Having returned from my labors in Washington on October 29, there refurbishing with much help, Sue's family home that had been our rental property for the past 16 years. I had planned to return in mid-December and begin to sand and refinish all of the oak hardwood floors. In the mean time, I threw together a small macabre scene in our hallway for Halloween. But not enough time to carve a jack-o-lantern this year. After I had finished handing out treats on Halloween night, I pulled out my long list of projects needed to fix the house and review it with Sue as we sat around the dinning room table. It was going to be expensive and and a stretch for us. The now evicted tenant had really never called us the landlords to have anything fixed, instead, they just let everything break without proper repair or else they had destroyed something and left it that way. I lamented that all was broken or destroyed.
We were still up late as it approached midnight on Halloween, October 31. Our old landline phone rang, and as is our practice, we let it ring since most any call we want to take, people use our cell numbers. The phone switched to voice mail, and we could hear the incoming message: "This is Janet [our property manager]... I am at the property... please give me a call." It would have been close to 10 PM Pacific Time.
We looked at each other, and I asked, "What do you think that is about?" Sue, with a flat voice said, "Fire".
We called Janet, and she was at the firehouse giving a report. The Fire Marshal was on the scene too. Janet told us there had been a fire at our place, but she would have to call us back later after she finished with the fire officials in Arlington. In the early morning hours of November 1, the Snohomish County Fire Marshal called us to say that someone had kicked in the front door, set fire to an over-stuffed couch that had been left behind by the evicted tenants, and that the flames had burned up to and through the ceiling above. He noted extensive heat damage across to the other side of the house and through out the kitchen. The back bedrooms were smoke damaged. I asked if it was a total loss? He said, "If it isn't a total loss,it's close." The Fire Marshal said he was certain that the fire was of a "non-accidental origin"; Arson.
The sheriff completely blew off all previous 911 reports of bad behavior by our tenants, and even failed to come out to take a report when all of our windows were smashed out. Pretty much good for nothing. The Fire Marshal told us that this was now a felony arson case, and that Snohomish County had the highest conviction rate of any in the state for these types of crimes. We were heartened that perhaps we would finally get a true investigation and prosecution of the criminals who had been targeting the our property the past 3 weeks. We filed a third claim with insurance, the first two were for vandalism, now this was fire.
Sue's brother Bob and his wife Ann did a bunch of social media sleuthing, starting with our evicted tenants (and prime suspects) and there connection - including several people who were living at our house in violation of the lease. We turned those leads and information into the Fire Marshal, and he said. "This is helpful information." AS of the end of the year, no progress to report on the case. A big disappointment. If our tenants did not burn down our house, they know the person(s) who did.
We know grind slowly forward with insurance settlement, finding a general contractor and employing an architect to design a new home as we gather our resources and start to rebuild. It will be a better place in the end. But... Do I really want to frame up a new house with the arsonist still on the loose, without a conviction and imprisonment?
I have to say: 2016, A year like no other.
We were still up late as it approached midnight on Halloween, October 31. Our old landline phone rang, and as is our practice, we let it ring since most any call we want to take, people use our cell numbers. The phone switched to voice mail, and we could hear the incoming message: "This is Janet [our property manager]... I am at the property... please give me a call." It would have been close to 10 PM Pacific Time.
We looked at each other, and I asked, "What do you think that is about?" Sue, with a flat voice said, "Fire".
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| Arsonist started fire in Living Room shown here |
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| Collapsed ceiling in Family Room |
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| Burned out kitchen and Dinning Room |
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| Destroyed ceiling beams |
The sheriff completely blew off all previous 911 reports of bad behavior by our tenants, and even failed to come out to take a report when all of our windows were smashed out. Pretty much good for nothing. The Fire Marshal told us that this was now a felony arson case, and that Snohomish County had the highest conviction rate of any in the state for these types of crimes. We were heartened that perhaps we would finally get a true investigation and prosecution of the criminals who had been targeting the our property the past 3 weeks. We filed a third claim with insurance, the first two were for vandalism, now this was fire.
Sue's brother Bob and his wife Ann did a bunch of social media sleuthing, starting with our evicted tenants (and prime suspects) and there connection - including several people who were living at our house in violation of the lease. We turned those leads and information into the Fire Marshal, and he said. "This is helpful information." AS of the end of the year, no progress to report on the case. A big disappointment. If our tenants did not burn down our house, they know the person(s) who did.
We know grind slowly forward with insurance settlement, finding a general contractor and employing an architect to design a new home as we gather our resources and start to rebuild. It will be a better place in the end. But... Do I really want to frame up a new house with the arsonist still on the loose, without a conviction and imprisonment?
I have to say: 2016, A year like no other.
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