Better Than I Imagined: A Scare

Today was is something that I have not thought about since I quit working outside the home. Over the past 14 years I either worked or lived in residence halls and planned for every type of emergency thinkable. I have responded to so many different types of emergencies and situations (which are some great posts for another time)...I just forgot that it happens to adults in homes not just highrise buildings with hundreds of people living in them.

This morning while we were at church our neighbors from down the street called Dave on his cell phone. He called to tell us our neighbor's house was on fire. He thought we would want to know because it was on fire on the side that is closest to our house.

Dave came and found me and we left right away. The car ride home was an eerie anticipation to find out what happened or what was happening as we drove home. We prayed as we drove home for our house and for our neighbor's and their safety. It seemed as if we got behind the slowest traffic on our way to the house. We passed by the fire station and the fire trucks were still out. We were hoping they would be nestled back in their garages after a small fire. The feelings intensified as we pulled down our street. There was a police car blocking the street about 6-7 houses up from our neighbors. We were asked to park further up the street encase more fire trucks needed to arrive. From where I was I could see 4 fire trucks that were not from our fire house. Around the corner we saw the two from our fire station. There were 3 ladder and 3 engine fire trucks stretching down the street where the last one stopped in front of our house.

As we walked towards our house I could see our neighbor's house and it looked fine, nothing wrong. As we got closer we saw our neighbor stopped and talked to her and she told us her building (which is attached to her house) was gone. Her children were out safely and were inside the neighbor's house. There were about 30 firemen working on the trucks and in the yard doing what they do best. I took Arden in to put her down for her nap and then I saw the damage. It was horrible.

The entire backside of her house was charred. The building was just a black skeleton of ashes and the wall facing our house was charred as well as the backside of the top floor of her house. The sight of it brought tears of thankfulness to my eyes that my house had been spared and tears for my neighbor as I realized everything she now has to do to get her house back together.

After getting Arden settled I stood outside taking in all in. Dave and I talked about how we know the Lord protected our house. I've been studying the Psalms of Ascents and Psalm 125:2 tells us how the Lord surrounds his people like the mountains surround Jerusalem. I truly see where he surrounded our house. It is amazing how the picket fence was 3 feet from the flames charred on her side but looked like new on the side facing our house never caught fire but the umbrella did on the back deck. I am so thankful for the Lord's protection.

The firemen were here about 3 and half hours after we got home. I hated to stare but I stood in the window watching the firemen do their job. (I would have been outside but I had been out there for a while and it was cold plus with all the water it was wet and damp.) It is amazing how they each have a specific job to do and yet it all flows like teamwork. Watching them roll the hoses back in the truck fascinated me so. They stretched the hoses from the truck all through our front yard and down to the bottom of our back yard. Then I watched as they cleaned up the charred building tearing down what had been destroyed throwing out the damaged goods out the window and still spraying down all corners of the house to ensure the fire was completely out. Not only did the firemen talk to our neighbor about what happened they also talked to us and told us how luckily we were that our houses have space between them. I am so thankful that we have a paid fire department who is able to respond quickly and is only 4-5 blocks away from our house.

Dave spend the afternoon working with a few guys in the neighborhood helping clean up the mess. The good news is nobody was injured or hurt, the house is fixable and I know that we live in a neighborhood where people lookout for each other and pitch in and help.

I did take some pictures of the day to document what happened.