Fire, Fury, Fffft

Just yesterday, a fire broke out in my home, specifically at the 3rd floor attic. It also happens to be the place where all of my stuff is. Despite the chaos and ash-filled surroundings, I was still able to come up with a few ideas and realizations about the fire that I wanted to blog about at the next possible moment.

… I wonder if other blog writers are as addicted as I am... Anyway...

More $$$ + Safety = Worth It!

One of my favorite uncles (from my mother’s side) is actually the architect who designed our compound and supervised the construction until completion. Granted, I knew from before that his designs and ideas were really first-rate, but I’ve always felt that they were… uh… a tad more expensive than I personally would’ve paid for, especially with all the new affordable condominium units that crop up everywhere. Mom kept defending him and just reiterated that he “uses good materials.”

Now, I am extremely thankful that he and no one else designed our home. It was mainly because of the fire-resistant materials and excellent fire-proof structure of the house, that the fire was literally contained only within the area of where it originally started. It did not expand to the two lower floors, nor did it reach other houses right next to ours. Nothing short of a miracle – if you could see how toasted our attic looks just about now.

Sometimes it just pays to pay more – in the name of safety.

Stupidity + Power = Hell

I already know for a fact that I have low (read: zero) tolerance for incompetence and stupidity. But the people I’ve interacted that display these characteristics are relatively harmless. But put a stupid person in a position of power is just like hell breaking loose on earth.

A perfect example is SFO2 Emmanual C. Gaspar, Fire/Arson Investigator of the Investigation and Intelligence Branch of Bureau of Fire Protection based in Sta. Cruz, Manila. He is the investigator that was assigned to our particular case and has displayed various degrees of stupidity, incompetence and rudeness consistently within the short 24 hours of interaction.

First of all, only a stupid person will continue fixating on the theory of arson without even conducting a proper investigation AND after the fact that there is no viable motive established. Our house is not insured. We’re not stupid enough to deliberately set fire to our own home for 13 years without any compelling motive.

Secondly, to comply with legal requirements, in spite of our busy schedules, we willingly went to the bureau noon of the very next day to give our statements.

His reply? “You should’ve come here yesterday.”

I wanted to ask him, “If your house caught fire and you have no reason to believe arson is involved, would you prioritize giving a statement or would you maybe… I don’t know… check the damage and fix your house first?” I was so tempted to throttle his smug face and squeeze the life out of him with my bare hands and more. But I was only able to stare at him, stupefied for about 10 seconds before sputtering, “B-but, our house just caught fire late yesterday!!!”

He just repeated his earlier statement, “You should’ve come here yesterday.” Go figure.

Lastly, while taking our statements, he spends half of his time formatting and reformatting that stupid Word document. This is similar to how frustrating it must be for you to be in a meeting with 10 other managers, and the meeting discussion is on hold while the meeting leader or scribe adds nice font colors, changes the font size or puts a border on the title.

These people are just simply lacking the ability to realize that they are not being meticulous but are in fact, just wasting people’s time and patience.

Aaaargh!

Loss + Search = Priority

First thing we did was to make sure that everyone was safe and sound. But what’s amusing is that what we search for after a fire actually discloses what’s really the priority in everyone’s minds.

Mom kept checking whether all of the stock certificates and other important financial documents are complete.
My brother made sure that all of his transcripts from medical school which are relevant for his US and Singapore application are all still intact.
My sister wondered if her book collection is damaged or not.
My 6-year old son kept asking if we can get his Gameboy Advance and Nintendo DS, which he left in the attic.
As for me, I just kept bemoaning about my shoes, my clothes, my bags before thinking – Hey! Does this mean I have an excuse to shop again?

…

I ran out of witty realizations, so I’ll stop here. These are probably symptoms of my blog addiction or just that my corporate training is too well-ingrained in me to continuously look for insights, but they do keep me going. They help me focus on the more amusing aspects of life and not dwell on the fact that my family keeps encountering more and more exciting events just within the past 12 months alone. (Note: Do not assume that exciting is always positive.)

Right now, our house is still not livable. We’re squatting at my brother’s house while we’re fixing the house. The whole attic is toasted, currently still with a yellow line taped around it that says "Fire Line - Do Not Cross" (similar to scenes from CSI, but a lot less fun to watch). The second and ground floors are slightly damaged with water. There's still no electricity, no water. We need to do a thorough checking of all electrical wirings. But otherwise, life is good.

We're all still safe and sound. The whole family is still together. That's what matters most.
Things are replaceable, people are not.