A few years ago we had a bad house fire and lost everything. The investigator determined that the cause was a cheap surge protector. They said it had probably been smoldering in the floorboards for a few days before the fire started. We were told that the cheap ones are not that good and since then we have put the expensive kinds with the replacement guarantee on them. Feel so much safer now. Sorry to hear about your loss but thankfully the surge protector did its job and that no one was hurt.