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So Sunday morning at five am my dog starts woofing a little. She does this some nights at every single little noise so I tell her to hush without even waking up all the way. A moment later, however, my BFF knocks on my door.
My BFF knocking on my door at five am means something very bad is happening. So immediately I sit up and she pokes her head in and says, 'you might want to get dressed and get the dogs out of the house, the house next door is on fire.'
Immediately I jump up and throw on some clothes, then grab the two small dog crates and herd my border collie out of the bedroom and down the stairs. I can hear crackling and shouting outside so I grab my car keys, snap a leash on the BC and run the dogs out the back and into my Rav. I look next door but see no flames. However I CAN see fire trucks and lots of smoke.
As I run back inside with plans to grab the cat and stuff her in a crate as well, my BFF's husband comes in the front door and tells me it's not the next door neighbor but the one across the street. I relax a little as the fire would have to jump the street and go through three other houses to reach us and decide not to catch the cat unless something changes, and head with him outside.
Sure enough, the poor house is completely engulfed and the roof of the house right next to it is on fire.
Not sure what happened yet but I talked with both the homeowners and from what I know from them:
The first house, the family (Mother, father, two year old twins) were all asleep when the Mother woke up to a bang at the front of the house. She went downstairs to see what it was and opened the front door to find her porch was on fire. She then grabbed the kids and woke the hubby and they rushed out of the house with their pets (all safe) and called the fire department at the same time neighbors called the fire department. They said to hurry because the houses are only ten feet apart and the fire was BAD.
The sherriff shows up first claiming someone called in an assault. He sees the fire and also calls in the fire department, which takes twenty minutes to arrive. Note...the fire department is less than a mile away. I can walk to it in less than twenty minutes.
By the time the trucks arrive the roof of the second house is on fire. The firemen beating on the door wake the man who lives in the second house who, as soon as he realizes what's going on, grabs a garden hose and starts trying to put the fire out. The sherriff eventually has to escort him back so that the firemen can do their jobs.
What gets me is the news crew who arrives on scene puts out the story that there was actually an assault, that the owner of the second house had been attacked and had his face cut, and had called in the initial 911 call. That the sherriff had rolled out for the assault and at that point called in the fire that the assaulted man was attempting to douse with a fire hose.
There was no assault. No one's face was cut. He didn't wake up until the firemen were already on scene and could have died from smoke inhalation if they hadn't woken him without even knowing what was happening. So no one knows where this whole assault thing is coming in or why its being reported in the news.
Then, some poor young fireman ended up falling through the floor of the second story of the first house as they were testing the structure, and had to be carted off in an ambulance.
So the first house...total and utter loss. Even the family's car caught fire and burned. Second house suffered serious smoke and water damage to the second floor. Had the firemen responded immediately to the initial call the house may have been saved.
We all took lots of pictures. I will post some up later.
My BFF knocking on my door at five am means something very bad is happening. So immediately I sit up and she pokes her head in and says, 'you might want to get dressed and get the dogs out of the house, the house next door is on fire.'
Immediately I jump up and throw on some clothes, then grab the two small dog crates and herd my border collie out of the bedroom and down the stairs. I can hear crackling and shouting outside so I grab my car keys, snap a leash on the BC and run the dogs out the back and into my Rav. I look next door but see no flames. However I CAN see fire trucks and lots of smoke.
As I run back inside with plans to grab the cat and stuff her in a crate as well, my BFF's husband comes in the front door and tells me it's not the next door neighbor but the one across the street. I relax a little as the fire would have to jump the street and go through three other houses to reach us and decide not to catch the cat unless something changes, and head with him outside.
Sure enough, the poor house is completely engulfed and the roof of the house right next to it is on fire.
Not sure what happened yet but I talked with both the homeowners and from what I know from them:
The first house, the family (Mother, father, two year old twins) were all asleep when the Mother woke up to a bang at the front of the house. She went downstairs to see what it was and opened the front door to find her porch was on fire. She then grabbed the kids and woke the hubby and they rushed out of the house with their pets (all safe) and called the fire department at the same time neighbors called the fire department. They said to hurry because the houses are only ten feet apart and the fire was BAD.
The sherriff shows up first claiming someone called in an assault. He sees the fire and also calls in the fire department, which takes twenty minutes to arrive. Note...the fire department is less than a mile away. I can walk to it in less than twenty minutes.
By the time the trucks arrive the roof of the second house is on fire. The firemen beating on the door wake the man who lives in the second house who, as soon as he realizes what's going on, grabs a garden hose and starts trying to put the fire out. The sherriff eventually has to escort him back so that the firemen can do their jobs.
What gets me is the news crew who arrives on scene puts out the story that there was actually an assault, that the owner of the second house had been attacked and had his face cut, and had called in the initial 911 call. That the sherriff had rolled out for the assault and at that point called in the fire that the assaulted man was attempting to douse with a fire hose.
There was no assault. No one's face was cut. He didn't wake up until the firemen were already on scene and could have died from smoke inhalation if they hadn't woken him without even knowing what was happening. So no one knows where this whole assault thing is coming in or why its being reported in the news.
Then, some poor young fireman ended up falling through the floor of the second story of the first house as they were testing the structure, and had to be carted off in an ambulance.
So the first house...total and utter loss. Even the family's car caught fire and burned. Second house suffered serious smoke and water damage to the second floor. Had the firemen responded immediately to the initial call the house may have been saved.
We all took lots of pictures. I will post some up later.
Im glad everyone escaped with their lives and pets, but its still sad. Years of posessions and memories just gone. 
(BTW, not all 'things' can be replaced - pictures spring to mind.)
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