I have been awake since the fire started, with the exception of a few cat naps when the human kids are awake and home. I stay awake all night when everyone else is sleeping. We still have a "hot spot" in the chimney. The wall in the closet is still too hot to touch and now there is smoke in the bathroom whenever the door is closed. The fire is still burning. The problem is that the chimney is in the center of the house. The choices are to either let it burn itself out and WATCH it or have them tear out the wall and back of the chimney. The fire chief told me the night of the fire just to watch it for a while and it should go out, but it hasn't. Now the insurance company and the fire department are discussing what to do. As far as I am concerned they can tear the whole house down.....JUST PUT THE FIRE OUT. And yes we clean the chimney every year but according to the fire chief it has a weird design and there's a small shelf where the creosote built up and worked it's way behind the bricks. The chimney is located in the center of the house and that's the problem, no outside wall. The 2 ferrets that were most upset by the fire were Tyki and Sneaky, both the youngest. Sneaky was shaking so bad for so long I thought the whole cage would start moving. Tyki, my chunky angora guy just wanted to be held. He always acts so tough but is the biggest whimp of them all. He's afraid of noises, the wind, going outside, the rain, etc, etc. It's probably my fault. With all my rescues and oldies, I never had a baby ferret before and I babied him too much....if that's possible. Nancy who is just waiting to awaken from the worse nightmare she has ever had.... [Posted in FML 6621]