Couple survives fire by sitting in pool for 3 hours, watches home burn down

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"We could see where the refrigerator was standing," Dena added, "and we could see -- we literally watched it melt into the floor -- and could hear the canned goods in the pantry exploding."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/30/earlyshow/main3429071.shtml
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20071027-9999-1n27pool.html

[aquart]

1. My sister put everything she wanted to save in the pool

And got the hell out of there. They've been fishing stuff out of the water all week.

[Lord Helmet]

2. and they watched all their shit burn that they had carefully packed in their car

not too bright sticking around

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3. It says all their escape routes were already on fire.

[Javaman]

4. Should have drove the car into the pool. nt

[hedgehog]

6. The other article indicates they couldn't get the garage door open

because the power failed. Maybe there was a mechanical back-up that they forgot about because of the stress.

[Javaman]

11. That's weird, all garage doors have to be able to be opened manually.

safety law.

They just got used to the opener doing the work for them and forgot how.

[fed-up]

13. read the articles-their neighbors died-"There's no way they could have seen it coming,"

from the CNN story

As Dena and Roger took refuge in the pool, Doane says, they kept wondering whether their neighbors would be OK, since the flames had picked up so quickly.

It wouldn't be for a couple of days until they'd get the news -- the neighbors had died.

"There's no way they could have seen it coming," Dena remarked.



and from the signonsandiego link

Roger Bielasz said he was upset that one television news station reported that Bain and Fox refused to leave after police knocked on their door and told them to evacuate.

“We didn't get any notice,” said Dena Bielasz.

Roger Bielasz said the power line ignited a fire that surrounded his home in five minutes. He said Bain and Fox's house didn't have a direct view of the valley floor, so they were probably unaware of the danger racing their way



and they were safer in the garage since flames outside were 30-40 feet high, I don't think finding a way to open the garage door was a priority for long:



Bielasz said he and his wife rushed to their garage to escape in their car as the fire towered over their house.

“The flames were 20, 30 feet above my deck,” he said. “Down there below my door was a fire tornado.”

Before they could drive away, the power went out and they couldn't open their garage door.

“Dena said, 'We've got to get to the pool,' but I said, 'Yes, but not now.' I knew the flames were there,” Bielasz said.

The insulated door made the garage safe, so the couple doused rags with bottled water and lay on the floor until the smoke got so thick they couldn't see the beam of a flashlight he was holding.

That's when they went to the pool.
“In that five minutes we were in our garage, that fire tornado moved from the north side of the house to the south side . . . The flames that were 30 to 40 foot tall were now 5 foot tall.

[Lord Helmet]

16. I don't understand why they didn't evacuate knowing the danger of the access roads.

such a tragedy - I wish they had evacuated earlier before the roads became impassable

[Shakespeare]

17. I think most who've never witnessed a fire like that have NO concept...

...of how astonishingly fast (and erratically) those fires move. Most of us SoCal'ers have a bug-out plan, but when the fire is moving too fast for you to escape it, there's not a lot you can do.

[NorthernSpy]

19. oh my God...

:wow:


It's too bad the neighbors couldn't get in the pool, too. Sounds like everything just happened too fast.

A wall of fire -- God. I hope they didn't suffer.


:cry:

[hedgehog]

5. Note that the fire was started by a downed power line.

I've read several reports indicating that most of the fires are started by downed power lines. This is the grossest irresponsibility I've seen. The power companies should be forced to beef up their structures and keep their rights of way clear or else pay for the damage.

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7. Supposedly they are going to put all utilities underground, but

I bet it won't be until towards the end of this century until that's all accomplished. I have lived here 25 years and they still haven't done our neighborhood yet.

[FreeState]

8. We keep hearing that as well

Our street is the main line to downtown San Diego (we have three sets of lines down the street), They were supposed to be underground about 5 years ago and now we keep hearing maybe another 5 years...

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10. It's partly SBC's fault (now AT&T)

I read that SBC held up the whole for several years by refusing to pay their share of the cost.

[marions ghost]

9. OMG....

maybe they can make a book or movie about it...otherwise I don't know how they'll deal with the PTSD. I mean that's really torturous in a sick cosmic kind of way. Seeing your house & car (our outer shells)-- burn up while you're forced to watch and in fear for your life. In these events it's more traumatic the more you actually see and experience.

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12. An unlucky couple in Descanso had their house burn down in the Cedar Fire of

October 2003, then they rebuilt it, and last week it burned down again in the McCoy Fire.

[malaise]

14. Amazing

They won't ever forget that frightening experience.

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15. I'm surprised they didn't suffer from hypothermia. Their pool must still be relatively

warm from the summer, but they said they were shivering.

[opihimoimoi]

18. Better to shiver than to Barbie

[blondeatlast]

20. I just checked my pool water (higher elevation in Phoenix desert) and it's 66.

Theirs would easily be 10 degrees cooler or more, I imagine.

I can barely manage sloshing my feet around in it. OTOH, you get used to it and it beats the alternative/