Fire, Fire, Fire!

I woke Sunday night around 11 p.m., a mere hour into my slumber, because I was hot and I heard rain. What I saw, when I got up to close the window was the start of a terrifying night. This is what I saw...





I screamed to wake Mark up and stood there sputtering, not knowing what to do while he calmly and rationally called 911 to report the fire raging in the barn across the street from our apartment. After making the call, we ran down to the parking lot to move our cars as ashes rained down around us.

We stood on the lawn (me with the camera in hand) with our neighbors for what seemed like hours until the local fire department arrived on scene. They could quickly see that the building was going to be a total loss, so they set to work watering down the surrounding buildings and homes to make sure the flames didn't spread.

It was a nightmare. The fire was so hot that though it was only 40-degrees outside we all stood around in pj's - no coats or sweatshirts necessary. At one point I ran upstairs to make sure smoke wasn't getting in our apartment and decided to close our bedroom window, which was hot to the touch.

I had knots in my stomach...the worst, scariest feeling ever. Luckily the firefighters were efficient and brave though they had to deal with explosions (paint, fertilizers etc. were stored in the barn), sparks from electricity, and burn off from where a natural gas pipeline caught fire.

By 1 a.m. this is what the scene looked like....



After being interviewed by members of the fire department about what we'd seen (our call was the second one they'd received) we finally headed up to bed around 1:30 a.m. Several firetrucks and squad cars were parked on the road near our bedroom window, however making it difficult to sleep. The fire department finally left around 5:00 a.m.

Mark got up at 5:15 a.m. for work and I got up at around 6:30 a.m. The area was still smoking a bit in the morning...



Let me tell you, we are very thankful to live in a city with a very dedicated group of volunteer firefighters on hand. If the wind had shifted or the weather had been different in any way, there could have been a much different outcome.

In other news, we're going to look at a house this evening and have a busy rest of the week and weekend ahead of us. I'll be sure to post...at least I'll try...ok, I'll think about posting. Till then...ciao!