14 April 2009

a week after the fire . . .

last evening i was finally able to look at my first possible new apartment. easter weekend really messed the past four days for contacting people and for doing anything fast. was hard enough getting movers through an insurer-arranged contractor. on good friday they were there about three and one half hours---packing books for the most part. left at 1 pm. the sky started to sprinkle and we all know that the fire marshal could condemn the building at anytime so I was offered use of a truck w/ norma driving and son william to help lift & pack. beth friend phoned and immediately came over. i phoned biff and he came over. with the three vehicles we grabbed and hauled out more stuff including all art off the walls, my writer publication archives, manuscript originals, clothes, the two largest filing cabinets, my bike, and more. thankfully i had the storage unit on queen street already quite stogged with books and stuff. filled it even more. can't walk in it now.

the hardest thing was having to destroy ALL electronics and electrical equipment in the apartment including computer, scanner, oki c5500 printer, lamps, digital camera, battery charger, phones, all power tools (saws, drills, dremel, glue guns), personal and kitchen appliances including lamps, extension cords, power bars, tv, cd, dvd & vhs players, 50w amp, marantz recorder, xlr cables, sure mic, blenders, coffee grinder, kettle, grills, skillet, et cetera, plus all bedding and towels plus all plastics including containers and anything using plastic handles or components. terrible mound of stuff destroyed . . . next tasks will be to price and date the acquisition of those lost/destroyed items; deal with the recovered items and their cleaning; and to negotiate the insurance claim settlement with the claim adjuster.

i also have to secure a new home: have to look at places, many or most available for 1 may not today (and am not looking at anything available later than 1 may). have to fill in landlord application forms, sort out the finances for security deposit and first month's rent. have another place to view this morn but have heard it's above an indoor half-pipe and that would likely be noisy to work above . . .

t: a carol hagan/polar graphics
loc: fred inn
temp: 0
sound: relic hunter

3 comments:

alice major said...

Joe, I'm so sorry to hear -- Fire is my worst nightmare, and to know a friend has gone through it.

Thank heavens you were able to save some stuff!

Not sure if there's anything I can do from Edmonton, but let me know!
Alice Major

Anonymous said...

Just curious, but you said you had to destroy all of the electronics, not that "they were destroyed". How did that work? Some stuff would most likely be toast if it got wet and got smoke damage (scanner, computer), but some things like drills and saws would be easy to refurb to working condition. Did they actually make you wreck stuff to collect on the insurance? That had to hurt.

I've never had to go through a fire, though I did have to abandon a house I lived in once while there was a fire extinguished in a neighbouring apartment. I watched from the street, but they got it out. But it sure does toss a major wrench in the works. Just the time it takes to deal with everything is exhausting. I hope things settle in a favourable way, and that it doesn't take long.

Joe Blades said...

An official with the NB Dept of Public Safety inspected the building as soon as possible after the fire. It was his ruling that that the electronics (and electrical) in three of the twelve apartments were recoverable and that those in the other nine apartments (including mine) were unsafe and must be destroyed onsite rather than removed and cleaned, repaired, used . . . so the disaster-cleanup contractor listed, photographed and destroyed that machines including all cables with wire cutters, boots and hammers.