On Wednesday, President Joe Biden made the claim that he had once “lost an awful lot” in a house fire, and while it is true that Biden’s home caught fire in 2004, fact-checkers previously verified that it 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. Fort Myers was one of the areas hardest hit by the hurricane, which caused billions of dollars in property damage.
Biden took a moment to share a story with the Floridians to try to relate to them and let them know he understood what they were going through. However, the story he shared appeared to be an exaggeration at best.
Republican strategist Arthur Schwartz shared footage of the remarks, saying “Joe Biden says he once ‘lost an awful lot’ of his home in a fire. That never happened; he made it up. Totally normal.”
“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 had claimed that his house had “burned down” and that first lady Jill Biden had been in the house at the time of the fire but had been able to escape safely.
At the time, The Washington Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler noted that there had been a fire at the Biden home in 2004 but that the damage had not been nearly as intense as the president seemed to suggest.
Kessler shared an Associated Press news report, published in 2004, which detailed 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.’”
The report said, “Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke coming from the house, but were able to keep the flames from spreading beyond the kitchen, said Cranston Heights Fire Company Chief George Lamborn. ‘Luckily, we got it pretty early,’ he said. ‘The fire was under control in 20 minutes.’”
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