Well this has been one of the most horrific weeks in my life ever!
I received a text message on Wednesday afternoon asking if I kept my 68 Fleetwood stored near where a fire is occurring. I looked at the news link sent to me and that WAS the building my car is being stored in. For reference and context look up "Warehouse Fire Etna PA". For the remainder of the day live videos were showing how the warehouse was burning out of control. There was nothing I could do at that time because I live in Clearwater Florida. All through the night and all through most of the next day all I could do is check the internet for the latest videos and news reports, all of which were normally posted hours after they were shown on the local news stations. And of course you have to apply a sensation factor to everything being said so what was being said usually is worse than what it is.
In the late afternoon on Thursday I received a call from the storage company explaining that they don't know the conditions of any of the cars inside or knew when they would be able to go inside. Even though they had nothing to say it was nice that they reached out to the customers to acknowledge us.
I found a few pictures posted by a fireman of an area in the building on the other side of the building from where my car is parked. It showed the collapsed floor and one completely burned out Ferrari dangling on the edge of the opening. But it also showed a car in the distance that looked like the fire did not get to it so there began to be some hope for mine. Another picture posted later looking in from the outside of an opening made in the front of the building for firefighters to gain access showed a few totally burned cars and some that weren't so bad, a little more hope for me to have.
Received a call from the storage company on Friday saying that they will be permitted to enter the building possibly on Saturday and will begin scheduling customer visits the following week once they were told that they are allowed to. Again it was nice that they were reaching out to us.
Today I received a call and a picture, it looks very likely that there is minimal damage if any at all to my car. I can't believe that 30 year old cover is still intact. It has been sun faded for years. I have no idea if there is any smoke or heat damage but still having something to work with is the best I was hoping for and that now looks possible.
I purchased this car in 1981 when I was 17. It was a daily driver for a few years then became a toy and I have done everything that I could to keep it out of the elements even when I didn't have a lot of money. This car means more to me than it's intrinsic value and no replacement could ever feel the same or right.
It will be a lot easier waiting for the phone call to be told I can fly up there to see the car than the waiting has been this past many days.
Hopefully your car is OK. The cover may have saved it from smoke damage.
I hope it all works out for you.
Brian
Hopefully there were no other Cadillacs in the warehouse.
And that everyone had really good insurance.
Bruce. >:D
I am so sorry fellow Sun Coast Member. I am Praying that your treasure is all Ok.
If the cover survived that well, hopefully the car did also. Best wishes on the outcome.
Ditto on the best wishes for a satisfactory outcome. Harry
Keep us posted on your Cadillac and other parts of the storie as you learn them. Best of luck to you and your Fleetwood. I have a soft spot for 68 Fleetwoods,when I was a kid,my dad had one as our family car. Lots of good memories,,,what a car :) Ken Perry
Hopefully, it will be ok.
Suggestions:
Remove it from that environment as soon as possible and clean it up, vacuum everything you can, wipe down everything you can, air it out, it will have smoke odor. Replace the car cover, it is a gonner.
Once that is done, determine if add'l professional help is needed.
You may want to consult a professional to be sure of what steps you should take, but at minimum, get it out of there - away from the odor source.
Mark,
I'm glad your car is OK. Do this before making any insurance settlement. Make sure the acid smoke didn't etch the glass or chrome. It's sometimes hard to see.
Good Luck, Bob
Whoa - close call. I hope it's all ok.
Holy cow Mark, didn't see this on your FB page.
Prayers the car is fine, what a close call.
\m/
Laurie
I've had fire claims before and I wouldn't do anything at all to car until the insurance appraiser looks at it. You could do more damage by not having it cleaned correctly by a professional, which will be good if that is all it needs. Hopefully will all be covered without any deductibles, but leave it to the pros (and check references). Chuck
At this point I still have to wait to be told when I can actually see the car and when I will be able to remove the car from the building. The hard part is behind me now knowing there is still something to work with. The rest will happen on a schedule that I have no control over yet.
Today I will be looking for a new cover and a new place to park the car when I can have it back.
I hope you can get to it soon. This would have my skin crawling.
The fact that the cover is not melted or burned away means a lot. Sure smoke will get up under it, but I'm sure you have all the windows closed so intrusion into the car interior will be minimal.
And if the car smells a little smokey, its all good, its a great story.
Like the altar surviving the fire at Notre Dame.
I'd be keeping every piece of media connected to the warehouse fire too.
\m/
Laurie
I would not touch the car until the insurance people have done their instigation. They want to see everything as it is. Any changes may invalidate the claim.
The building’s owners insurance may eventually pay any claim, but that is between your insurance and theirs.
I sympathize with this gentleman and his plight as other have said.
A lesson to learn here; picking storage facilities, make sure they have good sprinklers and are up to date on fire codes. A lot of 'old' out of date buildings are bought inexpensively and become storage spots and nothing is done to upgrade them.
There are underground caves over in the western end/mid section on PA, that are supposedly very safe for storage. (FYI) They archive records etc in some(iron mtn). I know a lot of RVers use them for winter time.
I used to keep this car in Brady's Bend which is part of Iron Mountain many years ago.
This place was top notch, very clean epoxy floors, well lit, a receptacle for every car to plug a battery tender in, very secure and 25' above ground so no flooding issues. Apparently in the county and state there isn't a mandatory yearly inspection of the sprinkler system although I would have thought that their insurance company would have a yearly inspection required.
Still no call about when I can see the car. We plan to be in Pittsburgh over Memorial Day weekend so I hope I will be able to see it then. I have little hope that the investigation will be to a point when the cars can be moved for some time due to the sprinkler system being turned off. When that time comes I will assess the damage if any to the car and make a decision on how to proceed then. I still intend to have the car shipped here in Florida but timing on that depends on the damage.
I design and install security, fire and video systems. Typically townships in PA have an annual certification and inspection and the sprinkler company does their inspection and so does the fire alarm company. If the building has a sprinkler system and it was left out of service that's a big problem for both the sprinkler company and the alarm company.
Sprinkler systems, when properly monitored by an alarm company, have at a minimum, tamper and flow valves and switches. If the water supply to the whole system is turned off, or to a particular stack, the alarm company should receive a tamper signal and should notify the property owner. If and when the flow switch trips, that means that water is moving through the system indicating a sprinkler head has popped wither due to damage or from enough heat to trip the head and make it flow.
If this place is unheated now as a storage space, but was previously heated and used as a factory, that may explain the reason as to why the sprinklers may have been turned off.
Either way I hope you are completely insured. Your policy will pay for your car to be dealt with and then your company will go after the property owner's insurance co.
Smoke odor can be removed and the car can be cleaned and detailed to be like new. I hope that's all it takes to get you back in shape. Even though the cover didn't burn, you need to carefully go over all of the rubber parts in the car to make sure that there is no heat damage.
Good luck,
Brian
The building is heated, I missed that on the list of things I liked about it.
I received a call from the storage company today. The structural engineers inspecting the building are insisting on re-enforcement repairs to be made before the owners of the cars can enter the building and possibly remove their cars. They think that they will have this completed next week which works out well for me now because we have plans to be in Pittsburgh over the Memorial Day weekend.
Speaking from experience, smoke and heat damage can be horrible things to rectify, (even without direct fire damage). Your intact cover is certainly a good sign that your car may have survived this fire reasonably well. Best of wishes for you and your car. Got my fingers crossed for you. Clay/Lexi
Received a call from the storage company, it will be at least another week before we will know when we can see our cars.
Quote from: Highwayman68 on May 21, 2019, 12:22:37 PM
Received a call from the storage company, it will be at least another week before we will know when we can see our cars.
:(
Fingers crossed for your baby.
\m/
Laurie
I found this picture of what the storage facility looked like before the fire. My car would be to the left corner of the picture.
(https://i.imgur.com/QzLW9Zn.jpg)
Wow, I bet there are a lot of unhappy owners.
Quote from: 76eldo on May 14, 2019, 11:29:04 PM
Typically townships in PA have an annual certification and inspection and the sprinkler company does their inspection and so does the fire alarm company. If the building has a sprinkler system and it was left out of service that's a big problem for both the sprinkler company and the alarm company.
Sprinkler systems, when properly monitored by an alarm company, have at a minimum, tamper and flow valves and switches. If the water supply to the whole system is turned off, or to a particular stack, the alarm company should receive a tamper signal and should notify the property owner.
Unless, as has been my own bitter experience with commercial premises and annual "Fire Tests", it is the fire sprinkler and alarm company that forgot to re-set the flow switches etc. after the last "Fire Test"! They will run to their lawyers who will tell them to shutup and, usually in the name of "...protecting proprietary information...", tell you nothing.
I received this today from the storage company. It looks like I won't be seeing my Cadillac any time soon
*****
First, we would also like to thank you for being our customer and for your patience in this matter.
We are strategically putting forth a plan to complete the stabilization of the building for you to gain access.
What’s happening?
Currently, the public is not allowed into the building. The previous plan to shore the property was rejected by The Origin and Cause Inspectors. This has cause additional delays. A new engineering firm has been arranged and they are scheduled to have a proposed shoring plan submitted by June 4th, 2019.
In order to provide you access, the building must have approved reinforcement shoring installed by a contractor, then The Code Enforcement Inspector has to allow access once deemed safe.
In summary the next steps are:
1. New engineering drawings completed
2. Drawings approved by Building Code Officials
3. Install steel construction
4. Get inspectors final approval
5. Access to safe area to be scheduled
We will keep you updated along the way, and let you know when we have more information. If access is allowed to non-affected areas we will contact you immediately to access your vehicle/unit.
Bummer, but if there is a chance someone could get hurt or killed unless it is shored up correctly, no one will be able to get in.
Oh Mark, I'd be going all ballistic female at this point... so sorry.
\m/
Laurie
I was able to get into the building today, what a site it is in there.
My car was 6 slots from where the floor collapsed. They put a fence around the hole. All of the cars inside of the fence can't be moved.
Here is what it looks like inside of the fence
Mine didn't look so good when I pulled the cover off of it
All of the stainless trim is discolored but I think that I can clean it up.
The white spots in the vinyl top are places it melted from pieces of burning insulation falling from the ceiling onto the cover.
For the most part I am very lucky to only have damage to the vinyl top, a small dent in the hood from a bracket falling from the ceiling and a lot of trim needing cleaning.
I washed it today and it looks good. I am arranging to have it transported to Clearwater in two weeks. Once it is there I will work on cleaning it up better.
That is good news for you, but doesn't look good for the poor owners of cars within the fenced area.
Bruce. >:D
I'm glad its mostly Ok.
Looks like the classic car equivalent of dodging a cat 5 hurricane.
Mark you're BLESSED the damage wasn't worse to your car.
Assuming your insurance company has already seen it or will see
it prior to transport. They should cover all that damage.
It could have been a LOT worse.
\m/
Laurie
Yea, glad it wasn't worse for you. I hate it for the owners who's cars were total losses, but some of those (of what I could see) look like normal replaceable cars (Mercedes, Ferrari, corvette). What are the two under the covers (ones a vert, ones a sedan) by the red corvettes?
For the cars in the fence, they can't take the roof off and get a crane? Take the fence down, hook them up one at a time to a come a long and pull them to safety?
Glad yours was on the outside looking in!
If these were average cars I suspect the building and its contents would be demolished or scheduled to be demolished by now. I'm totally guessing but it would not surprise me if just having engineers poking around is costing them $1000's per hour. If / when they start having significant work done on the level of removing part of the roof and lifting cars with a crane that could be $10,000's per hour.
I have been involved in new construction and remodeling where engineers and cranes are involved and its not cheap. You then add in all the extra unknowns and variables of a damaged building and lifting various objects that are not designed to be lifted I could see that really jacking up the price. They likely spent all this time crunching the numbers to figure out if it will be cheaper for them and possibly their insurance to just just 'settle' with the clients for a total loss vs trying to salvage things and still have to possibly pay some damages in addition to the salvage costs.
I bet its really hard to put a value on many of the things being stored there and in many cases the owners are not in an ideal spot either. I bet many are looking at the fine print of their policies and finding out they are either not covered or may be in a gray area. A gray area when its between an insurance company and a typical individual is usually going to come out in favor of the insurance company. I know my policies have very specific details about where the car is stored. My property where I live vs. my remote property vs. say a friends place vs. a commercial storage place all have different requirements and ways I am supposed to document and notify the insurance company which is easy to forget about for us seasonal people that don't have the space at home.
Mark , when you get your car to Florida let me know. I am in Lake Wales.
Quote from: TJ Hopland on June 28, 2019, 12:44:27 PM
If these were average cars I suspect the building and its contents would be demolished or scheduled to be demolished by now. I'm totally guessing but it would not surprise me if just having engineers poking around is costing them $1000's per hour. If / when they start having significant work done on the level of removing part of the roof and lifting cars with a crane that could be $10,000's per hour.
Insurance companies wouldn't want anything away that would involve partial claims/payment.
We had a large ship run aground up North a few years ago, and instead of trying to salvage parts from it following its' refloating, they had it towed out into deep water, off the Continental Shelf, and sank it lock stock and barrel.
NOTHING was allowed to be removed, not even the perfectly good life boats. The Insurance Company figured out that once stuff got removed, then it would require lots of calculations to work out the value of each item removed, to have it subtracted from the overall Insurance Payout.
Insurance Company Money Men don't like that, no matter what can be saved.
Bruce. >:D
Mark glad to hear and see that your car was mostly spared. While on the surface it may look pretty good and needing mostly cleaning, but how will you inspect and evaluate the interior and wiring? Isn’t there a chance that the heat in the building during the fire/collapse caused far less obvious damage to the interior plastics, wiring, seat foam?
Not trying to rub salt in the wounds just want you to not be too quick in claiming that there is no other damage to your Insurance Co if all these other areas have not been closely examined. Odor too may linger once it is moved out of the building which you cant notice right now.
Jeff W
Jeff W.
Quote from: Jeff Wilk on June 29, 2019, 06:47:06 AM
Mark glad to hear and see that your car was mostly spared. While on the surface it may look pretty good and needing mostly cleaning, but how will you inspect and evaluate the interior and wiring? Isn’t there a chance that the heat in the building during the fire/collapse caused far less obvious damage to the interior plastics, wiring, seat foam?
Not trying to rub salt in the wounds just want you to not be too quick in claiming that there is no other damage to your Insurance Co if all these other areas have not been closely examined. Odor too may linger once it is moved out of the building which you cant notice right now.
Jeff W
Jeff W.
I did a through cleaning on the car when I got it home. Physical damage was a dent in the hood from a clamp that fell from the ceiling and melted spots on the vinyl roof from hot insulation falling from the ceiling. Also lots of moisture damage from a soaked indoor cover sitting on the car.
I also inspected the wiring and the vacuum lines and all are good. The enclosed trailer parked next to me blocking a lot of the heat from my car. All plastic lenses are not affected.
That’s great to hear!!
Quote from: The Tassie Devil(le) on June 28, 2019, 10:24:51 PM
Insurance companies wouldn't want anything away that would involve partial claims/payment.
We had a large ship run aground up North a few years ago, and instead of trying to salvage parts from it following its' refloating, they had it towed out into deep water, off the Continental Shelf, and sank it lock stock and barrel.
NOTHING was allowed to be removed, not even the perfectly good life boats. The Insurance Company figured out that once stuff got removed, then it would require lots of calculations to work out the value of each item removed, to have it subtracted from the overall Insurance Payout.
Insurance Company Money Men don't like that, no matter what can be saved.
Bruce. >:D
Not the same situation. The ship and its contents were owned by the shipping line. The building owner does Not own the vehicles stored in it.
Mark,
How did the stainless trim clean up? I was reminded of it when I first fired up a new stainless steel grill this weekend. The stainless got all brown. - that is the parts that didn't get all BBQ'd