FIRE.....

[JAYDAWG]

So.....
I had a fire.
I have a 36x48 shop with an insulated wall down the middle with a "garage"
side and a " man cave" side.( maybe with a bar.. )

Monday morning the 3rd of Dec , the old crabbing boat had a short in the wiring...
The fire was on the "garage" side of the shop and everything here is a total loss.

No fire damage to the structure, just lots of fiberglass melting smoke.

The "Man Cave" side is insulated and holds MOST of my RUGERS
in 2 safes with 80+ guns. NO HEAT on this side only smoke.

BUT.....EVERYTHING on the Man Cave side in curio cabinets, drawers, tools and anything else has an obvious black film and caustic smell to it.
I have yet to open the safes for fear of letting in the "smell" of the smoke.
Very confident there is no heat/fire damage.
Hoping to let the clean up folks clear the air before opening.
They were here all day boxing/documenting things I want to clean &
making a pile of non salvageable items for me to fight the insurance
company for.
Any thoughts or experience from fellow ROCS members on the best way to proceed
as far as when/why to open the safes and a way forward????
Thanks in advance.
JAY

P.S.
Just realized the wife has all the man cave pics on her phone...!!

[JAYDAWG]

An aside.....

My Guns are insured above my home owners policy. Most policies are for ONLY $2500 !!!!!
Talk to your agent.
BUT, mine mentioned today I am insured against THEFT, no mention of fire......
What if they are damaged????
He and I will be having a conversation soon

To all....
PLEASE do not assume ANYTHING about your insurance on your collection. Ask very specific and
direct questions of your provider.
Remember, YOU are the customer, so demand what you want and understand what is covered.
But most importantly, they will stick to the fine print of the policy YOU buy ( that they sell you!)

Hopefully no one will ever need to collect..........

Cheers,
JAY

[67stingray]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, glad there wasn't more damage and no one hurt. I luckily have not had experience with a fire. Is your safes bolted down? If not you may be able to move them away from the area before you open them.
Bennett

[gunman42782]

Sorry to hear that. I hope all the guns turn out ok!

[Rugerologist]

Jay, First I just want to say that I am so sorry for what you're going through. I have a client who had a fire a few years ago in his home and suffered a total loss of not only the structure but many family heirlooms and items that can never be replaced. Tragic to see a grown and a rather large farmer break down and cry and a fire is a nightmare that I would wish on no one. He did have his firearms and some important paperwork inside of an older Liberty Safe which they pulled from the rubble with a tractor. His paperwork which was stacked up was a toasty brown color on the edges but still legible, the guns and everything inside of the safe took a lot of smoke but the damage was largely cosmetic and able to be cleaned. Everything in the safe had that same acrid smell you're describing but with some major elbow grease, we were able to get them back in order. I can still smell them though even today when he opens the new safe. As long as the smoke and all is clear I'd go ahead and at least check it out. After watching that ordeal I took out an additional 50K policy on our homeowners' insurance (Farm Bureau) which blankets firearms and jewelry. I'd also look into Eastern Insurance which is who a lot of my major collector friends use for firearms. It's too cheap not to do a second policy on firearms with them. $150 for an additional 40K of coverage. Good luck and let us know what happens, brother.

[flattop44]

Jay, sure sorry to hear about the fire. At least your man cave is still intact and hopefully all your guns are ok. Plus 100 on Eastern Insurance, that is what I have. I have friends who have had stolen guns and they paid off without a hassle.
Bill

[LIBERTY FOREVER]

Jay,
Hang in there and know that we are thinking of you and sending prayers. Fire and flooding are particularly devastating personal tragedies.
I'm no help on your questions but I greatly appreciate your reminder about reviewing my insurance as well as the recommendations by Chuck, Bill.
Having multiple machine sheds, home, hunting shed, equipment pieces, etc my agent/agency USAA made a recommendation to me years ago.
An inventory is very difficult sometimes because of the rate of turnover around your place, so once a year (JAN) I take a video recording of the contents in each room of the home. I do the same thing in the machine shed, hunting room, etc, large items be sure and hit the serial number if you think its relevant in case of theft/fire. It would sure help if you needed to recall an inventory and easy documentation with a DTG on the video.

God Speed on your recovery operation Jay.

[zebra55]

sorry to hear..I think fire is our worst fear! money alone can't replace what most of us have

[JAYDAWG]

Thanks to all for your concern.......sincerely.

Ya....what a tail spin.
The guns look to be fine. I will say one safe was better than the other to seal. Advise to all, make sure your safe has a good seal between the door and body.
Very slight dusting on the lesser safe, so I spent all of yesterday wiping down 50+ handguns.
The crappy part is I had to go to Walmart to buy RAGS??!?, a cleaning mat and cleaning supplies to do this on the dining room table! ( the wife is thrilled!)
It is amazing to me how much my MAN CAVE had everything I ever needed/wanted for anything I needed/wanted to do!!!!!
I don't even have a screw driver, for sh*t sakes!

Between my son in laws safe, and stacking a bunch in my safe in the house I have one empty, but one still full of long guns (any room anyone 0)

Working on the next move to store these. Servepro promises a one week turn around on the safes at which time my neighbor/FFL will take them into his secure space and all the guns then will be united.
I will get through this.....but.....WHAT A GIANT PAIN IN THE ASS!!!!
A couple pics.
Gun safes were on the other side but still compromised by smoke.
JAY

[Watertender]

Jay that really is terrible. When I was a kid we lost our house to fire due to a faulty chimney. The house was balloon frame with no fire stops built in the early 1900's. The place went up in flames within minutes once the oxygen hit the smoldering inner wall partition. At least there were no injuries in your case and you can salvage your guns. We literally got out with the clothes we were wearing. Sorry you had to go through it.