If you haven't read it before, have a look at the general summary page.

Friday, Dec 8:

All in all, things are getting setteled. I have found temporary lodging and am starting to tackle the stack of paperwork on insurance. There are other annoyances such as canceling DSL contracts and such, but I won't bore you all with that.

I will likely not update this page much further. I did go and take a few final pictures of the empty and burned out apartment for my records.

I can think of no better summary of what a fire does than then final two pictures I am posting below. Thank you all for your help.

Friday, Dec 1:

Quite fun. Today, with the help of insuranced-hired folks, and several dear friends I moved the contents of my apartment to a dumpster. A few pieces went to get cleaned, a few boxes of stuff to try to salvage. All in all, it's a little closure.

Thursday, Nov 30:

At 10 am the fire investigators arrived from my Insurance company (a.k.a. my team) and after being accosted by the apartment managent (a.k.a. their team) they got to be able to do their investiagation. Thus far all parties have tended to agree it was an accidental fire invloving either a fan, a computer, or respective cables. Oddly, out of 7 or UPSs only one burned directly. That's good considering the toxicity of acid-battery fires.

At about noon the damage assesor (also part of my team) arrived. The assessment was quick and simple. It is ALL a loss. Well, they expect to be able to refinish two pieces of hard wood. Nothing else is worth salvage.

This leaves for tomorrow that we throw everything into a rented dumpster, inventory, and total the damages. So far in preparation, I have took about a hundred pictures of general destroied areas.

	This is what 4 servers look like after they have burned. Represented are the guts of dancing-stoat.com, crescendo.net, toontiger.com, othersuns.com and others.
	This is what's left of an APC brand UPS, I believe a model 600. In spite of the extreme heat that affected my UPSes none of the APC brand ones burst or failed. As a matter of fact, this one was still beeping due to a lack of power AFTER a week of rain and being burned to boot. I now oficially reccomend APC.
	Here's an example of just how pervasive soot is. This was a sealed cabinet. The soot covered the contents of the cabinet and the inside of the door as well. This cabinet was about as far away from the fire (2 rooms and a hall) as you could be.

So far the worst thing is simply the smell. Cross a smoky campfire with burning styrofoam and you have it. It perfades everything and is nigh overpowering. Ah well. Only a few more days of fun should be left.

Wendnesday, Nov 29:

After landing in North Carolina at about midnight I immediately started the 12 hour drive back home to Pennsylvania. Oddly it took only 9 and a half hours.

Unpon arriving I was allowed a tour of my own apartment. I was not allowed to touch or move anything as the property is still under posession of the fire marshal. Aside from taking the tour having not slept in nearly 30 hours and being a bit punch-drunk, everything was as expected.

I was able to go into the main bedroom. Sam had not been able to photograph that. The damage is preety much equal to that of the living room. I might be able to save some minor wood furniture or desks.

Tuesday, Nov 28:

Took the late-night flight up to North Carolina. I had originally driven down to see my folks over thanksgiving and then flown down to texas to visit a friend. Flying back to North Carolina was merely the same trip in reverse. It would have been very nice to fly directly back, but holiday bookings prevented this.

Monday, Nov 27:

Talked to the fire marshal in depth. Learned that the fire was accidental in nature and quite likely started by a fan that siezed and over heated.

Sunday, Nov 26:

Dr. Sam Conway, a dear friend of mine, was able to convince the fire marshal to allow him to take the following photograps. because the building was under investigation by the marshal, he could only stand in the doorway.

In the living room shots you can see the melted lampashade on the left. Note that though the other rooms did not burn directly the heat was intense enough to shatter glass and melt plastic and metals. The camera dsen't show it was well, but many things that appear perfectly servicable are ruined by heat damage. Only below about 3 foot high were object subject to relatively normal (less than 150 degree) heat. And even in these areas there is heavy soot damage, including inside cabinets and drawers.

You can click on each image for a larger view.

debris-1.jpg	debris-2.jpg	debris-3.jpg
exterior.jpg	livingroom1.jpg	livingroom2.jpg
livingroom3.jpg	livingroom4.jpg	livingroom5.jpg
livingroom6.jpg

I spent the balance of the day stopping my Phone Serice, Cable, DSL service and other such things that were a little pointless now.

Saturday, Nov 25:

At about 4 pm, a small electrical appliance (either a fan or a computer) caught fire in the spare bedroom of the apartment. The room, with closed door, burned for approximately one hour before being noticed and the fire department called.

The reason things took so long was because that the fire detector is NOT tied into the fire alarm, which itself is NOT tied directly to the fire department. Most people were out doing their Saturday Christmas shopping.

The fire department arrived and sprayed down the area to cool off and put out the fire. In the process, the contents of the bedroom were thrown out the window where they were put out. The room fire was also put out. Various parts of the fire took more than 3 hours to extinguish.

I had been on vacation and was notified in a few hours. Due to busy plane schedules I was not able to leave home any earlier. I called the insurance company, etc.