NYFB Member Looks Back on the Anniversary of a Fire that Changed Everything

Through Quick Action, Mark and Lisa Dunau’s Renovated Barn is Spared from Destruction
 

By Mark Dunau 
Delaware County
Farm Bureau Member

We live on a farm, ten miles distant from the nearest town. At 5 a.m. on Dec. 15, 2022, I was reading The New York Times when I smelled smoke.  I quickly went to the stovepipe, and saw a flame in the ceiling.  With that vision, I knew disaster was upon us because we live in a tinder dry, 125-year-old barn renovated with nothing but wood.  I screamed for my wife, Lisa, who rushed down the stairs watching me impossibly splash water on a wooden ceiling that shielded the flames. She yelled that she was calling 911. 

The Fire Spreads
I ran for my chain saw, which started on the fifth pull. Standing on a chair, I cut a hole in the ceiling, revealing the spreading fire.  Lisa hit it with the fire extinguisher, which momentarily put out the flames, but was too small and the fire reignited. 

Now an idea broke into my head as the last desperate measure to save our home and a lifetime of possessions and memories.  I ran into the cold in my slippered feet and then under the barn to get a garden hose. Then I ran back into the barn and into the bathroom where our hot water heater is.  I took the female end of the hose and spent the longest 30 seconds of my life trying to get it to engage with the male end of the hot water drain. I turned on the drain faucet and ran into the living room and started to spray the ceiling using my thumb to direct the water.  To my surprise, the water knocked down the flames, but now the fire covered a larger area, and when I knocked down one side of the fire, the other side wood reignites.

  Meanwhile, Lisa had called 911 and was screaming for me to get out.  “It’s not worth it. Get out!  Get out!  The dispatcher says get out. Get out!”
I continued to fight the flames, shuffling under the burning ceiling from one side to the other, continuing to use my thumb to aim the water as the flames ran towards the highest part of our inclined 16 foot ceiling. 
“Get out!,” Lisa pleaded.  I was enveloped in smoke, but the heat of the fire was at the height of the ceiling, and wasn’t causing my lungs distress.  It was easy to keep fighting.  But the fire was burning hotter, and now drops of plastic from the vapor barrier drizzled down. 

Fire Department Arrives 
For over 20 minutes, I carried on. Then a volunteer fire department first responder entered the house and took the hose from me, telling me to open a window to release smoke.  Then he said get out, you’ve been exposed too long.  But I would not get out, because I felt fine, and watched the volunteer fireman fight the flames with the garden hose, now burning nearly the entire ceiling. Then a pumper truck arrived and firemen ran in and hit the flames with real water pressure.  They told me to get out, and this time I did.  I met Lisa outside and said I think we’ve beaten the fire. 

 She said I should have let it burn.  Nothing is worth dying for.  I told her she was crazy and went back in to see if the fire was out.  It was. The volunteer firemen were dousing hot spots.  They told me to get out again.  I walked outside and ignored the EMT’s request that I have myself checked out, and watched yellow-brown smoke billow out our two skylights.  

Shoring Up the Roof 
So I went about draining the pipes while the firemen from three volunteer fire departments packed their gear and exited.  Now it was me and Lisa again. We needed to shore up the roof because a snowstorm was coming the next day.  Lisa called carpenter friends who quickly came to our aid, and in three hours shored up the roof in an ingenious fashion, which held for the winter.
 

Slowly the firefighters left our house.  I thanked them for saving our home.  They were amazed that it had not burned to the ground and speculated that the fiberglass insulation and large carrier beams of the roof had slowed it down. And where did the idea of connecting a garden hose to the drain of a hot water heater come from?  They never heard of that before. I entered the barn again to see that the living room ceiling had collapsed, but the metal roof and roof decking, though very charred, held.  

Now the fire chief told me he was calling NYSEG to disconnect the electricity.  I said wait, I need electricity to drain the water first, or all the pipes will freeze in the winter cold.  And I have a main shut-off breaker to cut electricity to the house when I’m done. 

So I went about draining the pipes while the firemen from three volunteer fire departments packed their gear and exited.  Now it was me and Lisa again. We needed to shore up the roof because a snowstorm was coming the next day.  Lisa called carpenter friends who quickly came to our aid, and in three hours shored up the roof in an ingenious fashion, which held for the winter.

My advice: Praise your Guardian Angel and volunteers, know your insurance policy (the difference between cash value and replacement value for instance), and have a large fire extinguisher on hand, or two or three or four.  No one ever regrets that the fire extinguisher was too big for the flames.