Biden Claims He ‘Lost An Awful Lot’ In House Fire. Jill Biden Reported The Small Kitchen Fire That Was Doused In 20 Minutes

President Joe Biden claimed on Wednesday that he once “lost an awful lot” in a house fire — but fact-checkers have previously said that the 2004 fire was contained to the kitchen and doused within 20 minutes.

Biden traveled to Fort Myers, Florida, to assess the damage left behind by the high winds and dangerous storm surge of Hurricane Ian — but when he took a moment to let Floridians know that he understood what they were going through, the story he shared appeared to be at best an exaggeration.

Arthur Schwartz shared video of the comment, which he captioned, “Joe Biden says he once ‘lost an awful lot’ of his home in a fire. That never happened; he made it up. Totally normal.”

WATCH:

Joe Biden says he once “lost an awful lot” of his home in a fire. That never happened; he made it up. Totally normal. pic.twitter.com/W7Ma1YHf7O

— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) October 5, 2022

“I know from experience how much — how much anxiety and fear and concern there are in the people,” he said. “We didn’t lose our whole home, but lightning struck and we lost an awful lot of it about 15 years ago.”

Last November, Biden also said that his house had “burned down” and that first lady Jill Biden had been in the house at the time — but that she had been able to get out safely.

At the time, The Washington Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler noted that there had, in fact, been a fire at the Biden home in 2004 – but that it had not been anywhere near as large or as damaging as the president appeared to suggest.

Kessler shared an Associated Press news report detailing the incident, tweeting, “Biden today: We ‘had a house burn down with my wife in it. She got out safely.’ 2004 AP news report: ‘A small fire that was contained to the kitchen … Jill reported the fire … The fire was under control in 20 minutes.’”

Biden today: We “had a house burn down with my wife in it. She got out safely.”
2004 AP news report: “A small fire that was contained to the kitchen….Jill reported the fire…The fire was under control in 20 minutes.” https://t.co/2VcAebg9r5

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 16, 2021

According to Cranston Heights Fire Company Chief George Lamborn, when firefighters arrived on the scene, they could see heavy smoke coming from the house — but because they arrived on the scene early, they were able to keep the flames from spreading outside of the kitchen.

“Luckily, we got it pretty early. The fire was under control in 20 minutes,” he said.

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