Penelope Bianchi only had a few minutes to grab what she could. www.theburninghouse.com Before her house went up in flames.
May 1,1982. My husband woke up at 5 am dreaming of roasting marshmallows. Crackling on the roof. He saw little tiny flames…….6 inches in diameter…….on the roof over our older daughters’ room! He said, “Penny, call the fire department!” He went out and got the hose…..I picked up the phone…..dead line. It had started with a short in the attic at 11:00 pm. Building in the attic all night. (lesson:always have a smoke alarm in the attic; smoke goes up! All smoke alarms worked……none went off)
Five more minutes…..none of us would have awakened. Flames were 75 feet in the air in 5 minutes. It sucks the oxygen out of the house!
Children, dogs, cats, pet rat. I was in shock. I thought all the contents were lost. I was OK …..everything was alive and safe.
Firemen are heroes. They asked me: “This is a very advanced fire, do you want us to concentrate on the structure or the contents?” I said, “The contents and nothing that plugs in! “ They went in, took the paintings and everything off the walls, put them on top of the furniture, pushed the furniture into the middle of the rooms…and covered it all with asbestos tarps before they turned on the water. 90% of the contents were saved……90% of the structure was lost.
Watching it….I was sure everything in it was gone. Treasures I had inherited from 3 generations. I was actually OK with that. I remember thinking “those are just things. Everyone who was alive is still alive; I am so grateful!!!”
One really doesn’t know until it happens to you.
