Scary Night

I woke up last night at about 4:30 because there were lights flashing in my bedroom. I looked out my window and saw two fire trucks parked in the bank parking lot behind my house and a few firefighters on the roof of the nearby movie theater. I saw a little smoke but nothing else. I went back to sleep. In the morning the trucks were still there. Wes went out to walk the dog. When he came back he told me the extent of the damage. We own a house on the opposite side of our block that we rent to a family from my oldest son's class. I walked over and found the mom. They were woken up at 3:45, by a neighbor's shouting, to see the townhomes, still under construction, across the street totally engulfed in flames. The mother's boyfriend grabbed her 5 year old son and ran out of the house. He brought him around the block and banged on our door, rang our bell, rattled our windows. We heard nothing. We were all asleep in the master bedroom with the air conditioner blasting on high. Luckily the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. Another classmate's dad woke up when he smelled the smoke and came to see what was happening. He was able to take the boy home with him. Fortunately, no one was hurt. The house we own had no damage even though it was directly across the street from the fire. The vinyl siding melted off the house next door to it. The garbage can on the curb melted. The trees were all damaged by the heat. It was a horrible shock.

Our tenants told us they realized in the midst of a crisis that they were completely unprepared for an emergency. They couldn't find flashlights or the cat carriers. So please, check your fire alarms, make and practice evacuation plans with your family and stay safe.