As I said...It's been a rough month. So the house directly to my south has been empty 4 or 5 years since the owner passed. She had three grandkids but none of them ever went through probate to take over the house. This past winter a younger couple moved in but they turned out to be squatters attempting to establish squatters rights. With no actual homeowner to press trespass charges local PD could do nothing. Code enforcement was working a case based on the home being dilapidated.

Well my luck ran out at 0415 April 23rd. My pup hadn't been feeling well so I had her in the main hallway bathroom. I'd been checking on her throughout the night and happened to wake up at 0415. I went to look at the camera in the room with her when I noticed that I had 20 or 30 "hits" on my exterior cameras. I checked them and the first one, that was on the Southside of my house, came up with a orange image. I immediately jump up and ran to my kitchen were all the windows were glowing orange. I ran back to my bedroom called 911 while putting a shirt/pants on. I scooped up my pup and ran to the garage. Up to this point there was zero smoke in my home but that changed when I opened the garage door. I placed my pup in the truck and made my way around to the driver's side and as I did flames were licking under my eave of my home on the south. Backed out into the driveway and I hear someone yelling. Turned out to be a local officer asking if everyone was out. I parked down the street and FD began showing up. The fire had jumped to my attic through the end roof vent.

All of the actual fire damage was confined to the attic but FD pulled the ceiling (and insulation) down throughout the kitchen, dining, living room and into the hallway. There's extensive water/smoke damage along with the fire damage to the attic. I lived out of a hotel for about a two weeks on/off as I had a pre-planned trip to take my elderly Dad to my nieces wedding out of state. I'm now in a rental house.

While out of town my elderly pup wasn't eating properly. She was already diabetic, blind and had been dealing with gastrointestinal issues. My stepmother was taking care of her as best she could. She took her to a local vet who was able to get her through with meds until I could make it home. At this point I had already made the decision to let her go when I did. She was in no distress or pain just very, very frail. I spent several days with her to say goodbye and took her in the morning of May 7th to let her go. The single most difficult thing I've ever had to do but I knew it was time. Bella and I were together for over 13 years. She came to me as a puppy at a time when I really need her. We took care of each other. I miss her terribly...

Since, I've been trying to focus on getting my home repaired. The insurance approved work estimate calls for the house to be gutted from end to end and the roof along with all trusses replaced. Near all contents were declared "loss" with few exceptions. I'm currently working on getting a contractor hired to begin the rebuild.

My girl Bella.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: texassierra,

Prayers up for you brother.

God bless, and good luck.

A

I am complete loss house fire veteran, so I am familiar with the loss of your home. My fire killed my two cats. I recall that day often. Sorry for the loss of your pup and good luck on your rebuild.

Sorry to hear. Losing a pup (family member) is very tough. Sounds like you had a real bond. She is beautiful.

I do not understand the correlation to the house next door and your house fire. What was the cause.

Prayers for you to get connected with a good, honest contractor to complete your rebuild.

We have two recuse pups that are really great dogs. I hope you get one. I am sure you both could use each others love and support.

Fire jumped from the next door house to his.

I

Really sad to hear of your home and pup news. Prayers sent, Sir.

Terrible news. What blessing you were up and could escape early. So sorry about Bella. Hoping for all of the best for you from here.

This absolutely sucks. I’m so sorry. I hope things improve for you.

Prayers to you brother.

Thanks for the kind words.

As Oldbill123 stated the fire jumped from the squatter house to mine. I doubt they'll ever determine the cause of the fire because that house was completely destroyed. FD conducted a bit of an investigation before having the city come in with a Gradall to knock the remaining chimney and brick walls down so they could safely search for bodies. Unfortunately, they did find a dog at the front door but that's it. If I were guessing I'd say it started in the attic via a electrical short because I'm fairly sure there were critters living up there while the house was unoccupied and they were likely chewing on things. I saw several raccoons in the area with one sitting on the chimney of that house.

I hope things improve for you.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your pup and the extensive damage to the house. Couple of weeks ago the house behind my daughters caught fire, burned up the insides, partially the roof.

It backed up to her home as well as others, all lot line homes, the wind was blowing west, otherwise it probably would have burned up several homes behind it, we were lucky.

The owner/mom had moved out into a nursing home and is alive, she and her son were hoarders, nobody knew how much though. The fire department(s) multi alarm fire, responded and couldn't get through all the crap in the house to search it, they knew that the son was supposed to be in it from neighbors and they found him in a bedroom deceased, had to take him out through a window, couldn't get him through the house.

Now it sits there, burned up with yellow tape, an owner with dementia, a surviving daughter that everyone hopes won't abandon it, no clue if they had insurance or not.... Estimate is 1 to 2 years for it to get settled.

Sorry to hear about the passing of your faithful pup and the house fire.

I’m so sorry to hear about your string of hard days. They say bad luck comes in threes so hopefully the worst is over. I’m sure Bella knew exactly how much you loved her.