A fire next door to your studio... sucks!

dmatthews

dmatthews

Dave's not here
Joined
Apr 26, 2012
Messages
15,252
Location
Vancouver, B.C. Canada
On Wednesday last week there was a fire in the business next door to our studio.
My lead player is a principal in that business.
They are completely locked out of that business for likely 2 months, maybe more. What a disaster! That being said, they can forward calls to cell, and still provide field work. Shop work is toast (pun intended).
We had previously needed to change practice from that same Wednesday to this Sunday (today). Seems to me that was an interesting foretelling of the future to come. Or maybe if we were there we could have somehow lessened the damage. No way to tell.
Oh well... here we were...

I went yesterday to get a pile of wet wipes, Febreeze, smoke eating discs, a bucket, towels, etc.
I get there an hour or so early before practice (thankful that they didn't condemn the studio as well) and
O
M
G...
Every surface everywhere... every table, chair, the bar, the dance floor, drums, my FRFR, guitars, walls, amps, PA... EVERYTHING was covered in soot. This place services 80 - 100 people, so it's not small.
And it stinks.
And the water to the building was shut off.


But... we're rockers, right?
I started cleaning with the wet wipes. It took 3 passes on every surface. Even then it will need more. I did our bar, seating, and instrument locations first. Then I did the drums/cymbals.
You can't imagine the dirt/soot. It has a life of its own. Disgusting.
Steve showed up and we did amps etc. and he went to look to see if he could get the water back on, to no avail.
We practised... sort of got used to the stink... sort of.
I think I want a pro to come in and deal with this sh!t. We have a gig next month.
Yeesh...
Could be worse. Glad nobody got hurt. It's just stuff.
 
A fire next to your gear is a terrible feeling.

We did an abate rally once where the burnout pit was in front of the stage. Rubber residue on absolutely every piece of gear we had. Man that pissed me off, burnout pits are the most stupid thing I've ever seen at a biker rally.
 
11top said:
Insurance?

Servepro does good work.
Click to expand...
Yes, there is. But it is limited, and the bulk, if not all of it will go towards the business, the customer equipment that was in the shop, the tools, the reno etc.
Maybe there'd be some left over but I doubt it. And... it'll take too long to find out.
Or maybe we could move the gig we have in 3 weeks.
 
How terrible! I feel for your friend, having your business disrupted that long can be trying to say the least. Glad no one got hurt.

I would definitely hire a pro, especially for such a large place. You don’t want to breathe in those small particles of debris which can linger for some time.
 
Having been through this, it’s beneficial to quietly get the lock code from the fire department and attempt to quickly and safely recover anything in reasonably good shape. Bottom line: it’s still your stuff and unless there’s a police or fire investigation in progress, secure your assets. By the time insurance comes in and cuts a check, anything else recoverable will have rotted/rusted/mildewed to the point of being unsalvageable. Of course, consult your lawyer/agent for your specific advice, but let common sense prevail. And if you have sensitive data on servers and onsite computers, recovery is essential. Good luck to your buddy, this sucks.
 
Boogie said:
Having been through this, it’s beneficial to quietly get the lock code from the fire department and attempt to quickly and safely recover anything in reasonably good shape. Bottom line: it’s still your stuff and unless there’s a police or fire investigation in progress, secure your assets. By the time insurance comes in and cuts a check, anything else recoverable will have rotted/rusted/mildewed to the point of being unsalvageable. Of course, consult your lawyer/agent for your specific advice, but let common sense prevail. And if you have sensitive data on servers and onsite computers, recovery is essential. Good luck to your buddy, this sucks.
Click to expand...

Takes lots of photos first. Proof is in the hands of the insured. Hopefully, it’s not one of those “TV insurance companies.”
 
It’s always a good idea to have Business Interruption insurance, to add to 11Top’s post.
 
About 20 yrs ago, just a month after moving to Hawaii, the house next door burned down. It was fully engulfed when the firemen arrived. A garden hose is NOT going to help your roof I must say. All my stuff had recently been unpacked and was out, and that thing got close. The plumeria tree between yards toasted up and stunk to high heaven, and sparks lit off small spots in my yard as it was a dry summer. I was on pins and needles the whole 3 hours of the ordeal. The folks moved away and built a new home somewhere else, and they built a big giant house to take it's place..where my guitar hating neighbor now lives...;-)
 
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