My home is gone.
I am having email problems and trying to find a new home.
For now, all I can manage is to say this on this board and post these pics.
www.waycoolinc.com/100603/100603.htm
I'm crashing on a neighbor's couch.
More when I can.
| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
RachelZ3 |
I lost my home to fire on Monday |
Lead | |
|
Posts: 2178 (10/07/03 19:29:16) |
There was a fire at my house on Monday- everyone (me, Freddy the kitten, neighbors and FDNY) are fine.
My home is gone. I am having email problems and trying to find a new home. For now, all I can manage is to say this on this board and post these pics. www.waycoolinc.com/100603/100603.htm I'm crashing on a neighbor's couch. More when I can. |
||
Keith F |
Wow. | ||
|
Posts: 121 (10/07/03 20:33:55) |
Very sorry to hear.
You're in my thoughts and prayers. |
||
ratdaddy |
I am sorry | ||
|
Posts: 65 (10/08/03 12:33:27) |
Thank God evryone is safe. I am so sorry and wish you the best. I pray that everything will turn out for the best. Wish I could do more but for you but you are in my thoughts.
|
||
WB |
at a loss... | ||
|
Posts: 506 (10/08/03 17:37:06) |
for words. Have been trying to get in touch. Let us know if we can be of assistance. We are glad that, physically, you are O.K., but we also feel sorry for your discomfort, loss, and stress. Keep us updated.
|
||
Z3 Husband |
OMG! And after all those months of renovation hell! | ||
|
Posts: 30 (10/09/03 05:42:58) |
Is your entire building uninhabitable, or just the units near yours? Can you restore it? We had a small fire in my house when I was growing up and the insurance co was generous in getting things back to (in some ways better than) they were before.
|
||
Sprydle |
I did talk to her | ||
|
Posts: 692 (10/09/03 10:33:34) |
As far as I know the damage is pretty much limited to her place.
When I spoke to her last (egad, was it Tuesday?), she was going through insurance claim hell, and she's found a unit in her building to rent while repairs/renovations will occur. She was holding up pretty well, considering. I dunno if I could be as stoic. |
||
Sprydle |
An update | ||
|
Posts: 692 (10/09/03 21:04:35) |
There's a lot of things she's had to work out.
The entire apartment has smoke and soot damage. It's everywhere. For the time being, Rachel's currently staying in an extremely nice hotel, and hasn't had the time to come up for air, what with all the other issues coming up now after the fact. She is working out some particulars about the other unit that she'll be staying at for several months, while everything's sorted out. |
||
zuni |
Sorry to hear your news | ||
|
Posts: 13 (10/10/03 08:27:55) |
Glad to hear you and your extended family are doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances. I can't even begin to comprehend what you must be going through. Hopefully this won't make for another chapter in you "Renovation From Hell" mini novel. Hope everything works out for you!
CJ LUVZSUN |
||
RachelZ3 |
1- it started... | ||
|
Posts: 2178 (10/10/03 13:55:11) |
at the point I wrote that first post I was sleeping on a neighbor's couch. He has a studio apartment and 2 large cats.
He'd put his cats in his bathroom at night, Fred would run free and keep us both awake jumping on our heads at night. In the morning his cats would come out and Fred would go in the cat carrier for the day. I couldn't go to the bathroom when the cats were in there because they hiss at me, so I would go to the health club, but it closes at 9pm. So no peeing after 9pm. The insurance company was not available on Monday because it was Yom Kippur. When I reached them on Tuesday morning they passed me around to voicemail and when finally they spoke to me they told me to sleep at a friend's house and that they couldn't get their adjuster out to see the damage until Thursday. They told me I couldn't take a rental place because they hoped that maybe I would be back in my apartment in a couple days. This was all completely outrageous and incorrect. Meanwhile, I saw an apartment that- like a miracle from heaven - was perfect and exactly comparable to mine, in the same building and even furnished. I was going to take it even if I had to pay for it myself because I had no where to live- but the real estate agents were insane, telling me one moment I could have it, and the next that I couldn't. Everything was on my cell phone, which rang incessantly. The fire happened on Monday around lunch time when I went out to buy a loaf of bread. I came home and went to the manager's office to read the building's board minutes. We heard the fire engines but that's normal in NYC and normal in my building. But so many, and so loud and we came out to the front desk to find the lobby full of firefighters, so many, I haven't seen that many since 9/11 on TV. The block was ringed with fire engines. We listened on the staff's walkie talkies as they said the fire was in the University tower... and then they said it was the Park Tower (my tower) and they they were yelling- it's Rachel Corey's apartment, it's Rachel Corey's apartment. I was sure they were joking. It couldn't be my apartment. I am Little Miss Safety. I'm the one who made them paint the stairwells with day glo paint in case of emergencies, I'm the one who works with the FDNY, I'm the one in the manger's office reading the board minutes, they must be joking. I had JUST gone through all my stereo equipment to reconnect my VCR to the TiVo. I went out to the front of the building, fire engines filled the street and looked up and saw the smoke pouring out from my balcony. It didn't occur to me until later that the staff was screaming that it was my apartment because they were afraid I was trapped inside. They nearly risked their lives to save me. There were hundreds of firefighters because this was classified as a "high rise fire" just like the World Trade Center. Ladder 20, which normally would never be called to my home was there. I went to the firefighters I found outside, told them it was my unit and offered whatever information I could. They only wanted to know if anyone was in my apartment. I told them- just Fred the kitten. They said, let us get the fire under control, then we will look for the kitten. Shortly thereafter, they radioed the fire was contained, then it was out, then they found Fred. At 415pm I went to see my home. There were about 50 firefighters in the hall in front of my door. I just wanted to see every one of those men leave safely. They all did. No one was hurt. The FDNY had done minimal damage, even moved my guitars out of the way safely. There was about 6 inches of water, which damaged apartments for 8 floors below mine. There was broken glass everywhere and everything was black. The wind was blowing my papers out the windows. I was apologizing to everyone, and everyone was telling me it wasn't my fault. I thought fires only happened to stupid people who were careless. I only calmed down about that when one of the guys from Ladder 20 told me he had had fires at his house too. Then it got worse. Rachel
Esmerelda's Page Z3ers.com |
||
RachelZ3 |
2- the rest of that day | ||
|
Posts: 2178 (10/10/03 14:08:15) |
Your prayers certainly helped. I saw your post but by then I couldn't answer, I was also pretty desperate for the first couple days. I could get online at Todd's house but I couldn't send email. I couldn't figure out whether to stay or leave. From 415pm I stayed in my apartment chasing out the curious, some of whom actually brought their children to come see the disaster. One child kept screaming "I'll give you $3 if you let me come inside and see, I wanna see I wanna see..."
Building staff was sucking up the water, later the window people came to board up the windows. It was cold. When I took my eyes off the window people they started screwing the plywood into my window frames instead of making plywood frames and screwing the plywood into that. I had to stop them. The air was thick and stifling with the choking chemical smoke of my burnt stereo equipment, the soot wont come off my hands, everything I touched became black. The window people took all that crap that was burnt and wrecked and put it aside from the windows- but they put it on the rest of my apartment, so anything that wasn't already destroyed became destroyed from them putting wet broken jagged sooty garbage on it. I had to lock what was left of my door (thank goodness I hadn't locked all the locks when I left for the bread, so only the locks that were locked were wrecked, I still could lock my door). Somewhere in the night a team of FDNY came to review their own performance and I listened as they explained that they went to the floor above mine to use a special tool to break the window closest to the fire, drawing the fire out of the apartment. If they had broken the windows as they came in, they would have brought the fire into the apartment. They had only one way in. My apartment was like "Backdraft". I pictured these men running into my apartment facing a torrent of pitch black chemical smoke and a raging fire and I wanted to just curl up and crawl under a rock. They took the time to move my guitars out of the way before they hit the fire with water. Unbelieveable. They're facing a roaring fire and they are gently moving these things out of the way, saving my autographed photos... just amazing. They had moved the people out from below, as there was hundreds of feet of broken glass raining down on the sun deck and the street below. People in the park had gathered watching my drapes flaming out the windows. Finally, around 1230 I got ready to sleep on Todd's couch. At 1am the Fire Marshall showed up and I went back to my apartment for another couple hours. I kept asking if it was my fault, if there was anythingI could have done better. The fire marshall said it wasn't my fault but offered to spank me if it would make me feel better. Back to the couch at 3am, and Fred jumped on my head at 530am. So I had about 2 hours of sleep before the next day began. Rachel
Esmerelda's Page Z3ers.com |
||
RachelZ3 |
3- For the Insured... | ||
|
Posts: 2178 (10/10/03 14:16:21) |
I saw your instant message and it warmed my heart. I knew I had friends and I knew I had places to go, I had to stay close to my apartment to defend it, I had to find another place to stay, I had this other apartment and these psychopathic real estate agents calling me every half hour and dangling the apartment in front of me. I saw there was abed- a BED for God's sake - and I could not go sleep in it.
The insurance agent was playing games with me, they kitten was in distress, I was trying to figure out what to do, the insurance people were saying I should not move anything out of my apartment, people were showing up to do work in the apartment, and I am trying to handle all of this from one cell phone. One of the people who showed up was a creature I had never heard of before- an insurance adjuster who represents the insured sort of against their own insurance company. He had come to help the building against their insurance company and when I let him in to my place he let me know how i was being abused. I had a right to stay in a "comparable" hotel, to be restored immediately to the kind of life i had before the fire. I still have to figure out when I got into the hotel, but I finally did. Then we had to duke it out with the real estate people and the insurance company. Rachel
Esmerelda's Page Z3ers.com |
||
RachelZ3 |
4- What was left | ||
|
Posts: 2178 (10/10/03 14:20:30) |
It is perverse.
At least the fire happened in the part of the apartment that I hadn't really started to renovate. I had just met with the carpenter who was going to build the wall unit on that side of the apartment, in fact I walked him out when I went to get the bread. I had also just moved this computer back to the office side of my apartment, so it's sooty but it works. As it turns out, the apartment will have to be inventoried, emptied, whatever can be restored will be, whatever has to be replaced will be, and whatever can't be either is just gone. Then they will have to take everything from the plaster on the ceilings to the wood on the floors off, and start from scratch. The floors have now buckled. The building will have to restore the walls and floors and such like the place was when it was new, then my insurance will have to restore what I built. It's almost an advantage. Not quite. Rachel
Esmerelda's Page Z3ers.com |
||
Harvster |
Condolences | ||
|
Posts: 3 (10/10/03 14:37:37) |
Jacquie and I offer our condolences. You are OK and so is your cat. Everything can be rebuilt or replaced. Your insurance should pay for everything. I would offer you my home, but you probably don't want to live in a state governed by someone named Schwarzenegger. You will get passed this. Hang in there.
|
||
RachelZ3 |
5- The investigators' verdict | ||
|
Posts: 2178 (10/10/03 14:46:35) |
I am now in actually pretty wonderful circumstances, considering I guess.
Today there were about 30 investigators in my house, all lined up at my door (I said so this is what it takes to have men lined up at my door) and most of them retired firefighters, wearing the kind of hats I sell. In a way it was like old home week. I was scared, scared that this was somehow my fault even though they kept assuring me that it wasn't. This was the day that the building's insurance company and my insurance company's investigators were coming to determine the cause of the fire, and you know they are hot to blame it on me so they don't have to pay. Verdict: ALL INSURANCE COMPANY INVESTIGATORS AGREE THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE WAS A FAILURE OF A AC WIRE COMING FROM MY STEREO COMPONENTS. You know, the wire that comes out the back that you plug into an outlet for power. I had JUST gone through all those wires and made sure none were tangled or twisted or under a carpet or anything. It was not my fault, there was nothing I could have done to avoid it. I must have heard the phrase "shit happens" about 100 times. I am now walking 10 feet off the ground because I know for a fact that I didn't do this. I did everything to avoid this. I have no clothes, I ran out of my last clean shirt yesterday, everthing near the fire (that wasn't moved by the FDNY) is just - gone. I have to figure out what was there by memory. Lots of other stuff gone from the destruction by the window people. Then there was the 30 or more people tramping through what's left of my home. Tomorrow is my first day off. I'm taking Fred to the vet- Todd and his cats are coming too. I hope my new clothes come from J Crew in time or else I am wearing this again. Todd is my hero. Almost a total stranger, he took me in and cared for me and Fred. Sunday we begin the inventory. Monday is the dry cleaning specialist. I am currently living in a suite at the incredibly gorgeous and wonderful W hotel on Union Square, the one I always saw from my bedroom and my balcony, if you remember those pics- like from the blackout- that is the hotel. I can see my apartment from my window, all boarded up. As soon as we can settle the lease agreement and the owners can get their apartment ready, I can move back into the building and the insurance company is paying for the hotel and the apartment. As my belongings are repaired and returned, whatever they can salvage, they can bring them to my new home. I'm very very very lucky that this place is available, it's like a miracle. So yeah, everything I have except the clothes on my back that day and my sweet little kitten is pretty much gone. I took lots of pics- on my sooty digital camera, and I'm on my sooty new powerbook. I haven't read email since Monday morning, haven't answered the phone, taken mail, nothing. Meanwhile, Fred has scratched up the couch here. He's nuts. Oh of course Emmy is fine. I cant go near her or I will make her sooty. My blonde hair has got black patches in it and my hands are black and sooty - even though I have been washing with baking soda. I'm not someone you would like to have sit on your couch or anything... Seriously though, I am just so incredibly fortunate. Most people don't even know this has happened, there was no time to call anyone. My lawyer has been knocking out agreements, I hired the insurance adjuster guy, I called Jon to try to get email working, Lolly checked out the insurance adjuster guys- they take 10% of whatever they win for you- the web pages I posted helped me get through to the insurance company how bad this was and what my apartment used to look like, all those digital photos , I have to go through and see what I can show the investigators, find all the reciepts for everything I ever bought... It meant a lot to me knowing I could find everyone here. Web pages coming... of course. I have to come down off my adrenaline high. Never a dull moment eh? Possessions gone, health bouncing back, friends still here and kitty is fine. Mucho love. Rachel
Esmerelda's Page Z3ers.com |
||
BettyM |
Oh, no! Rachel that is horrible! I am so sorry to | ||
|
Posts: 36 (10/11/03 12:58:35) |
hear that you have suffered this catastrophe! At least you and Freddie were not injured.
I can't help but recall that saying "what doesn't kill you will make you stronger". You are going to be one strong lady! You have been through so much! Try not to stress out too much if that is possible. We are all here for you; if there is any way we can help, just say the word. 2000 MZ3/Evergreen
|
||
Unregistered(d) |
Rachel !!! I am so sorry! | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/11/03 13:28:26) |
I just read about your fire - Betty///M posted over in the Lounge. I was in Boston last week and didn't know what had happened. If there's anything I can do - lend an ear or otherwise - don't hesitate to email me!
I hated to see the misinformation you were getting from your insurance company - in my past life I was a property & casualty insurance agent. You have your lawyer so I'm sure he'll go over everything very well for you - but just a suggestion to double-check if your homeowners policy is Replacement Cost on contents - or Actual Cash Value (depreciation)....and also keep every receipt you can for expenses covered under your Additional Living Expense coverage portion - any "out of the ordinary" expenses are covered under that. Don't forget about the Personal Articles Floater for any items you might have scheduled additionally on the policy. It's a long process - but just take your time and inventory thoroughly - always leaving the option to add to the inventory as you're sure to miss something the first go-round. Take care and am happy you & the kitty are safe and at the "W"!! Hope |
||
Shawn Fogg |
Holy crap... | ||
|
Posts: 121 (10/12/03 17:15:01) |
Rachel,
We are so sorry to hear about this... though very glad you and the kitty came through it OK. Hope everything is worked out to your satisfaction in as little time as possible. Shawn + Melissa |
||
Z3 Husband |
Hey Rach, if the insurance money doesn't come through . . . | ||
|
Posts: 30 (10/12/03 18:36:50) |
You can take the Fire Marshall up on his offer to spank you -- there are probably a lot of people who would pay good money to see the pictures!
Seriously, tho I'm glad everything is going to (eventually) be OK. Take the time to make sure things are done right, and it'll all work out for the best. I'd tell you to be strong, but I don't have to -- You're a New Yorker and that goes without saying! |
||
Unregistered(d) |
Rachel, I'm so sorry | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/13/03 14:33:10) |
I just saw Brent and Connie this weekend and they told me. I'm glad you and the kitten are all right. Be strong.
Kathy |
||
Unregistered(d) |
RACHEL! I can't believe it! | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/14/03 05:44:33) |
I just found out about your apt. and I'm so sorry! I'm glad to see that things are working out but I'm still shocked and saddened that you have to go through this. If you need anything at all please let me know, I'd be happy to help out.
Mick |
||
B TopleZZ |
I am SO sorry to hear this! | ||
|
Posts: 127 (10/14/03 08:45:53) |
I just got back in town from vacation and back to internet access. I am so shocked to hear this! I hope all is going as well as it can right now. If you need anything from the South, please let me know!
I'm thinking of you girl! Beth |
||