There were moments where both of my parents could've died. Somehow the pets all made it out alive too - though they should've have.

We definitely lost some valuable items. All my mission stuff was lost. I also lost the baseball card collection. No Ty Cobbs or anything but probably about a grand worth of cards.

Whatever the fire didn't get, the smoke and water probably will. Claim as much as you can. The first insurance agent we had was terrible. They even proposed scraping the grout out between the tiles and regrouting the basement after it had been underwater for a few days. They found even the light switches on the walls that hadn't been burned or molded and said those could be saved. It was horrible.

My parents are well-respected in our small town because they do a lot of volunteer work. When they heard that State Farm was nickel and diamond them, many of them threatened to leave and go to a different agency. We then got a new insurance adjuster who was great. She helped us out a lot.

I don't have the pictures right now, but I can try to find them and mail you later. I sifted through all the garage and the burned out tools. I organized five pallets with different half-melted and rusted tools and cataloged them. My mom lost all her Christmas ornaments. My dad in California lost all everything and a moment of his friends also died.

Take it one day at a time, don't think too far ahead.