Another house update

We have started the process of repairing our home. I have contacted several contractors in the area and now the next step is to choose a general contractor to oversee all the repairs. It is going to be a very labor intensive process as they have to completely remove and replace the floor while bracing the walls at the same time. After they replace the floors, they have to deal with the smoke damage. This means that we get all new carpet throughout, the cottage cheese ceilings will be scraped, all the walls will be cleaned, a new exterior paint job and new roof. It should look really nice when everything is all finished. Our insurance has been very helpful throughout this whole process. I am so thankful for insurance, I can't even think about the situation we would be in right now if we didn't have insurance.

The following pictures are from several weeks ago. They were taken a few days after the fires when the  whole community was still closed. One day the city allowed residents back in to clean out their fridges and collect their things. Luke drove down to check out our house:

First Luke had to bring proof that we owned the home to a local school:

Checking in to get permission to see our home

 They had security set up to make sure no one else was allowed into the area

Luke saw several military personnel patrolling the neighborhood.

At the first sight of our house, everything looked okay.

 But the view from the back of the house showed a different story. As it turns out, our house was where the firefighters made their stand. We are on the corner of our street and every home to the left of us burned to the ground while no one on the right of us was damaged. The firefighters busted down our front door and they fought the fire back from our home. At one point our house was on fire and somehow they managed to save it, it's really quite amazing.

View of the fire damage to the back of our house

After surveying our house, Luke took a tour around our neighborhood. Here is our backyard neighbors house that burnt to the ground. You can see our home (white and blue) in the distance still standing. 

 Then Luke took a drive around to view the rest of the fire damage: