Monday afternoon Jani (Chelsea’s Mom) and I were home working in our house. It was her last day off before the new semester began at Cuesta. We had been burning logs in the fireplace all weekend as we so often do. Suddenly I noticed the smell of smoke in the back of the house. So I went up to checked the fire place, and it looked fine, so I went out side and checked the smoke stack, it didn't look right. Some of the smoke seemed to be escaping from the framing instead of the stack. So i went up into the attic to check. Small flames we coming out from around the flue. We called the fire dept and i went back up with a fire extinguisher. The flames had increased considerably but i slowed it down a bit, then i ran out of spray. About 3 min later the Atascadero fire dept arrived. We watched in horror as they chopped holes in the roof and interior walls around the fire box to get at it. By this time smoke was pouring out of all vent holes on the entire roof. We lost our dinning room and our living room and some of our kitchen. Large portions of the roof will also have to be replaced. We also have considerable smoke damage to most of the house. I can’t say enough about the courage and professionalism of the Atascadero fire dept, Fireman’s Fund Insurance, Central Coast Restoration. They have all been simply amazing!!!!! Our life is in turmoil right now as we try to get back on our feet again. To say the least it has been very stressful. We have been staying with some neighbor friends who live right up the street (some of our surfing friends). My home office was un-effected but all the electrical lines and cables were fried so yesterday we re-routed them from the entry boxes. In another day or two we plan to set a RV up outback so we can live here until repairs are finished. Estimated time: 2-3 months.
Currently we are having a string of major Pacific storms hit the central coast. This if of course not helping anything. The restoration boys patched the two giant holes on the north side of our roof with heavy plastic and 1x2's . To my amazement it withstood yesterday’s 50mph winds and 4 inches of rain. Not one drop of water entered the house from these locations!
Currently the restoration crew is taking all our belongings out for smoke cleaning and the demolition of the damaged areas have begun.
The concern and support from our friends and family have been fantastic. Thanks so much to all for your concern and support.
Jan, Jani, Chelsea, Clay, and Kona Johnson
Atascadero, Ca
