fit clothes for five minutes and then they have a growth spurt. What sizes will they need throughout the next year? Toiletries and food is never hard to come by for charities. I grew up periodicially needing the food bank.... When other things need to be paid for that is the number one thing charities will educate on. You can ALWAYS get toiletries and dry/canned goods. This is not the time for pride or shame... There is no space for that. These charities KNOW what it takes to rebuild, they want you to set yourself up for success.
3. Living allowance only for the first year. Your content insurance is how they will calculate your "living allowance for the next year." For example. If you had $20000.00 for content insurance. Then they calculate that you only need $10000.00 for another place to live for the next year. THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. If your rebuild is not going to be done in the next year. [from the date of the fire]. Then what happens?
In our case, our rebuild was not complete. We couldn't have moved back in. It was another three months. Didn't matter. Our condo board did not communicate with us and waited to the last minute to let owners know.... This created more financial hardship because of decisions made thinking we had "ALL" the information. Be slow, to make big decisions. Find out whether you have a "hard rebuild dead line" or if it is flexible because of the massive scale this was.
Fires change you once you have been through one. You are no longer the person you were before. This is ok. There is no going back to being that person because you know too much now. You've been educated. You are living through an experience that most people never have to go through. USE your community. USE them for as long as you can. YOU are not a burden. YOU are just as important and in need as the next person. This IS the time to be "SELFISH" and put yourself and family first. Food banks help take the investment hit down when it is time to restock. Salvation Army is there to help with some financial obligations, grocery gift cards and so much more. Clothes donations, back yard donations, house donations ALL are there for you if you choose to accept them. ACCEPT THEM, THEY ARE THERE FOR YOU. You are a phoenix. Just like your beloved town will be. No matter what your experience you CAN rise up. Surround yourself with people and community that will push you when you need to be pushed, and lift you when you need to be lifted.
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