With everything going on in the world, with the pandemic, I was excited to find a large brisket (close to 20 lbs.) at my local Kroger. I typically do overnight smokes, and always watch the weather prior to smoking. Weather looked good Friday night, so I started the brisket about 8:30 PM, and it was a good smoke that finished at 11:00 AM. I shut the vents on the smoker and went about my business for the day. We had a storm approaching that night, with expected straight-line winds and heavy rain. At 7:30 PM I broke down the smoker (8.5 hours after shutting it down). The smoker was not even warm to the touch. I cleaned the smoker and dumped the ash in a garbage can in my detached garage when I put the smoker away.
The storm was expected about 9:00 PM, and luckily I was still awake in my office, although my family was already in bed after a long day. My Ring doorbell went off, and immediately there was pounding directly on my door, even though I have a glass screen door in front of it. My dogs were going nuts. I hurried downstairs, and while attempting to gather my two 50+ pound dogs, I screamed through the door, “Who the hell are you and what do you want?” The voice on the other side said, “I’m your neighbor, and your garage is on fire.” My wife and daughter were now awake from the commotion. I ran to the kitchen to see my detached garage fully engulfed, flames reaching 20 feet above the structure.
Thank God my neighbor noticed the fire and called 911 before knocking on my door. The fire department was there within 5 minutes. By that time the house was in danger too, with flames reaching 40-50 feet in the air. The fire department told me we were within two minutes of losing the house. The fire was so hot it melted the side and back of my house, as well as my neighbor’s house.
Morning brought the realization of what had taken place. Total devastation, but we survived with our lives. I lost my detached garage, my car, my golf clubs, bikes, tools, smokers… Although there’s never a good time for something like this to happen, during COVID was definitely not the right time.
Geico insured my car, and they were easy to deal with. They hauled off the totaled car and gave me a check within 7 days. Liberty Mutual was my insurance company for the property, and they were a complete nightmare to deal with. They would not even send an adjuster on-site — it was up to me to figure out how to get it repaired and replaced, and then it took months to receive any money. Once the check came, it was made out to my mortgage company, my wife and I, and the contractor. No matter what paperwork was provided, Freedom Mortgage would not give me the money. Ultimately, I submitted a small payment that, when coupled with the repair check, cleared the mortgage.
The repair process was a nightmare — it took close to 5 months to get the house repaired. The garage rebuild took close to 8 months from the day of the fire. All in all, it turned out to be the most expensive brisket I’ll ever smoke, at close to $100K.
The next post Celebratory Brisket details the rebuild and repair.