FIRE!!!

So, we decided to head to Draper last Saturday afternoon, after Meagan's birthday party, to buy a new ski for Brad for Father's Day. We were almost there when my cell phone rang. Since I was driving, Brad answered it, and since I could only hear his end of the conversation, this is what I hear:
"Hello?"
"What?"
"The what?"
"Where?"
"Are you SERIOUS?"
and the conversation continued this way for about ten minutes. I finally pulled over (since I didn't know where I was going anyway...and since I was concerned because I had no idea who he was talking to and the tone of his voice let me know there was something WRONG.)

After he got off the phone, he filled me in on the news. The call was from our realtor...and basically, the house we are under contract to buy caught on fire Saturday morning!! OH my gosh - can you even believe that?!? Apparently a surge protector/power strip the owner had out in the garage started the fire. We quickly finished our shopping (which included the obvious need for a Target run) and headed to the house to meet with the realtors and the homeowner.

When we got there we could see the smoke damage on the outside of the house, and the garage door was half smashed in. Luckily, though, as we walked through the front door of the home, it was apparent that most of the fire damage was contained in the garage and the rest of the home only suffered smoke damage. Since the owner was home, he noticed the fire soon after it started and was fighting it with his kitchen fire extinguisher and a garden hose when the five, yes FIVE, fire trucks full of firemen got there. The firemen did a significant amount of damage to home while running through with their big dirty boots and their big hoses - but they got the power and gas turned off before there were any major explosions!

The homeowner's insurance adjuster will be there today, along with a team of people who will be cleaning (and packing his stuff - bonus for him), and cleaning the house. Then they will decide what will be repaired/replaced inside the home.

We are still planning on buying the home, but it will be quite a bit longer until we can move in now. But the upside is that the home will have a brand new garage, and will be either sparkling clean (or new) inside and out! We are grateful the damage wasn't worse, and that the owner was unhurt. He lost tools and "toys" (ie motorcycles) that were in the garage, but all in all, it was a miracle it wasn't worse. Apparently, he was on vacation last week in Florida, and got sick, so he came home early -- otherwise the house would have been empty and there definitely would have been more damage - and it could have been a total loss. Coincidence? I don't think so. We are being watched over, I am sure! :)

I guess we'll be hearing more today after the insurance adjuster visits the home. What a day. I guess we'll always remember Meag's ninth's birthday as the day the house almost burned down!!