Almost lost everything today...

[BoostMonkey]

This after noon on my way home from work, I turned the corner down the hill from our house to see smoke... then flames... the hill we live on was entirely engulfed in flames and smoke. My first thought was of our Lab pup in her kennel in the backyard....
My first instinct was to put foot to floor. So as I zoomed passed fire trucks and cops that had set up a road block doing bout 100kms/hr (surprised i didnt get a ticket but think they were more worried about the fire that was about to jump the road and prolly knew i lived along the ridge) I got in front of my house, slammed on the brakes... skid marked the pavement and jumped outta my car while it was still running and ran as fast as i could to my back yard that was full of smoke... the kennel was open someone had got her out in time thankgod. I didnt even take time to see what damage the fire did i just asked all around where my dog was. The neighbors were home thankgod and had got her out before it was to late. They put her in their garage. I was soooo thankful... so then they talked to me and explained what happened and told me to look at the house... the siding on the back of all our houses was melted and curling. I could only imagine what would have happed to rylee if she was left there... :( (our house also stinks horrible of smoke)

Anyhoo here's some pictures i caught later on after I got my nerves back.
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0367.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0340.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0328.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0321.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0318.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0309.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0304.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0302.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0300.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0281-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0280-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0277-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0274-1.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0254.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0260.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0248.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0240.jpg

Before... After...
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/beforeafter.jpg

[2BLUE]

Nice green grass is coming!

[LadyLuck]

:eek:

WOW, glad to know your puppy made it out alive!!!!
Thank god your home wasnt on fire!!

[Antonito]

Originally posted by Princess*Precid
:eek:

WOW, glad to know your puppy made it out alive!!!!
Thank god your home wasnt on fire!! :werd:

And a big thumbs up to your neighbours

[schocker]

good to see that it turned out ok, that fire came damn close.
props to your neighbours also.:thumbsup:

[Kritafo]

wow, I am happy to hear that everyone is okay. Fire is so scary when it's this dry out.

Hope your pup is well, and thank goodness for good neighbors. Hope she doesn't have any problems going back into the yard. Did the fire ruin her kennel?

[TomcoPDR]

Good to hear everyone's safe, how far was the fire to the sidings to warp like that?

[Rocky]

God bless your neighbors :) It's nice to have good people around you.

Where the grassfire was, the hill is going to grow back sooo green. It will look really great in time.

[roopi]

What neighborhood was this?

[BoostMonkey]

This was in Okotoks. The fire was about 20ft away to melt the siding.

We are so lucky that none of us have grass planted in our back yards yet, if that were the case surely the houses would have caught fire. And thanks to the firefighters efforts and putting up a firewall our houses were saved from further damage I'm sure. When I did get home they were still soaking the field and spraying along the fence.

I just hope that the town has learned from this and will maintain a fire barrier by our houses, the grass behind our house was 3 ft high and never as trimmed down. We knew it was a fire hazard and only time till it caught fire. It will be nice when the grass does grow back but I do hope it does not get like it was again and we repeat this whole process next year.

[U4RIA]

Originally posted by Rocky
God bless your neighbors :) It's nice to have good people around you.


:werd: If only all neighbors were like yours...

[4lti7ude]

Thankgod everyone is alright.
How about your house tho?
It looks like some of the siding meted...
Is that going to be covered by insurance or something?

[Destinova403]

wow... count your stars now man. just glad nobody got hurt.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Props to your neighbors... That would be my first instinct too. Computers, clothes, all that stuff can be replaced... a friend like your dog can't. Sure you can get a new dog... but it's never the same.

Good to hear everything turned out ok, and I would definitely push the town for some new safety measures... I would even consider getting them to pay your deductible for insurance. (I think... I'm not sure how homeowners insurance works.)

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Wow, that's intense! :eek:

[ZorroAMG]

Thank goodness you are all safe, the damage is minimal and materialistic.

[rmk]

Glad to hear you guys are OK. Any pics of your dog?

[BoostMonkey]

Yeah not sure how the deductible will work but if there's alot of damage we won't have to pay anything. I do think the town should be responsible for paying our deductible they could have prevented damage to our properties by mowing it down or putting some type of barrier between us. We look forward to new growth and know it will be green! The snow today is a refreshing site after what happened.
For the one user who ask about Rylee, I have not any new pictures of her from the events yesterday but this is her(she is getting a bath today)...
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0521.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0567.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0579.jpg
http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/IMG_0464-1.jpg

[403Gemini]

Originally posted by ZorroAMG
Thank goodness you are all safe, the damage is minimal and materialistic.

:werd:

Insurance will cover materialistic shit, but you can't replace a life.

Good job to your neighbors, and pretty impressive work from the firefighters keeping it off the houses!

[Atriux]

Good on your neighbors, it's been said before but it's a good point. Materialistic things can be replaced, lives can't (I learned that the hard way after my first dog...).

I love your dog, and I hope everything gets fixed soon.

Atriux

[A790]

Dude, I'm sorry to hear about what happened. Noone expects something like that to happen to them.

But you know, I gotta hand it to you- your first thought was of the safety of your dog. Not your house, car, clothes, possessions, but your dog. That shows strong moral character, and life has a funny way of rewarding those with that quality.

Take care of yourself, maybe take some time to relax and whatnot. It could have been much worse (as others have pointed out).

EDIT: Your dog is wicked cute!

[Kloubek]

That's crazy dude. You can tell the heat of the fire - if it melted siding from that far away. Glad your dog is ok - he's a cute one!

[BoostMonkey]

Made sundays edition of the calgary herald. Not sure what other papers it'll be in this week.

http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l20/monkeytrob/20080330-IMG_0469.jpg?t=1206917892

...Roughly $12000 in damage... our adjuster hasn't even come out yet lol. I'd say its closer to $20000.

[djayz]

:eek: how did that start?!

Glad everyones okay and that the dog made it out safely.

[icydude666]

so will insurance cover the house damage?

[HybridTheory]

Holy shit! Well I'm glad to hear that everyone is ok. Your dog is so cute :)

[BenC]

glad everyones ok!
youre pup is so cute! i love my lab
i'd probably do the same thing if i were you

[Bushy]

There was a fire beside my house in okotoks last week too. I live south of the rec center. I heard there has been 2 fires in this area in the last 2 weeks. We were told kids were suspected.

[BoostMonkey]

Yeah I heard this too. I seen kids going down into the valley and building a fort there but not sure it was them that started it. being that it was so early during the day I think it was prolly a cigarette by where it started.

[eb0i]

I'm glad that your dog is safe, such an awesome looking dog :thumbsup:

I know this is off topic, but what kind of lens do you use for your dslr?

[BoostMonkey]

I have a canon 40D and just the standard kit lenses right now. EF-S 18-55mm and a EF 75-300mm. Saving for my 70-200mm L and 10-22mm

[eb0i]

Originally posted by BoostMonkey
I have a canon 40D and just the standard kit lenses right now. EF-S 18-55mm and a EF 75-300mm. Saving for my 70-200mm L and 10-22mm

Just wanted to ask because some of those pictures are pretty sweet. :thumbsup:

[BoostMonkey]

thanks. I am a photographer, so it's nice to hear I'm doing a good job!

[zxt]

Wow! Props to your neighbors and you got a lovely pup there.

[canadiantj]

Glad to hear your dog is ok. It was quite a sight, the fire moved quickly and made a ton of smoke. I'm on the common and was outside my front door, smelled the telltale campfire smell, looked up to see the billowing smoke and called 911. Credit to Okotoks fire as they were there within 5 minutes which seems long but is excellent for a rural fire department. Guess it makes it easy for your backyard design come spring, gravel and chainlink in case this ever happens again.

[2002civic]

glad you have great neighbors!