A lot of people I run into make the comment that I must lead an interesting life and have a lot of tales to tell. It is true that over the past 41+ years, there have been more than one or two odd or unusual jobs. Generally, locksmithing is a job, sometimes a hard job, but there have been a few moments that stick out.

An Unusual Job Making Car Keys

One of those moments would have been a routine job on any other day or in any other place. Back in my earlier days, in Grand Junction, Colorado, I received a call from a lady who was in just short of panic mode, asking me if I could come immediately to make keys for her car. Since I wasn’t busy, I said yes, took the address, and drove to the southwest side of town.

It looked like a fire and police convention when I pulled up, and I soon found out why. The Colorado River was way above flood stage and was being held back by a sandbag wall about three feet high. It was right at the edge of her backyard and driveway, and police and firemen were doing a mandatory evacuation. My customer had lost her car keys and was very close to losing everything. I hopped out and made the keys while sitting almost at eyeball level with a very angry looking river. She had previously loaded her car, so when I finished, she immediately left for higher ground. So did I.

Opening Safes after the Sugarloaf Fire in Boulder

The two “F” disasters, Flood and Fire, always seem to stick out in my memory. The Sugarloaf Fire in Boulder, Colorado, in the late 1980s, still weighs on my mind because it was the first really big fire disaster I had seen.

I did one or two jobs near the fire, but not close enough to see it or be in immediate danger. But after the fire was out, I did three jobs in the burnt zone, all three opening up safes in homes that had burned to the ground. To say it was a sobering sight might be the biggest understatement one could make. Two of the three were in-floor, square-door safes, embedded in concrete. The dials had melted on both but opened relatively easily.

The third was a large double-door safe that did not fare as well. The safe had swollen a great deal because of the extreme heat. Swelling is a real problem if the door expands in its opening because it jams the door in place. With a great deal of sweat and large crowbars, the boltworks were finally moved to the open position. The doors were pried open to reveal that much of the contents had survived but everything made of paper had a brownish cast to it. A few more degrees or a few more minutes, and it could have been a different story with the loss of the contents being complete.

I remember while catching my breath from the exertion, looking around and seeing black and gray house foundations with chimneys still in place reaching upward. It is distinctly humbling to realize that fire out of control destroys people’s homes and lives so quickly.

Yes, life is sometimes too real. But often as hard as it may be to understand, it brings out the determination to press on and rebuild.

Helping In Your Situation

You may be facing a situation where you need a locksmith in a hurry for automotive lock work or safe work. I do my best to get to your job as quickly as possible to minimize your inconvenience and trouble. With more than 41 years of experience, we do understand how trying your situation can be. Let us help. You can reach us at 618-466-9347.