Family loses all in bizarre fireBy Samara Kalk Derby
April 9, 2005
It was like the Rube Goldberg-style kids' game Mousetrap, where a chain reaction of events helps trap a plastic mouse. Tim Brender was working in his basement one January day when a series of unlikely events turned catastrophic.
Brender and his family were a month away from moving from their rented east side townhouse at 1313 Tompkins Drive to a home on Madison's south side.
"He knew he needed to start getting things organized," Lani Brender said about her husband, explaining that he was in the basement Jan. 28 when he pushed a table back, knocking a can of spray paint to the ground.
On the way down, the paint fell square on a hammer below, which punctured it, and sent paint spraying, she said.
"His initial thought was that I was going to be upset that he got silver paint everywhere," Brender said.
But paint splatter turned out to be the least of their worries.
Paint sprayed far enough to ignite the pilot light of the water heater and a flash fire began in front of him, she said.
His only thought at the time was: "This is not happening," she said.
Tim Brender, 45, noticed a cushion had caught fire and tried to get it outside. Meanwhile, the flames burned skin from his palm and thumb and hesuffered second and third degree burns.
"You couldn't set up this scenario to happen. It's still very surreal to us," said Lani Brender, 43, a hairdresser at Head Games Salon, 1715 Thierer Road.
Actually, the scenario gets worse, much worse.
The family lost everything in the ensuing fire: all their furniture and kitchen appliances, their computer, beds and the majority of their clothes. More than two months later they are still discovering items they no longer have.
Lani Brender had just purchased homeowner's insurance for their new house on Badger Lane, but ironically they had no renter's insurance for the apartment they lived in at the time.
"You don't realize what your stuff is worth until you have to tally it up in a dumpster," she said.
Tim works as a dental technician. The couple has two children, Nicole, a junior at La Follette High School, and Jacob, a fifth-grader at Glendale Elementary School.
The basement blaze turned into an inferno when flammable liquids and gunpowder stored there combusted.
Firefighters put the initial fire out, but a half hour later there was a "flashover" that injured a veteran firefighter.
A flashover can occur when the room temperature reaches the combustion temperature of most of the contents in a room. It causes the entire room to ignite from floor to ceiling and is one of the deadliest events firefighters face on the job.
Tim Brender is a hunter and stored gunpowder for his black powder pistol in the basement. When the couple had kids they made sure to lock up all the hunting equipment in a fireproofed gun safe. The situation would have been far worse, firefighters told the Brenders, had those items not been secured.
At their new home, the Brenders keep anything flammable in a shed far away from the house. It is a lesson that has caused their friends to go into their own basements and workshops to store away any potential combustibles.
If anything positive has come from the tragedy, "it's telling people about checking and making sure they don't have anything close enough to have some freak accident happen," Lani Brendersaid.
Meanwhile, the family was able to get established in their new home with mattresses and box springs provided by St. Vincent de Paul. Strangers from a relative's church donated a desk and a couch.
"People who don't know us donated clothes and furniture. It's unbelievable that people will come out and help strangers like that," Lani Brender said.
The Red Cross also came through for them in a big way, she said, meeting them in the emergency room and putting them up in a hotel. Her son had no shoes at the time and neither her son nor husband had coats. The agency gave them vouchers they used for food, clothes, underwear and toothbrushes.
Glendale School was helpful as well, getting backpacks and school supplies for the kids.
"You quickly find out how you can get by on the very basics. You don't realize how spoiled you are when you have all your stuff around until it's gone," she said.
The experience has been "very humbling," Lani Brendersaid, adding that she likes to view herself as the one who reaches out to others.
"It's hard to be on the other side of it. You read or hear of other people having tragedies and never expect to be the one experiencing it."
People are still reaching out to help the family.
Dale Nelson, who owns the salon where Lani Brender works, and one of her clients, Corissa Kasmira, are co-hosting a fundraiser Sunday.
"Hairdressers are all giving people by nature," said Nelson, explaining why he organized the event. "The hardest thing for Lani to do is accept (the help). By nature we like to help."
Nelson said it's encouraging to see something positive develop out of such a destructive incident.
"I have two kids and the biggest thing I teach them or am trying to teach them is that life isn't always good but with the goodness of others it can be better."
BRENDER FUNDRAISER
• 2 p.m. Sunday: Buckeye Inn, 4420 E. Buckeye Road.
• Automatic: WJJO/FM 94.1 "Battle of the Bands" winner will provide the music and there will be free beer.
• Suggested donation: $7 and the family is registered at Target
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