Family had a major setback yesterday

[ritalz]

Received a call last evening that our old family farmhouse was on fire. House was over 100 years and has not been lived in for the past 20 years. Electricity was turned off, no running water or septic system. Not sure yet of the actual cause and there is some finger pointing going on, still waiting for the report from the fire district. A couple of family members were there for a few days due to some hard times. They were warned several times to not build a fire until the fireplace was ruled safe. Temperatures dropped and a small fire was built. Strangely enough the fireplace and chimney seemed to survive the flames. Fire department did a great job and was on the scene in under 10 minutes. The old house was so dry there was no way to save it. We are thankful that no one was injured. All of the personal items they had with them are gone. We drove there today to assess the damage and deliver some emergency supplies, it's about 2 hours each direction. Needless to say its been a stressful 24 hours.

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[Rat]

Terrible, glad they’re safe though
Gord

[CYBORG]

Sorry to hear of the lose. But glad no one was hurt

[Whiskerfish]

Very sorry to hear. My old hunting camp here in Va was an old abandon homestead. Metal roof and when the lightening hit it went up like a book of matches. Been 15 years or so and I still miss that place.

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[ritalz]

Similar type structure but ours was only a single level. Thus is mostly sentimental since my wife's family has been there for so long. Currently on the 5th generation to have spent time there.

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[Fred Camper]

It does look to me like it may turn out to be started at the fireplace. Sad day for sure.

[rcmatt007]

sadly many of those old structures did not have adequate fire stops and so the fire goes all the way to the roof in seconds