Fire in the Neighborhood

 

This is close to the craziest thing I have seen in our neighborhood in the 19 years we have lived here.  One night I was up fairly late (~11 pm) for me and I heard some loud voices outside our house.  I came up from the basement to our backyard to see what was going on and this is the view over the fence to our neighbors house.  They had smoke pouring out of their roof and I could hear the sound of engines pulling up and people shouting commands from the other side of their house.  Moments later, my neighbor to the left of me also ended up on his porch looking at the same thing later.  We then found ourselves alerted by a police officer who came in to my back yard that we needed evacuate our house and come to a staging area.  I believe this is because we basically share fence lines, trees, and are in very close proximity to what is almost a fully involved house fire right there!

We decided to take the advice and I woke up Tara and the kids from their sleep, had them put on some warm clothes and we headed out to the street corner while the fire was worked.  Here is another view from the down the street.  I think they had four or five engines, an ambulance, and several police cars all working the scene.  Luckily, they "saved" the house and all of our surrounding houses...though the house on fire does look like it might be damaged beyond repair.  If not for the fire, I am sure the holes they cut in the roof and all the water that they rained down surely caused irreparable damage.  After about an hour an a half on the lawn outside with blankets, we were allowed back inside our house and we tried to get everyone back to sleep.  What a crazy night!