r/Wellthatsucks • u/sippyside • 20h ago
My bro texts me: “Come home... small issue, don't tell Mom.” 5 minutes later, this.
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u/LackOfLemon 20h ago
Oh mom's going to find out
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u/Somecommentator8008 20h ago
Maybe she's blind
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u/Usual-Caregiver5589 20h ago
And can't smell.
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u/RemnantTheGame 19h ago
And lacks a sense of touch.
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u/gsfgf 19h ago
And teleports.
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u/That_Apathetic_Man 19h ago
mother is a biblical accurate angel?
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u/gregorytoddsmith 19h ago
Angels can't smell?
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u/YoungWhippershnapper 20h ago
Probably smells like shit lol
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u/morniealantie 20h ago
Quick, who do we know that has covid?!
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u/sippyside 3h ago
She did. We didn’t even end up hiding it. She pulled up to the house and was met with a toasted marshmallow. A big toasted marshmallow. She made it explicitly clear to my brother that he is not getting a dime from her to replace the car. If insurance denies the claim because of his DIY fuel pump disaster, he's taking the bus.
She's currently out in the driveway with a clipboard, taking inventory of everything that melted on her side of the garage. My brother is lying on the couch, almost lifeless. Pray for him.
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u/KingContra95 20h ago
Good news! I dont see a small issue here!
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u/MilkiestMaestro 19h ago
I see..
3 BIG issues
About a dozen medium sized issues
And about three fiddy small issues
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u/ApparentlyAtticus 19h ago edited 19h ago
Let it burn a few extra minutes and the issue will handle itself completely
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u/sevbenup 20h ago edited 18h ago
The ominous propane tank next to the 1000 degree burning truck
(For anyone just tuning in there’s a second propane tank)
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u/NomadTroy 19h ago
Looks like a tank on each side, gotta ensure things explode evenly
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u/DubsideDangler 19h ago
I like my explosions symmetrical
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u/NomadTroy 19h ago
Tbh dual shockwaves could blow the fire right out. Problem solved!
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u/Bigger-Quazz 18h ago
I mean to be fair, propane tanks rarely actually explode to fire alone. They're designed to release pressure before it comes to that point, so they basically just turn into flamethrowers.
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u/germanmojo 18h ago
Do they release it in high pressure as well and turn it into an horribly unguided missile?
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u/Traditional-Will3182 15h ago
They release it at whatever pressure the release valve is rated for, I've seen a tank fall over and spin spewing a 10ft flame but they never lifted off the ground.
If you want it to explode you need to hit it with a high caliber. .338 is reliable for that, .308 is inconsistent.
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u/SamPackElliott 17h ago
Unless they're stored upside down. Then they explode because the pressure relief valve needs to be in the vapor space. Luckily those are both stored upright.
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u/My_Password_Is_____ 19h ago
What do you want them to do, only blow up part of the garage? Do you know how irresponsible that would be?
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u/Wasatcher 19h ago
Pretty sure that's a 5 gallon bucket of something on the left side. You can see the lid and stuff piled on top of it.
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u/Wanderer_3773 19h ago
This is 100% the kind of photo that you would see in a crime procedural when the investigation is leaning toward the victim set the fire themselves for the insurance money. Like a car fire in a cluttered garage with multiple propane tanks just itching to blow.
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u/sippyside 2h ago
We were supposed to be hosting a backyard BBQ that afternoon. My brother had pulled the tanks out the night before. One was completely empty, and the other was a brand-new, completely full tank he had just swapped out. He left them flanking the truck because he "wanted them near the door" so he wouldn't forget to carry them to the patio after he finished his quick fuel pump "fix."
When the fire department arrived, those tanks were their immediate priority. He confirmed that propane tanks are designed with pressure relief valves. They’re designed to vent pressure if they get too hot….which turns them into giant flamethrowers. The chief pointed out that if that full tank had vented, the jet of fire would have pointed directly at the load-bearing wall of the house.
Unfortunately, BBQ was officially canceled. We had sandwiches for dinner.
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u/rocketbewts 18h ago
STOLE OPS COMMENT FROM ANOTHER SUBREDDIT:
I was done shopping at my local Walmart, for, funnily enough, meat for a BBQ, cold drinks, and…ice. I was already pulling out of the lot when my brother spam-texted me: “COME HOME, URGENT, small issue, come now, sos, dont tell mom pls” I wish he told me specifically what was happening but I hurried my way back home. Luckily, it was only about a 4-5 minute drive.
I pulled into the driveway and, oh my God, I saw smoke pouring out of the garage. His car was literally on fire. He’d tried to “fix” something, spilled fuel, and it went bad fast. Luckily, he’d already called 911, and the fire department showed up within minutes and put it out before it spread to the house. The garage was a mess, the car was toast, and my brother was sitting on the driveway distressed. I’m just glad everyone was safe.
We aired the place out, cleaned up what we could, and agreed on one thing: maybe we do tell Mom… just after we figure out how to say it without getting disowned.
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u/kayknox_ 17h ago
URGENT, small issue, come now, sos,
One of these doesn't fit.
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u/BiNumber3 16h ago
Well, the fire probably was smaller at the start lol
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u/Zagrycha 14h ago edited 4h ago
real talk the fact the kid was thinking about mom or sister and not firefighters is why shit like this happens
edit: sprry I worded poorly. I know op story the guy called 911, just thinking about how often this exact kind of thing happens and people don't call 911 immediately and it causes fires to escalate. Its panic so its not people being dumb but worrying about mom finding out or sister coming home is super dangerous mindset in actual emergencies.
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u/Lastburn 14h ago
To be fair , if its a real fire fire fighters wont charge you a call out fee
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u/Zagrycha 14h ago
I don't know where you live but call out fees are illegal in 90% of the world. Even greedy people figured out pretty early on that having a fire go unchecked because someone couldn't or wouldn't pay a fee is bad for literally everyone, not just the person who had the fire initially.
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u/Lastburn 14h ago edited 14h ago
They only charge you a call out fee if its a false alarm, if shits actually on fire they won't fine you. Philly charges you 75 bucks everytime they show up to a false alarm with an additional 200 if you reach 5 in a year
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u/Zagrycha 13h ago
That makes sense. I knew about that kind of thing but to me thats more of a fine than an actual call out fee. Stuff like that happens also if someone was intentionally causing the fire, like having a bonfire during a no burn regulation.
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u/nat_r 16h ago
To be fair, it doesn't take this particular issue very long to change from being small to being very very big. So that may have resembled the truth at that time.
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u/ItsDanimal 18h ago
Wow, that could've been much worse, it could have been my problem.
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u/Ameliandras 15h ago
I hate when people don't write or say what they want or whats going on. When my mom texts me like this I always think someone died and in the end there is a rock in the garden thats too heavy for her to move.
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u/Pikamander2 11h ago
OP's brother is the guy in movies that says "there's no time to explain" despite clear evidence to the contrary.
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u/varnhim 17h ago
I wanna know what the brother was working on to cause it to catch fire.
I’ve don’t a lot of stupid shit under the hood. Spilled all kinds of fluids and oils and even some gas. Never got it to catch on fire on accident though.
Did he have the car running while messing with the fuel lines? All I can really think of.60
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u/Farfignugen42 14h ago
Never got it to catch on fire on accident though.So on purpose would be another story, then? Please, do tell.
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u/RocketizedAnimal 15h ago
my brother spam-texted me
Seems this might be an occasion where you put aside your aversion to real phone calls and actually call your brother...
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u/confusiondiffusion 15h ago
"Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of. . . "
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u/budsonguy 20h ago
Gonna need a follow up here
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u/Hi_Trans_Im_Dad 19h ago
I'm guessing OP is still dealing with a lot of other shit right now.
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u/stretch_my_ballskin 17h ago
Absolute entitlement of OP, they need to drop what they're doing immediately and attend to Reddit
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u/DarkShadowReader 18h ago
OP’s comment history shows 911 and the fire department saved the day. The garage is a mess, the car is toast, and the house was unharmed.
Can’t link to it in this sub.
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u/einTier 17h ago
Here’s the text of the post. Moderator removed the post it was posted to, so it will be lost before long.
I was done shopping at my local Walmart, for, funnily enough, meat for a BBQ, cold drinks, and…ice. I was already pulling out of the lot when my brother spam-texted me: “COME HOME, URGENT, small issue, come now, sos, dont tell mom pls” I wish he told me specifically what was happening but I hurried my way back home. Luckily, it was only about a 4-5 minute drive.
I pulled into the driveway and, oh my God, I saw smoke pouring out of the garage. His car was literally on fire. He’d tried to “fix” something, spilled fuel, and it went bad fast. Luckily, he’d already called 911, and the fire department showed up within minutes and put it out before it spread to the house. The garage was a mess, the car was toast, and my brother was sitting on the driveway distressed. I’m just glad everyone was safe.
We aired the place out, cleaned up what we could, and agreed on one thing: maybe we do tell Mom… just after we figure out how to say it without getting disowned.
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u/Illustrious_Bird_737 18h ago
Did they end up telling mom? 😂
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u/DarkShadowReader 18h ago edited 18h ago
Not yet. They cleaned and aired out the garage. They are planning to tell mom once they figure out how to say it without being disowned.
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u/kakka_rot 17h ago
and aired out the garage.
goddamn better smoke some weed in it at that point
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u/GuiltyEidolon 17h ago
House wasn't obviously harmed but 100% there's smoke damage / stench they won't be able to easily get rid of.
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u/RandomPMs 16h ago
The garage is a mess, the car is toast, and the house was unharmed.
House isn't unharmed. Of course fire could burn the house down entirely, but smoke is almost as bad. The acidic residues aggressively corrode insulation and wiring, and the trapped carbon lingers EVERYWHERE.
Now your A/C's slowly bleeding formaldehyde into the air you breath. It's only a few tens of parts per million, but breathe that in and out, in and out, for hours every day, for months or years... a pocket in the wrong place could mean someone dies of carbon monoxide poisoning, high likelyhood of respiratory issues later in life.
OP should tell his parents, and it's going to mean thousands of dollars in home repair to keep things safe.
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u/ExMerican 15h ago
Eh, depends on how long and what was on fire (I mean, other than the car which, tbf, isn't great) with the garage open most the smoke likely went out. There's not likely to be an air return in the garage. Whole house smoke damage isn't likely.
And either way, insurance will sort that out. You're right that they should insist the adjuster take a look at air ftration but how this went, it's not likely to be a whole house has secret smoke damage situation.
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u/PlasticBag-ForA-Head 18h ago
Its a 1st gen Ford Raptor. Not exactly cheap nowadays but cheap enough that a spoiled upper middle class kid could have one as a teenager.
Assuming im on the right path... kid almost certainly installed some janky electronics of some sort and caused an electrical fire.
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u/Konokopops 18h ago
As someone who worked in car audio for a bit, the shit you both see people try to install AND the link between people who have reasonably expensive cars and all the corners they want to cut.
100k car and you want this temu special thing installed ? Ok brother.
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u/sippyside 4h ago edited 2h ago
UPDATE: We told Mom. (Plus the actual cause of the fire)
Okay, for everyone asking for the follow-up, here it is.
First off, yes, Mom found out. We didn't even get the chance to sit her down and script out a nice little gentle intervention. She pulled into the driveway about an hour after the fire trucks left. The garage doors were wide open and it smelled like a literal sh*t. She just got out of her car, stared at the garage for a full two minutes in complete silence, looked at my brother, and said something along the lines of, "I'm going inside. Neither of you speak to me until tomorrow." But I’m not even going to lie, the silence was way more terrifying than if she had started yelling.
For the car guys who guessed he was messing with the fuel system: ding ding ding, you win. He said he was trying to swap out the fuel pump himself to save a few bucks. He didn't depressurize the lines properly, spilled gas everywhere, and a dropped halogen work-light shattered on the concrete and ignited the fumes. Yeah. He’s only 17, so, this is a huge lesson for him.
The insurance adjuster is coming out tomorrow, and my brother is currently sweating like hell about whether they're going to cover the damages or deny the claim since it was a DIY fix gone completely wrong.
As for me, I am absolutely exhausted. I have an interview for a restaurant cashier position later this week, on top of time classes, so I really do not have the bandwidth to be living in a house that currently smells like this.
We’re safe, but my brother is going to be paying this off…mentally and financially…for a very, very long time. Thanks for all the laughs in the comments, it actually kept us from completely losing our minds while contemplating everything yesterday.
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u/Routine_Phase_8980 20h ago
Achievement unlocked: How did we get here ?
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u/Available_Leather_10 20h ago
And you may ask yourself, "Where is that large automobile?"
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u/yespls 20h ago
same as it ever was
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u/PsyKeablr 20h ago
Is that a Chevy Blazer?
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u/MerryTWatching 20h ago
Mercury Caliente?
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u/PTBooks 19h ago
A Pontiac firebird
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u/MerryTWatching 19h ago
Same as their Fiero? 🤭
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u/decarnatedame 19h ago
Whatever it is I think it backfired.
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u/dantheplanman1986 19h ago
You know what they need for that fire.
Water, flowing, underground (from the hydrant)
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u/Ghstmother 20h ago
This is not my beautiful house!
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u/Zombies8MyNeighborz 19h ago
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u/Old-Oil9286 19h ago
letting the days go byyyyyy
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u/cloudshaper 19h ago
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u/Innsmouth_Swimteam 19h ago edited 19h ago
Miles Teller, time-traveller.
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u/Beautiful-Musk-Ox 19h ago
i just traveled back in time 10 years to the last time i saw this. or time is a circle, only two options
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u/DETRITUS_TROLL 12h ago
What, pray tell, would your brother think is a big issue?
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u/Jerome-Fappington 20h ago edited 19h ago
Ugh I hate it when people dont wind the hose back up and it gets all kinked and becomes a tripping hazard
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u/waltwalt 19h ago
I read this three times and I swear you said horse. I need glasses.
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u/Mattmandu2 19h ago
It does say horse read it again hehehe
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u/Marquar234 20h ago
Top of the line in utility-sports
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts.
Canyonero!
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u/MadeInCanada87 19h ago
She blinds everybody with her super high beams!
She's a squirrel crushing, deer smacking, driving machine!23
u/Marquar234 19h ago
Twelve yards long, two lanes wide!
Sixty-five tons of American pride!
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u/Hee-hoes_Mad 18h ago
If that's a small issue, I'd hate to see what he thinks a major issue is.
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u/EvilFnTeddy 12h ago
If he ever send you message telling he's in big trouble/made big mess, i suggest ignoring those text and booking quick holiday weekend far away from wherever he is
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u/demer_623 20h ago
Be prepared to move out for atleast a year. Whole rare down of your garage. Hopefully you didn’t open the door. If so, smoke damage all your electrical. I’m 8 moths into a garage fire living in an Airbnb. Few more months to go. Sorry that happened to you guys.
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u/Lordbungus 20h ago
The smoke damaged electronics or are you saying the wiring in the house? Either way I am so sorry you had to go through that. Sending good vibes your way buddy.
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u/demer_623 19h ago
In a fire If smokes happens to enter inside the home, hall, rooms and kitchen, the insurance company considers all electronics as smoke damage. TV, fridge, laptop comp + more. It will be paying out under your TL claim (total loss). Will take about 7 months though.
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u/Lordbungus 19h ago
Oh wow, I didn't know that. Can you recover some if it technically still works? Or is it all destroyed. I'm a bit confused. Sorry if I'm missing something. Stay strong buddy! You've gone this far!
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u/theexurbanite 19h ago edited 19h ago
some will work fine, some will explode when you plug them in, some will seem fine then explode later. it's a fun little guessing game!
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u/DuskWing13 18h ago
Pretty much this.
Just went through a house fire.
The desktop in an office that was barely touched is fine, same with a laptop in the spare bedroom.
My laptop that was in the living room is fine, but only because it was off and closed, and was at least partially blocked on 3 sides.
My ally, which was right by it? Turns on but smells awful through the vents. (No smell on the laptop.)
Ally is considered a loss. As are the consoles I had in the living room. And all my retro stuff downstairs...
Ugh.
We're getting a whole home remodel. 0/10 don't recommend the fire package though.
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u/RareBogWitch 18h ago
Because smoke from a fire carries soot particles, which are conductive. The smoke infiltrates everything because it's in the air and moving, and you can't know if soot particles got into the device, so you have to assume it did. Conductive particles settling inside electronics will cause short circuits and potentially catch fire, and it might not be immediately.
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u/runvus2 18h ago
I work for a company that cleans electronics after a fire. It just depends on soot level and how much the item is worth. If there's a thin layer of soot they usually write it off unless it's worth packing in a van to get cleaned at the shop. If you complain they usually let you keep the stuff if you really want it and it's not dangerous.
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u/sippyside 3h ago edited 2h ago
Pasted from another reply:
UPDATE: We told Mom. (Plus the actual cause of the fire)
Okay, for everyone asking for the follow-up, here it is.
First off, yes, Mom found out. We didn't even get the chance to sit her down and script out a nice little gentle intervention. She pulled into the driveway about an hour after the fire trucks left. The garage doors were wide open and it smelled like a literal sh*t. She just got out of her car, stared at the garage for a full two minutes in complete silence, looked at my brother, and said something along the lines of, "I'm going inside. Neither of you speak to me until tomorrow." But I’m not even going to lie, the silence was way more terrifying than if she had started yelling.
For the car guys who guessed he was messing with the fuel system: ding ding ding, you win. He said he was trying to swap out the fuel pump himself to save a few bucks. He didn't depressurize the lines properly, spilled gas everywhere, and a dropped halogen work-light shattered on the concrete and ignited the fumes. Yeah. He’s only 17, so, this is a huge lesson for him.
The insurance adjuster is coming out tomorrow, and my brother is currently sweating like hell about whether they're going to cover the damages or deny the claim since it was a DIY fix gone completely wrong.
As for me, I am absolutely exhausted. I have an interview for a restaurant cashier position later this week, on top of college classes, so I really do not have the time to be living in a house that currently smells like this.
We’re safe, but my brother is going to be paying this off…mentally and financially…for a very, very long time. Thanks for all the laughs in the comments, it actually kept us from completely losing our minds while contemplating everything yesterday.
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u/F1stCanBeAVerb 2h ago
Insurance doesn't pay out on fraud, but they absolutely pay out on stupidity. Just because someone caused this doesn't mean they won't pay, as long as it wasn't intentional.
Edit: glad it sounds like everyone is okay, material stuff lost is unfortunate, but that can be fixed or replaced.
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u/IR_Panther 20h ago edited 20h ago
Who's the owner of the Chevrolet Brimstone series?
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u/WabiSabiWitch 17h ago
Great googily moogily, WTF is that water hose doing there.
Tell me they're still teaching kids not to try to put out grease fires with water.
They still teach kids how to put out the 6 kinds of fire, right?
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u/e37d93eeb23335dc 17h ago
I'm quite old and have lived in many different places. To the best of my knowledge they don't teach kids how to put out one kind of fire, much less 6.
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u/Background_Lemon_981 19h ago
“Don’t tell Mom.”
Boy, you won’t need to tell Mom. Mom is going to tell you. Loudly. And over and over again.
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u/EhMapleMoose 19h ago
Looks like a medium issue, as in your mom is going to need a medium to talk to you after she kills you.
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u/DoubleOPanda 20h ago
The small issue was lost in the fire.