Friend's House Burned Down

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dougand3

dougand3

Minister of Fire
Oct 16, 2008
1,181
North Alabama
Friend in rural southern TN had his house burn down. He had (I think) a CFM or Century pedestal wood stove. He hasn't been at his house for 5 months - been down in the Caribbean islands. He had a young fellow living there to keep the house up. We're unsure what happened, as young man wasn't there at the time of fire. Friend has had this stove and chimney setup for at least 5 seasons w/o problems. House had an "L" shape with stove at one end of L. Looking at wreckage - it sure burned the most right around stove. I'm guessing the VFD got there and starting hosing and saved front porch area. Note a square rough cut area, just right of the front porch - maybe the VFD cut it with a saw to stick hose in?
Friend is taking it well - he laughed that he arrived in Nashville in 20 deg weather with shorts and sandals. Plus, he had homeowner's insurance thankfully.
Hey Jake! We need a pro opinion.
 

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It doesn't sound like anybody was hurt, thank God. Sorry to hear about your friend's house.

Matt
 
No question about the general location of origin. Beyond that it would be impossible to tell from one picture. Was all the burned debris in the foreground removed from the house?
 
Thanks for well wishes, guys. Fortunate no injury. Sticks, asphalt and PVC can be replaced. Another angle pic. See the little shed nearby got charred at the top.
 

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tfdchief, I don't know for sure but think scene is intact from when VFD left - no debris removed. Another pic.
 

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OK, I see now the entire "L" is gone. Sure looks like the wood stove. To bad. Could have been a lot of things. Left combusitbles to close, chimney fire, who knows. Questioning the occupant might help.... How long had he been gone and was there a fire in the stove whne he left? I often think the cause doesn't really matter when you have lost everything you own!
 
dougand3 said:
. . . Hey Jake! We need a pro opinion.
Click to expand...

Well I'm no pro . . . but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Here's this "pro's" opinion:

1) The house is burned . . . badly burned.
2) Your friend should fire his house-sitter.

;)

Sorry . . . couldn't help myself. I'm no arson expert . . . but I do know that one basic tenet of investigation is that generally the area that is most damaged is where the fire started . . . unfortunately there is a lot of damage so pin-pointing an exact cause could be tricky. Yes, this was in the area around the woodstove . . . but it could also be an electric problem, someone could have had a candle in use, etc.
 
firefighterjake said:
dougand3 said:
. . . Hey Jake! We need a pro opinion.
Click to expand...

Well I'm no pro . . . but I did sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Here's this "pro's" opinion:

1) The house is burned . . . badly burned.
2) Your friend should fire his house-sitter.

;)

Sorry . . . couldn't help myself. I'm no arson expert . . . but I do know that one basic tenet of investigation is that generally the area that is most damaged is where the fire started . . . unfortunately there is a lot of damage so pin-pointing an exact cause could be tricky. Yes, this was in the area around the woodstove . . . but it could also be an electric problem, someone could have had a candle in use, etc.
Click to expand...



Your friend should fire his house-sitter.

X2

I can see someone not use to wood stoves leaving the door cracked by accident. Hell , I have a small stump in front of mine to sit and wait... I WILL forget if I walk away.

I believe we covered that ? Thou shall not......


And yes, thank God everyone is ok. People are so much harder to repair !
 
Glad to hear no one was hurt and that the homeowner is dealing with it OK. A plus would be that he still has a nice stash of firewood in the 2nd pic :)
 
If you do a close up on that firewood, you can see the problem. It's pine. Didn't they know they shouldn't burn pine!
 
That is too bad about your friends house. Very scary sight - that stove looks exactly like my CFM. Could have been anything though. A friend of mine forgot to turn off his laptop and left it sittng on his couch one day when he went to work. Not that long after his neighbor called him and said he had called 911 because there was smoke coming out of his house. By the time he got there the whole house was in flames and the fire fighters were tryng to put it out. House was a total lose and the cause of the fire was the laptop.
 
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