Phoenix Project 04: Final Fire House Salvage

Two months after the fire, I went back into the house one last time to see what could be salvaged from upstairs and the loft. I honestly expected very little. What I found was a mix of total losses, sooty maybes and a few machines that came through far better than they had any right to. This video was sponsored by PCBWay, who have been a real help in getting the channel back on its feet.

Starting downstairs: an Amiga 600 keyboard

The first thing I picked up was an Amiga 600 keyboard with a hard membrane replacement fitted. Some of the keys are shot, but keys are always useful, and the ribbon cable is only a bit scorched. Another Phoenix survivor. The whole place was still really damp, which matters for what comes next.

What survived in the loft?

The disaster recovery people had brought things down from the loft, and this is where the first wins turned up. Two Amstrad CPC 464s look like survivors; one is missing a key post, but that can be 3D printed. A Commodore 64 is missing a key and looks like it will clean up. Most surprising of all, games that were inside closed boxes in the loft still had smoke inside the box, so nothing was truly sealed off from it.

There was also plenty of Sinclair stuff: a Spectrum that needs cleaning, a ZX81 RAM Turbo, a RAM Music Machine, a Spectrum +2 pack and Graphic Adventure Creator. Some Amiga CD32 games survived, Gunship 2000 included, along with Atari ST discs, Amstrad cassettes and floppies, and a CPC 6128 that was wrapped up and might be in good condition.

Soot covered Amstrad CPC 464 recovered from the loft of the fire-damaged house — Two CPC 464s from the loft look like survivors

Not everything was so lucky. My 3D printer will never work again: the crud is embedded all over it, and there is rust upstairs too, even though this part of the house is not as damp. A 1040STe has definitely seen better days on the outside, with soot burnt into the surface, but I will recover whatever I can from it. Two Mega CDs were wrapped up, though I suspect both had capacitor issues before the fire anyway.

Under the bed: the BBC Micro that came through unscathed

I had a feeling there might be something under the lift-up bed, and there was quite a lot. An Atari Jaguar and pad, a 520 ST still in its box, a couple of sooty N64 games (Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing), and a boxed BBC Micro that was completely unscathed, protected by its polystyrene packaging. I got quite emotional at that point.

Thank you polystyrene: you killed the planet, but you saved my retro.

Boxed BBC Micro found unscathed under the bed in the fire-damaged house — The boxed BBC Micro, saved by its polystyrene

The final room

The last room was the one I recorded my previous update in. Another BBC B did not survive so well: the case is finished, but the case is only part of the story and I am sure something can be saved from it. There was also a black edition Amiga 600 (soot black, that is) with a mouldy nameplate and keys I am not sure will ever come clean, plus a later grey Spectrum +2 and another 128K +2 covered in muck that has been baked into the surface by the heat of the smoke.

Good news: the retro mods people had sent me for videos survived, which matters to me because I hate the idea of things people sent going up in flames. There was also a sooted but possibly rescuable Twin Famicom with games, a Namco G-Con, some Xbox controllers, a box of Commodore 64 discs and cassettes, and a Game.com that had lines on the screen before the fire.

Soot damaged Sharp Twin Famicom console recovered from the fire-damaged house — A sooty but possibly rescuable Twin Famicom

The highlight out in the hallway was a charred C64, and right at the end I spotted an Atari mono monitor in a terrible state.

Charred Commodore 64 found in the hallway of the fire-damaged house — The charred C64 from the hallway

What happens next?

That was the final visit, and there were more wins than I expected. Nothing here has been tested yet, so none of this is a promise that any of it works, but the plan is the same as always: no retro left behind if possible. I have cameras set up at the rented house and I am getting ready to start recording again. Thank you to everyone who donated and everyone who joined the Patreon: the kindness has honestly been overwhelming, and you will see plenty coming from the ashes as the Phoenix Project continues.

Some of the restorations that followed the fire: restoring a soot damaged Intellivision and servicing a BBC Micro power supply after the capacitors exploded. For more Amstrad rescue work, see the CPC 464 found in the woods.