Written by Jason Raitz on 8:50 AM
Another night that I didn't sleep all that well. My mind has been racing, my body is tired and I can't get the image of fire pouring out of the house out of my mind. I just can't stop playing the what if game. What if my kids were home. What if my brother wouldn't of smelled the smoke from his room in the basement. What if. But, I know I can't.
If you haven't heard, on Thursday afternoon a fire started in our garage and took off through the rest of the house. The left side of our house is pretty gutted and the right side is covered in black soot and water from the fire department. The basement filled with 8 inches of water and everything got drenched and then froze in the sub artic temperatures.
I just feel so blessed that no one was hurt. My brother was home at the time and as he was coming down from the upstairs shower he immediately noticed the smoke filing the house. He searched all over and finally looked in the garage where a wall of flames singed the hair off his arms and some off his head. Heroicly he ran to the kitchen sick and filled a container of water to throw on the fire. That didnt' work, so he ran into the garage and started to beat the fire with a rake and it fell a part in his hands. The garage door started to melt and he ran outside in only track pants. After he was outside he realized our family dog, brownie--the sweetest chcoc. lab, wasn't there, he ran back in to get her.
No shoes and no shirt in -10 degree weather. He was outside on the snow & ice for about an half hour before the police got him in the back of their car. He ran out of the house and he called the fire department and he called me. I was in a meeting and didn't pick up at first. Then he called right back. That's our signal if we really need to talk to each other. He was hysterical. I couldn't understand and he sounded horrible. I started to hear him yelling fire, and I immediately grabbed my coat and ran to my car. As I left the church parking lot I could see a tower of smoke coming from our neighborhood. We are so blessed to rent a house in a neighborhood right next to the church. This house has been the most incredible home for us this past year and a half.
As I turned the corner, I was just praying he was ok. As I arrived, it looked like a movie set. The flames were pouring out of the garage and the first & second floor bathroom windows. The fire fighters were spraying water on the fire from the sidewalk, a good 15 feet away. I saw vinyl siding melting and the garage door was already gone. I heard glass breaking because the fire fighters had to break out all the windows.
I saw a neighbor with our dog and I ran to her. She was covered in soot and I put her in the back of my car. Then I ran to the house. I was immediately detained by a police officer and taken to the back of his car. Not a comfortable place, but my brother was there.
He was screaming and crying and going hysterical. He wanted out, he wanted to help with the fire. I remember grabbing him and yelling. Your ok, that's all that matters. He just screamed the house, the stuff. I grabbed him again and said...I love you, you are all that matters. Before we started talking, he had accidentally called my mom's cell phone and when she answered she could just hear him screaming and me trying to calm him down. Imagine the worry of a mother hearing that from her sons and being 6 hours away in Detroit.
The fire cheif (who was incredible) came to me and made sure that no one else was in the house. For some reason I asked if they could retrieve Zack & Madie's medical formula from the front hall closet. Zach & Madie have a PKU ( a genetic disorder) and they need that formual to live. The fire cheif had a fire fighter run and they were able to get all the cans. So blessed!
At that moment Scott & Chris found me. They had (as wel as all my other co-workers) had followed me as they saw me running out of the church. Scott & Chris took care of brownie and immediatley starting helping me sort through everything. I had to meet with the fire inspector and I had to call insurance companies.
I then asked Scott to go get Tracie from work. She works at church in the daycare. He raced to church and went right to Tracie. He firmly said that she needed to come with him. She looked really puzzled and he pulled her aside and told her and she grabbed her coat. I saw them pull up and I will never forget seeing her face when she first saw the house.
I didn't have our renters insurance phone number, and I had remembered that I got it through Geico, and I had that number in my phone. I called them and was put on hold. They really need to have an emergency number! Once I got through to the insurance company I got the needed information I needed because the house would need to be boared up after the fire fighters were done with it.
They took my brother to the hospital. As they did that, a neighbor who we weren't really close with, opened the door to the fire inspectors truck that Tracie and I were in and put money and her phone number in Tracie's pocket and just kept saying...whatever you need. She was also the one who brought my brother shoes and socks and a jacket when we were in the back of the police car.
We needed a place to talk and deal with the flood of phone calls so we went to her house 3 doors down. It was there that Scott found out that her husband is the director of the ER that they took my brother to and he immediately called and made sure they took great care of him. They had 2 doctors and a team of nurses waiting. His feet were look at for frostbite, he was given oxygen and treated for second degree burns on his back and arms. In my mind he is a hero. He tried to put it out, he called the fire department right away and he saved our dog.
At about 930pm we were allowed to enter and I will never forget it. I can't even describe it. Awful. The dad side of me was the most hit as I saw my kids stuff either destroyed by water or fire.
The whole time, Scott...my boss and friend, was at my side. He didn't leave...actually he didn't till Saturday afternoon and we joked it would be weird not to be glued to each other. My parents drove in Friday and my mom called in tears on TH night because our local newspaper ran a story about the house and included pictures. And when she saw them she broke down.
Right now we are living in Scott's family basement and the care and love and support from our church community has been overwhelming. The people I work with have organized themselves in teams. A Clothing team, a furniture team, a gift card team, a money donation team. Scott's family is amazing and we are so thankful for them. Robin, Courney, Leah, Melissa, Chris, Matt, Brandon, Tersea, Nick, Pam and so many others have been so wonderful. It's really hard to think about all the help we are receiving, especially since I don't do a great job asking for it.
That night I called my prayer partner Dave Kurt and I wanted to get him praying. Dave is a guy who lives what he believes and he started praying. He right away started organizing friends and family and really so many people that I don't know who wanted to help us. He set up a facebook page..."People who want to help the Raitz family". And he has been so incredible...texting me scripture and of course the occasional joke. I love him.
Friday morning was really hard because I walked Tracie through the house. It was really emotional and it was hard seeing her process looking at little baby shoes melted to the counter, and the kids projects destroyed and the baby crib covered in soot.
We took our kids through on Saturday and that was hard. Our 4 year was very afraid and didn't go in, our 6 year boy kind of though it was cool...I mean...seeeing a microwave melted doesn't happen all that often...and our 8 year girl cried the whole time. We were able to save her doll morgan...this doll has been with us for 8 years. We gave her a few baths and she still only sort of smells like smoke.
My 6 year boy...who is the most tender little guy, upon arriving at the house, his first thoughts were for our neighbors...he wanted to make sure they were ok. And then he wanted to make that the gentlemen who we rent from would be ok.
I rent the house from a guy who is currently out of the country. His parents came to the fire that night and met with me on Friday morning and assured me that they care most of about my family and wanted us to know they would help in any way. It was so encouraging.
I am just overwhelmed by our church community and our community across the country as well. The emails, cards, texts, phone calls have all been so enouraging. It's so hard to get handed a card with money or gift cards or a bag of clothes, but we have nothing nad it helps so much.
If you would like to pray for us...please pray for a home in the same neighborhood. We would like the kids to be able to stay on the same bus and have a sense of normalcy. Pray for my brother. Pray for rest for all the people taking such great care of us.
Thanks
Jason, Tracie, Rebekah, Robert, Zachary, Madison
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