[ Post a Response | Alberta Metal Detecting Forum ]
Posted by Brad on December 26, 2007, 10:48 pm
70.105.65.137
I just wanted to start off by saying that,
as this holiday season has been the most challenging for me and my girlfriend yet!
I have lived in Green bay for over 2 years, and have ambitiously taken up a hobby in the form of
metal detecting with the ebay purchase of a moderately aged , well equipped dfx (early August), a dx-1 probe (late September), a 4x6 sharp shooter (mid October), and an 18” excelerator (mid-late November)… all piece by piece, and earned with hard work. I have found many a modest trophy for a novice and had a giant fishing line of pull tabs from all generations that I was quite proud of. (some of my friends thought I was crazy…) My latest and just about most encouraging finds were four Cracker Jack presidential tokens, likely my grandmother’s or one of her siblings’ , two in nearly perfect condition, in my grandmother’s back yard on the weekend following thanksgiving. (also her birthday)
Some of you in the Wisconsin area may be familiar with the fire that occurred at the Pheasant Run apartments in Green Bay, WI on December 8th, 2007. It is an event that would change our lives drastically.
That evening, I was held up at work (7pm) 2 hours later than scheduled, as I'm sure to which we can all relate. I approached my apartment with much anticipation of holiday shopping, feeding and playing with my cats / fish, researching new sites to metal detect in spring, and catch up on the last episodes of heroes on our dvr. This all began to dwindle as I arrived within a mile of home at 7:30, as I could see a trail of smoke coming from the vicinity of our complex. As I came to the cul-de-sac, I was overwhelmed by the volume of emergency vehicles and the "road closed" signs blocking my access. I was able to park on the school property at the border of our back parking lot, and walk around the blockades through the woods.
My suspicions were far from placated, as the source of the smoke was still out of sight, as were any views from our third floor apartment. I sneaked through the access doors to the courtyard on the other side, only to discover the flames billowing out from under the fascia of our balcony, as well as the two floors below it. After standing in shock for an unnoticed amount of time, I was firmly directed by authorities, back to the parking lot for my own safety. Upon this moment, I pleaded with firemen to search my unit for my pets, as i knew that my girlfriend wasn't home from work. They stated the obvious, that they were first concerned with preserving human lives.
At this point, I frantically attempted to contact my girlfriend, and left a rather un-thought-out message. When I informed my father of the situation, he advised me to try to make sure that she didn't attempt to make a futile drive on her own to try to rescue our cats. I then went about on the difficult task of finding out which of my girlfriend's jobs she was at, at the moment, the closest of which was 35-40 minutes away, and the furthest being an additional 20-25. I tried 411 on my cell for both businesses, both of which didn't seem to exist in the directories. I finally located my girlfriend at the furthest destination after much confusion and much excessive, yet controlled and radar detection protected driving and plucked her from preparing several trays of ravioli, only to share such news of tragedy and uncertainty with her.
Our return journey was occupied with mutual efforts of emotional support, contacting relatives and friends, absorbing the reality of the situation, and preparing ourselves for what we were going to see as our initial journey ended. This may have partially aided us, as we witnessed, upon walking back, that the flames had spread to the roof tops, and were proceeding at least 30 feet further into the cold night sky. One positive bit we received... so far, there had been no incidents of human injury, and the firemen were in the process of bolstering a fire brake to save a majority of the building, as well as herding a bunch of cats to safety.
We both looked on in bittersweet discontent, as various people were reunited with their cats. My father arrived about an hour later with hugs, various random articles of warm clothing, and what cash he had to offer. We were graciously offered a place with my girlfriend’s parents home indefinitely.
We check the local humane shelter and other locations on occasion, just to see if our cats may have made it in. We lost everything, with the equivalent of 10’s of thousands of dollars in possessions, not to mention all of the irreplaceable unique items also with immense sentimental value (this includes everything involved in my metal detecting). We anticipate that we will never be able to sift through any of the debris that remains of our belongings for reasons of safety, investigation, and liability. We are still uninformed of what the restoration company was able to recover from either our apartment, or our storage unit. (which was at the opposite side of the building from the fire) From what we have heard, 15 apartments were a total loss, and 30 rendered uninhabitable. 120 people were misplaced by the fire, approximately 67 of which were just recently allowed to return to their apartments.
Obviously, our greatest blessings are that we made it out with our lives and physical health intact, and that we have friends and family that will give us all of the support that they can. Both of us have returned to work within days of the tragedy, and are doing our best to start fresh.
This is therapeutic in just typing out the whole scenario on this little screen…
I am curious if anyone would know of the cheapest honest resource to rebuild a modest assortment of metal detecting equipment, as this was my new obsession.
By the way, and I cannot stress this enough… if you have any sorts of possessions that you value, get them insured. This may not cover the sentimentality, but at least you will not be left with nothing. I was not insured, along with 50% of the other people involved in that fire, and while we didn’t lose our lives or health, we shouldn’t have to permanently lose anything that we don’t have to and worked so hard to attain.
Thanks for listening,
Happy Holidays!
Anyone wanting to contact me:
BLTFritz@msn.com
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