Ever wonder what happens to your saxophone if it gets caught in a house fire? Well wonder no more. I have photographic evidence of what a saxophone looks like after its case is exposed to the 600+ degrees Fahrenheit of the average house fire 1.
At 1:30 in the morning of February 14, my student and her family were woken up by the smoke alarm in their third floor apartment. A neighbour was also yelling: Fire! Fire! Fire!
They quickly grabbed 3 of their 4 pets—yes, sadly, one of their 3 cats hid on them and died in the fire—their cell phones, and evacuated the building in their PJs.
At the time of writing the official cause of the fire has not been release yet, but it is thought to have started on the first floor and travelled up the outside wall and into the roof. When my friends escaped from their top floor apartment, the roof was already fully engulfed in flames.
Yes, it spread incredibly fast, but remarkably no person died or was injured. Sadly though, 200 people are now looking for new homes since the apartment building is a total loss. (Nope, the sprinkler system did not go off. Why? Like I said, the official report has not been released yet.)
The entire top (third floor) of the building sustained the most damage, and to the best of my knowledge most of the units suffered nearly 100% loss of their contents.
A couple of days ago my student and her family were allowed up into the hallway of the third floor and could tell the salvage crew where to look for items. Although 99.9% of their stuff was gone, a few things survived unscathed, and some things were very scorched.
What does a saxophone look like after a house fire?
Which brings us to my student’s saxophone. She had been renting a Gemeinhardt tenor from Matterhorn Music. Well just look at it now…
The horn had been in its GL Cases ABS Tenor Case. When my student got her horn new from Matterhorn a couple of years ago, this was the standard case all Gemeinhardt student saxophones came in.
The case was basically melted, so my student didn’t really think the horn was going to resemble anything saxophone-like. She was surprised when it was still more or less intact—at least compared to the case.
When I saw it the day she got it, it was pretty much black all over. They day after, when I took these photos, my student had cleaned most of the soot off, but had left the burned crusties on. It adds character, don’t you think. 😉
From the photos it is easy to see how the horn was sitting in its case, and in which direction the case was sitting. You can also see how the neck was placed in its storage compartment within the case.
Notice how the solder has completely been burned off and the octave key saddle is missing. The low C key guard suffered the same fate.
I think by far and away though, the most interesting part of the instrument is the neck. Here you can see what the extreme heat did to the lacquer and finish of the horn.
This horn is obviously not going to be rebuilt. However, it should make all of us think about our instruments and what would happen to them in the event of a fire. Would they survive in or out of their cases better? Is there any kind of case that is better than others? Me thinks those old plywood cases are not going to hold up very well. Nor are any new ones with a wooden shell.
I should note, that my student did also have an alto in a Protec Max case. It was only about 7′ away from the tenor the living room. However, no sign of sax or case was discovered that day. My friends suspect that it was likely in one of the piles of rubble that were all over the apartment, since the alto was sitting directly beside the sofa that is now nothing more than a pile of ashes.
What can we learn from my friend’s apartment fire experience?
I know that what my friends are currently going through with their insurance company have me re-evaluating my insurance coverage. My homeowners policy renewed on March 1. I am just in the process of updating the values of my horns and gear, and the insurance company is likely going to suggest scheduling some of the horns.
Not everyone is going to learn from the experiences of others. That is simply a fact of adult education. If you are one of those does learn from other’s experiences, I strongly encourage you to make sure you have the best coverage for not only your expensive music gear, but all your stuff.
Shit happens. And sadly, shit happening during a global pandemic only makes matters more difficult. Trust me. I am seeing it first hand.
Update March 10, 2021
My friend and her two daughters were allowed to go their old apartment yesterday one last time. This time the suite was declared safe enough for them to go and assist the reclamation crew with finding items. They did find the Selmer alto sax that my student owned. Yes, she kept it. They also snapped a photo of the Gator GL tenor sax case just to show what the damage was. (No, they did not keep it. 😉 )
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1 Source: Home Fire Facts, City and County of San Francisco Fire Department
I’d be leery about trying to reuse that neck. Mostly I’d be afraid it would have gotten annealed in the fire, and be soft in places such that it’s going to flex and bend in use. The body, on the other hand, just looks lightly scorched. It probably needs several new pads, but it may not be a total loss. Of course since this was a rental, the insurance company is probably going to make that decision for them — but if they go on to auction the leftovers, I think I’d bid (but not too much) on that tenor.
I’m sorry about the poor cat.
They had insurance through Matterhorn Music. It was written off through the store’s insurance plan. The horn would have been paid off in June or July of this year, so I believe that they had rented it for just under 4 years now.
David, the store’s owner, saw no point in getting the horn back, since it would have cost him more in time and money to fix it up, than it would cost to buy a new one. My student was able to keep this fie survivor and it will be hung up in her office as wall art.
Finally, just yesterday, my student was able to replace the computer she lost, so she can properly work on her scholarship materials. She has been accepted into an animation program, and lost a lot of hand drawn material. Part of what she lost were about 300 drawings—about 15 seconds worth—of an animation that has to be submitted by the end of the month IIRC. The review committee has given her an extension due to the extenuating circumstances, but nonetheless the loss of the material is a huge blow. Most of her stuff was backed up to a cloud, but not what she had worked on the night of the fire.
This family’s loss has taught me a lot over the last 5 weeks. What they have gone through has been truly saddening. The way the insurance company dragged its feet has been stunning, and should give all of us pause for thought. However, the outpouring of support from friends and total strangers, as well as the community at large, makes me feel slightly more hopeful about society. B/C quite frankly, this COVID thing over the past 12 months has made me question just how many jagoffs we have in our society.