Carpenter’s savings spared from massive blaze

The man returned one evening last week to the house he rented in Ölmevalla only to find fire fighters milling about the charred remains of his home.

“It couldn’t be saved and we totally burned down,” Hans-Olof Anderzon told the Hallands Nyheter newspaper.

While man’s family was back in Poland at the blaze, the fire destroyed nearly all his belongings.

But the loss of his furniture, computer, and other possessions didn’t concern the carpenter as much as the fate of one item in particular.

Upon arriving on the scene, he begged firefighters to allow him to enter the rubble to search for a certain box—a box he claimed contained around 500,000 kronor ($76,000).

“It’s many he’d saved from working, but couldn’t put in the bank because he’s not a Swedish citizen,” said Anderzon to the Göteborgs Posten newspaper.

While firefighters refused to allow the carpenter to enter what was left of his house due to the risk of further collapse, of them did managed to locate the box.

Fortunately for the carpenter, the case and its valuable contents managed to become lodged under several beams when the structure collapsed and in so doing escaped the flames.

After police were able to ascertain that the money did indeed belong to the carpenter, he was soon reunited with his savings.