haha this sucks

New home burns just hours after closing

Upscale Delafield house nearly destroyed

By AMY HETZNER

of the Journal Sentinel staff

Last Updated: Nov. 30, 2001

Delafield - A Waukesha County family watched as their new home was nearly destroyed by fire Thursday only hours after closing the deal on its purchase.

"We were supposed to be moving in today," Catherine Donner said on Friday. "It's totally gutted."

A "sold" sign stood in front of the wooden structure Friday, its upper-story windows shattered and parts of its exterior charred.

Donner, husband Gregg and their three children moved to the area from San Francisco in August and have been living temporarily in Waukesha until their two-story home in the Valley Road Farms subdivision could be finished.

They were at the house at 5 p.m. Thursday to close on its purchase.

Donner declined to say how much her family paid for the home built in an upscale subdivision just north of downtown Delafield. On city permit records, the builder estimated the house to be worth $400,000 with an $85,000 price tag on the land.

Shortly after the closing, the Donners got bad news.

"I got a phone call from our builder saying the house is on fire," Catherine Donner said.

"I thought she was joking. It was hard to believe because we'd just been out there an hour before," she said.

According to Delafield Fire Chief Allyn Swayze, his department received a call about 7:45 p.m. Thursday from a neighbor that the house, in the 200 block of E. Laurel Circle, was on fire.

The blaze, which apparently started in the kitchen, spread through an adjacent family area and up into the second floor, he said. No one was injured, and the fire was contained to the Donners' home.

Firefighters from the Town of Delafield, Town of Summit, Hartland and the Lake Country Fire Department joined those from the city in fighting the blaze, Swayze said. They had it under control within 20 minutes, he said, but not until after the fire had caused substantial damage.

The cause of the fire was not determined Friday, Swayze said.

"The whole house is pretty much blackened," and the second floor is starting to cave in, Swayze noted.

When Catherine Donner arrived at the house Thursday evening after the call from her builder, she said, she couldn't see any flames but saw about 10 firetrucks and ambulances parked outside.

Donner said the family had insurance for the home and would probably just rebuild on the property.

"Apparently the foundation's intact - and the chimney," she said.

If there's one good thing about the timing of the fire, it's that her family - which includes her children, who are 10, 6 and 3 - was not living there yet, Donner said.

Otherwise, it was every homeowner's nightmare.

"Especially only after owning it for two hours," Donner said.

uhhh can I return this? I think it's broken...

that would suck

its not usually in my nature, but i feel bad for them (?)

...And some people dont believe that KARMA exists...

That's the kind of stuff movies are made out of.

Anyone remeber that movie "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks back in the 80's where everything goes wrong...

Originally posted by Tesseract

...And some people dont believe that KARMA exists...

haha sucks for them...hopfully they were assholes and it was karma, if not that really sucks for them then.

On the bright side. At least they will save a few hundred dollar's not having to replace the chimney.

:eek: :D :(

'come over to our house we're having a barbeque, its gonna be a blast'

:rolleyes:

awww....those poor yuppies.

OH NO sir, he sleepin... probably pinin for the fjiords... beautiful plumage, the norwegian blue...