Well, it looks like we may be a small item on the local channel 12 news this evening. I hope it helps.
Done. 
My grandfather’s book and my grandfather’s painting, my signed souvenir book from my training in the USAF, the photographs, the videos, so many shirts, glasses, shirts, pocket programs from all those conventions, the beautiful knives and swords, all those costumes, all those books…all those stories behind all those items that hold me together by serving as a gigantic memory palace.. It is damn hard to start a new year when you have to start over at this late stage of the game.
I know this sounds harsh, but at the end of the day, they’re just ‘things’. You still have the memories, you still have the visceral experiences of having known and held them. That they are gone is now neither here nor there.
It’s just stuff. It can’t be replaced but how much stuff have you rid yourself of over the years that you never mourned? I suspect not much, because once that ‘stuff’ is gone, you don’t actually think about it anymore. There’s new stuff to worry about.
People are different. I’m still mourning some favorite t-shirts that were stolen from my car decades ago. And seeing things that trigger pleasant memories is nice. Without seeing the things, to fewer happy triggers.
Why yes, I live in a cluttered house. And i like it that way. Losing my stuff in a fire would be devastating. Could i move forward? I certainly hope so. But I’d need a lot of space to mourn, first.
Yeah, that’s harsh. But mostly it’s (1) obvious and (2) premature. I know you’re trying to ease his pain, but some understanding and compassion wouldn’t go amiss a few days after this catastrophic loss. Minimizing the loss doesn’t take away the pain of loss.
Of course, it’s an enormous blessing that no lives were lost. [Kitties? 
] But it’s too early to bring up the “they’re just things” truism. Things have meaning. The only thing that helps with loss is time. (Widow speaking here.)
When I moved away from my house in the country almost 12 years ago I had to leave so many things behind that meant a lot to me. The great majority were books, precious books I had had since toddlerhood, books signed to me by beloved teachers and friends, books that had enormous meaning to me. I simply did not have room in my new place. I had a company handle a garage sale, and I’m pretty sure most of my beloved books ended up in a landfill. 
Couldn’t be helped, but it took me YEARS to come to terms with the loss of those books. And not only did I get to choose what to leave and what to bring, I didn’t lose everything. @Czarcasm didn’t get that choice, or time to plan what to leave and what to take.
And just over a year ago, when I moved to The Home, I had to leave behind still more things. Yeah, they’re only things, but they populated my daily life and had meaning for me. We aren’t Buddhist monks who only own our clothing and our begging bowls.
I knew a woman a while back who lost everything in a fire, and she told me that years later, she’d think, “Oh, I need that <whatever> for the party tonight,” and then remember that it was lost in the fire.
This is what friends give to friends and what we need to give to ourselves.
I say this sincerely and not snarkily this post is filled with wisdom
I just saw this today and contributed what I could just now.
So sorry to hear about this Czarcasm.
Sorry this has happened to you and your family, best of luck with sorting out the practicalities and with enduring the pain of losing the things that can’t be replaced.
A friend lost all the furniture he’d inherited from his parents to his ex in a bitter divorce. He was really hurt by that, and to help his recovery, he built himself a gorgeous Japanese-style house that didn’t go with that style of furniture.
He was extremely rich, and that precise way of coping probably isn’t an option for you. But the idea of buying something really super that you would enjoy, that is just different from what you had, rather than trying to directly replace some of the emotionally valuable things that were lost, might be applicable. And maybe trying to think of a super thing you can get with insurance or gofundme money would add a little joy to the rebuilding process.
This is a brilliant suggestion. 
When you find that your minds are shifting a bit from WTH just happened to what next, instead of trying to replicate what you had, take this forced, completely unwelcome catastrophe as a nudge in a slightly or maybe a wildly different direction. Not right away. Time needs to pass and grieving is an organic process that can’t be rushed. But this is a great line of thinking to introduce into this situation. When you’re ready.
Not quite a comparable situation but I’ll echo Thelma Lou a bit.
3+ years ago (wow!) my wife (“Wife1”) died after a long illness. With 33 years married, there was nearly nothing she or I owned that hadn’t been part of our shared life. Including the residence we’d been in for 7 years.
A bit too soon after that I married somebody else, an old friend (“Wife2”). Wife2 then moved into my place. She was calmly but firmly insistent that all Wife1’s old stuff had to go. And she was none too fond of our/my by then 15-20 year old furniture collection.
At first I pushed back pretty hard but with new eyes I saw this as an opportunity to get rid of lots of my old stuff along with late Wife1’s stuff. Getting rid of hers alone would not have felt “fair”. So I/we pretty well chucked 100% of what I had owned the day Wife2 moved into my house. (To be fair, the vast majority of Wife2’s prior possessions went out before she moved in as well; this was not a one-way street.)
Not long after we sold and moved to a new residence. Now with a fresh residence and almost all new fresh possessions for both of us, Wife2 and I started seriously to make our life together. It didn’t work, and now I’m happily divorced from her.
But of the several things I am thankful for about the ~2 year Wife2 experiment, the fresh start with all my possessions and a different residence to boot are the biggees. It seemed sorta wrong at the time, but it seems very right now.
YMMV of course, and as I said at the start, the two situations are not directly comparable. But you may find a nugget of encouragement somewhere in the story. I hope you do.
We have pretty much written off everything in the house (including very unfortunately our three cats) so anything that survives the two fires, the water and the asbestos will be seen as a bonus. Living in this hotel room for an interminable amount of time is a bit of a drag because nothing is within walking distance, but we were kidnapped yesterday by my nephew and his wife for a long drive to the Stonehenge reproduction in Washington. I am back to work full time now and the tension is a bit high because people don’t know how to react, what to say etc.
Glad you’re all safe.
Very sorry about the cats…
I am so sorry.
At the same time, I still hold hope that the cats survived and found new shelter. I’ve often been amazed when a cat turned up long past the point when they were expected.
That would be the biggest bonus of all.
Yes, please let it be this… 
@Czarcasm Here’s some unsolicited advice (what??): find some kind of counseling/therapy for you and your family. This was a hugely traumatizing event that can affect every aspect of your mental and physical health. Beware of people who will remind you to count your blessings, it could have been worse, at least you’re all alive, yaddayaddayadda. All true, of course, but don’t minimize the magnitude of the trauma. Find someone who specializes in post-trauma counseling. End of unsolicited advice. For now.
I’m glad the OP told us about this. I was able to make a contribution that’s not really that much but adds something to the cause.
Good luck, Czarcasm. Best to your family.
It can never be said enough, but I thank you all.
Donated! Sorry, I saw this thread about a week ago but kept forgetting to come back. Best of luck to you and your family @Czarcasm.