12 May 2009

House Fire in Utah - Chad Blackwelder

Chad Blackwelder is living in Utah with his mom, Leah & her family. They had a grease fire go out of control. They were lucky to get out unharmed, for the most part, but the house is completely ruined. Below is a note he wrote about the incident. Please keep them in your prayers and there is a link for a family fund below if you can help. Glad you're OK Chad! Hugs! -Leigh "Well, It's a goner. A $400k loss, and that's just the house and the property it sat on. We lost everything in the fire. Grease fire from hell. It took, American Fork, Highland/Alpine, Lehi, and Pleasant Grove firefighters just to put the fire out. 3 trucks total, and about 20 firefighters. When we went back the next day, even though it had rained all night... my room was still glowing bright orange. A neighbor called the fire dept. again, and they came to knock more walls down to put the rest of it out. Luckily I was at my girlfriends house when it happened, and had packed a backpack full of 3 days worth of clothes. It is now, all I have to my name. Tom (Step-Dad), almost died twice from trying to contain the fire (he emptied a full extinguisher and 2 boxes of baking soda on it), and my Mom (Leah) got the dogs out ok (Jax and Maggie May). I guess it was meant to burn. Our dogs were locked in the truck by a police officer till My brother Sam and I got there to pick them up... while our parents were taken to the American Fork hospital for smoke inhalation. It was all over the news the night of April 24th, 2009, a day I will never forget. I have posted links on my Facebook account (one video link and one a photo gallery of the house burning to the ground from KSL news channel). I will be walking through the house making a film either today or tommorrow just to show the amount of devastation that occured, and will post those as well, as soon as I can. Also, a neighbor has put a blog together for donations or anything that can help us rebuild what we lost... so check it out and tell your friends and family about it. http://www.highlandhousefire.blogspot.com/." Just glad to be alive I guess. Daniel Chad Blackwelder

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