Help Jamie Rebuild After Devastating Fire

Thank God no one was hurt, but... My dad, Jamie, lost his livelihood and the majority of his life's savings when his shop burned down 4/17/24.

Insurance-nope.

60x80 steel building full of tools, machines, cars, auto-lift, engines, parts, 50+ years of accumulated investments, basically his entire 401k... all toast.

He is a man who retired from customer auto repair, but needs to stay busy to stay alive.

My dad invested everything into his shop and always had insurance, until this year. He'll never get back everything he lost, but I'm trying to raise money to help with the cleanup and maybe get him back a space to continue working.

How did it catch on fire?

You know the saying "no good deed goes unpunished"...

Even though dad is still recovering from a shoulder replacement on one side and rotator cuff surgery on the other, he still doesn't stop moving. Especially if he sees someone in need, he jumps right in. Someone was broke down right up the street from him, so he decided to lend a hand. Dad brought their part up to his garage and used a torch to remove some rusted nuts and then brought it back to them. Then he was returning to his garage 10 minutes later with the guys he was helping only to find the entrance engulfed in flames.

Apparently a red hot piece of metal he'd cut off had rolled under something and... with flammable liquids, aerosols, tires, and vehicles with gas tanks all over, it didn't take long for flames to be raging in, through and out of the building. He attempted to run in to grab one of his many fire extinguishers, but explosions of various sizes were happening throughout and thankfully he decided it wasn't worth his life.

Dad has been a hard working mechanic his whole life. He used to own an auto repair business in Verona (Jamie's auto service) until he was in his 50's when he sold his shop and built a 60'x80' steel building next to his home where he could work on and store vehicles and tools. He "retired" to spend his golden years doing what he loves best - tinkering and restoring classic cars. He spent pretty much every day in there working on several projects/jobs at a time, one on the lift, another on ramps in the doorway, and something else often suspended from the boom of his tow truck around back. (The photo below is us working on my '57 Chevy truck a few years ago, which thankfully was not in the building since working on it with my dad has made it one of my most cherished possessions.)

He had an immense collection of tools and parts he'd accumulated over the last 50 years in there. If someone needed a specific tool, they knew they could borrow it from dad. He also stored his most treasured classic and unique vehicles in there, including my favorite: a custom impala he built 30 years ago that we used to take in parades when I was a kid.

There were more vehicles and lawn mowers surrounding the outside walls of the building which also went up in flames. Some were for parts, some were assets and collectibles, and some were listed for sale because he'd already repaired them. The entire building and everything in and near it are a total loss.

Of all the stupid things he's done over the years, it was when he was just trying to be a good Samaritan that dad lost almost everything. Thankfully it didn't spread to the house and no one got hurt.

I'm trying to raise some money for him to clean up the aftermath and start rebuilding. He doesn't have another 50 years to get back what he worked so hard for, but if he doesn't have a space and tools to keep doing what he loves I'm afraid he'll stop functioning altogether. I am a daddy's girl through and through. I've been turning wrenches in his garages since I was young. I want my son (as soon as he can walk) to learn from his grandpa the invaluable lessons I learned. Dad isn't just a parts changer, he is a mechanic. He is also one of the hardest working, most stubborn, never-quit people I've ever seen. Finances have not been his strong suit. Instead of putting away money for retirement he invested everything back into cars and tools. If he needs money he sells a car. If he makes money he buys a car and fixes it up. Sometimes he loses and sometimes he makes a profit. He always intended on working til the day he dies.

The worst part - no insurance. He paid garage insurance every year until this year. They had raised his rates so he decided to drop them and switch to another company. After weeks of back and forth it turns out the new company didn't actually offer the right kind of coverage for his shop, so he was 'in the market'. Timing is everything. Homeowners insurance dropped them last month because of "streaks on their roof". The roof doesn't leak, but insurance companies are looking for any reason to avoid covering now.

Thankfully he is not destitute. They still have the house and a few less valuable classic cars that were luckily parked in the field, he occasionally rents those to movies as picture cars. The biggest struggle will be getting the aftermath from the fire cleaned up and rebuilding his tool inventory and a space for him to work from... and keeping up his morale.

Everyone that knows Jamie knows to call him if they need help with something. Car repairs, drywall, mounting a light, digging a trench, rescuing cats/dogs/chickens... you call and he's in his car on his way. Even now while he's still recovering from rotator cuff surgery he's helping me with a home repair and even helping with babysitting!

He tries to act gruff but he's a softie with a great heart. I hope to keep his spirits up by showing tons of support. If you can help in anyway we would be extremely grateful, including prayers!

Also, thank you to the firefighters who spent over 4 hours getting the blaze out and keeping the house and neighbors safe.