When it Rains it Pours...

While we were in Texas my parents received a phone call that I don't think anyone is prepared to hear. It was 3:30 am Texas time It was their close friend Tom he was staying at their home watching the dogs. There motor home and house had caught on fire... Luckily everyone is ok Tom, the dogs and the Neighbors. It is truly a blessing that the propane tank was empty had it been full, the fire marshal said it would have been equivalent to 3 sticks of dynamite, not only would it have blown there house up but also there neighbors. There was 150 gallons of diesel fuel in the motor home and there were some minor explosions, the neighbors window did get broken, and various motor home parts were strewn though out the yard... But really it could have been so much worse.

Below is Toms firsthand account of what happened that day, He posted this on a Alfa Motor home owners message board...

"At approximately 3:30 am On May 16, 2009, a fire of currently unknown origin erupted in Charlie and Vicki's Dubose's Alfa Coach. No one was injured. The coach was parked in the drive way of their home, about a foot from the smaller of their two attached garages. As you will see from the photos, the coach is a total loss. The home suffered a lot of damage, but because of the fast action of neighbors and the Weber Utah Fire district Fire Fighters, the results of the fire could have been much, much worse.

The entire Dubose Clan is in Texas for the celebration of Charlie's grandmothers 95th. birthday. I, Tom Pitton, was house sitting and taking care of the dogs. I was awakened from a sound sleep (no smoke alarms went off and there was no smoke till much later in the north end of the house where I was sleeping) by a next door neighbor. I got up and went to the laundry room to collect the dogs. I opened the door to the garage and saw flames illuminated through the largest over head garage door. I turned on the garage hose and as I was directing water towards the base of the door, much like a match put to plastic, the doors shriveled. A bolt of flame shot through a crack in the door, blowing me backway and frying my glasses that were blown off my head. I'm just lucky that the glasses and me were about a foot apart at the time.

We got out of the house, me carrying the dogs, who were thankfully in their carriers for the night. As I was running toward the street I saw a bolt of flame shoot our towards the neighbors home, a distance of about 35 yards. The fire bolt stopped about 5 inches from that home. We then heard a loud explosion (possibly the full fuel tank) and the flames shot about 100 feet in to the air.

At about the same time I heard fire engines and they arrived on the scene a short few minutes later. They fought the fire valiantly, professionally and bravely and their efforts saved the basic structure. They stopped pouring water from the powerful ariel ladder at just the right time as there was not a drop of water in the basement and they did little to no extra damage in the process of fighting the fire. The fire spread through 3/4th. of the attic. Considering that the fire got a start before I got up and a few minutes elapsed while the fire fighters were battling the coach part of the blaze, I'd give a rough guestimate of 15 minutes from start to the complete melt down of the coach. I've been in two wars and seen my share of bad fires (when I was a cop
during the riots in Detroit in 1967), but this coach fire was as bad as anything I've ever witnessed.

When I called Charlie in Texas, the first words out of his mouth was I alright. The second words concerned the welfare of the animals and the neighbors. I was pretty hyped and he calmed me down. He said that it was terrible, but it was just things that were lost and life is far more important than things. I guess that's why I love Charlie and Vicki. Through everything,
the loss of Vicki's dad and my wife Maggy this year, Alfa going out of business and stiffing them for a fortune and all the other calamities of life that are part of their fair share of grief that comes with business and life in general, they always seem to have the welfare of others in the front of their minds.

I packed up everything at the shop and I'm now in my coach in the second driveway at Charlie and Vicki's property. In between sending them pictures, taking to local residents and officials from the county, I'm walking around my coach, checking the fire extinguishers, checking the emergency mechanisms for the escape windows and just generally doing what I should be doing more of anyway, but never seem to do enough of: just looking for things wrong or out of
place.

I'm looking for safety problems with my coach and paying more attention than ever to the health and welfare on my coach/home. We don't know yet what caused the coach to burn and I for one am turning over a new leaf concerning the care and upkeep of my own coach. Charlie and Vicki took wonderful care of their show condition coach and if this can happen to them, it can happen to me or to any one of us in the Alfa Family- or to anyone in the RV world in general.

I will get to sleep in my own bed tonight, thanks to the actions of a quick thinking neighbor. I am blessed and I am thankful to be alive. Give your loved ones a hug and be ever vigilant....

Have safe and happy travels,
Tom Pitton "

It sounds like my parents are going to be homeless for the next 8-12 months. the house has quite a bit of smoke damage and has to be completely gutted, basically all that can be salvaged from the structure is the brick and the 2x4's in the walls, all soft surfaces must go, drywall, insulation, cabinets, appliances (did you know that there is insulation in them,) of course the roof and trusses. Basically the house is getting torn down and rebuilt... Who knew that smoke could cause so much damage.

I truly feel that my family is extremely blessed as this fire could have been much worse. The DuBose Family send a heartfelt thank you to the Weber Utah Fire district