82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 29,1990
Extension Agent Family Warns: Prepare For Fire
GAIL STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
BELLEVILLE (Mifflin Co.)
On January 5,1990, Marie Walker
learned more than she ever wanted
to know about fire. She learned
how swiftly and completely things
are destroyed. She also learned
how one can help prevent and pre
pare for something that no one is
every prepared for.
“It’s something you never think
will happen to you,” Marie said.
Marie and her husband Gordon
Walker, an extension agent in
Mifflin County, built a new, brick
home 12 years ago. With smoke
detectors installed and a new
insurance policy, a house fire was
the last thing on their minds. But
12 years later, on a cold January
day, fire became the only thing on
their minds.
At 12:00 noon, Marie and son
Gary were eating lunch. While
eating, Gary mentioned smelling
smoke. They walked outside, tak
ing a few minutes, and Gary left.
Back in the house, Marie’s
daughter-in-law Cathy called to
say she would soon pick up Kier
stin, Marie’s granddaughter who
ThlB latchhook Canadian Goose rug Is an example of
many of the hand-made Items lost In the fire.
Marie Walker holds a Dahlia quilt she made as a wedding
gift for her daughter Nancy. When Walker’s home burned In
January, Irreplaceable heirlooms were destroyed, Includ
ing Marie’s handiwork, Gordon’s guns and carvings,' and
antiques that were destined for the Walker’s grandchil
dren. “It’s not just our loss, the whole family Is affected",
Marie commented.
was sleeping in the front bedroom.
“I had to cut her off. I said,
‘Cathy, I smell smoke. I’ll call you
back’”
That’s when Marie opened the
cellar door and smoke poured out
She hurried to the outside cellar
door and found the cellar full of
smoke.
“I went back to the kitchen to
use the phone, but the phone was
dead. Smoke was coming out from
the dishwasher, the stove, the cup
boards. I woke up Kierstin in the
front bedroom, got her dressed,
got my coat, and tried to get to the
back bedroom for my car keys, but
I couldn’t get there. Until I could
get out of the hallway and outside,
the house was completely full of
smoke. I turned around and look
back and the windows were just
black.”
Marie emphasizes that all this
took place in just minutes. Marie
walked to Cathy’s home, a quarter
mile away. Cathy saw Marie com
ing and called the fire company,
who arrived within 15 minutes.
The fire started because of a
cracked crock in the chimney, and
was burning between the base-
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ment ceiling and the floor above.
“The fire chief said this was the
first house they lost because they
couldn’t find the fire. When the
floors gave way, everything went
down. But the firemen couldn’t
have been better. They were
exceptional people. They wanted
to know if there was anything very
important and if we knew where it
was. They would try to go in for
us.”
As a result, the firemen saved
Marie’s jewelry and some of Gor
don’s guns. Five fire companies
responded, five firemen were
injured, three hospitalized, and the
house was declared a total loss.
The aftershock of such a
tragedy brings with it a whole
range of emotions - bitterness,
depression, frustration, and thank
fulness that no one lost their life.
The Walker family has always
been close, and after the fire Marie
and Gordon stayed with Neal,
Cathy and Kierstin. “The insur
ance company offered to provide a
motel as long as needed, but at a
time like this, you need family. It
would have been awful to go
through it by ourselves.”
Friends from church were the
first to come with food. Marie’s
Sunday School class gave a show
er to help replace what was lost.
Banks set up trusts through which
people could donate. “It took a
long time to get thank-you notes
out, but it’s never too late to say
thank-you”.
After the fire, so many people
called wanting to help, but the
insurance company wouldn’t
allow anything to be touched - no
cleaning up.
Dealing with the insurance
company became increasingly
frustrating. “The day of the fire
the insurance adjuster asks ques
tions and writes while you try to
talk - they catch you at a weak
moment”. While watching the
house smolder, Marie was asked
how much they spent each week
on food, and for a copy of their
electric bill which burned!
“When you don’t buy meat at
the grocery store, and you bake
your own bread, and you go to the
store every three-four weeks, you
don’t figure in all those things,”
she said.
Marie went on to say, “The
hassle with the insurance com
pany and listing the contents, I
think, was worse than the fire. We
had to list every item, a descrip
tion of it, how old it was, what
kind of shape it was in, and
replacement value.” Replacement
values are found in magazines,
catalogues, department stores,
jewelry stores, anywhere an exact
replica can be found or a compar
able one. “You had to list the cata
logue and page number. If it was a
jeweler, which jeweler, location
and the clerk who waited on you.”
Finding a replacement value
may seem a tall task, but the task
before that is even more over
whelming - the job of listing every
item.
“They wanted every item.
Shoes - how many did you have?
How old? What shape were then
in? Bedding - how many pairs of
sheets and pillowcases? Books -1
can’t begin to remember the quilt
bobks? I propbably lost some
40-45, some I knew, but many I
didn’t. All of Gordon’s reference
books for teaching Sunday School
and Bible studies are gone. The
kitchen - all the condiments -
everything. So you go to the groc
ery store, to up one aisle and down
the other, trying to remember what
you had in your cupboard and gel
g
keeps warm with a red sweater Marie knitted.
a price. You try to remember, but
you don’t, even if you go room by
room. If you didn’t have to do that
for the insurance company, it
wouldn’t bring back all the memo
ries day after day after day.”
It’s hard to imagine listing
every possession. How do you
count, from memory, all the Gol
den Books, each toy being kept for
the grandchildren, and every
Christmas ornament?
Harder still is being asked to put
a dollar value on some things that
were as familiar as a family
member.
Walkers’ home, like so many
homes, embodied an accumula
tion of not only material items, but
items with stories. “Forty years
were in that house - everything we
had was there. And most things in
our house told a story - we either
bought it from someone we knew,
it was a family members’. Or it
was given from a grandparent. So
many of these things were desig
nated to go to each one of the
children.”
Gordon’s mother had given a
set of china to be used by Marie
and Gordon, then handed down to
Neal. The silver would have gone
to Gary. Because of the fire,
Walker’s cherished grandfather
clock, a one-of-a-kind made for
Gordon’s grandfather in Scotland,
cannot be passed to the first Walk
er grandson. Lost are wedding
photo albums and slides of when
the children were little. But of the
things most cherished, is the fami
ly Bible.
“That’s probably the one thing I
miss the most - the family Bible
from my parents. Mother was
there over the holiday and updated
the family tree,” Marie explained.
c fates
Gone also is Marie’s handi
work. The baby gifts for daughter
Nancy never made it to the shower
held the Sunday after the fire. “I
had made the baby a quilt and
knitted an afghan. I had made
Gordon’s niece a crocheted shawl,
and all my quilts are gone. Most
quilts I usually gave away, but
there were two from Gordon’s
mother, one on each bed, and I had
the first three I made.” (Marie
started quilting in 1966 and has
made 26 quilts.)
At the time of the fire, Marie
had, on the frame, a sampler for
Gordon two-thirds completed. She
also had finished three quilt tops,
one candlewicked, one appliqued,
one pieced, all ready to be quilted
for the grandchildren.
As a result of the fire, family
members and close friends have
checked their insurance policies
and have updated the coverage.
“Replacement cost isn’t always
the replacement cost of today’s
value. We thought we had replace
ment cost, but it has taken every
thing from the house and contents
just to rebuild.”
To ease the overwhelming task
of an itemized list, some family
members have video-taped every
thing in their homes, opening
closet doors and kitchen
cupboards.
Smoke detectors should be
hung and batteries checked annu
ally. Photos should be taken and
policies updated and stored in a
safe-deposit box.
With a little foresight and
effort, preparations could be taken
to, most importantly, save a life, to
prevent a fire, or to prepare for
something no one is ever really
prepared for - a fire.