We were startled last evening while we were quietly watching TV and suddenly heard loud knocking at our front door. We hurried to see who was there and found our next door neighbor Anne in a destressed condition. She hurriedly announced that there was a terrible fire nearby and that the fire was showering burning embers all over our neighborhood. Once out the front door we could see the situation for ourselves. We hadn’t even heard sirens but a fire was definitely raging close by and a cloud of smoke carrying hot embers was right overhead and those embers were raining down onto our street and houses. Some neighbors had hoses and were spraying water on their houses. I ran next door to alert Gene and Marie and then across the street to notify Jean and Cheyenne while Tom pulled our side hose out and started wetting our roof. I called Paul and Cindy and they said they were coming over. We soon received information that an apartment building three blocks away was on fire. The building is still under construction. Luckily there was no wind or that may have fanned the flames even more and perhaps even the embers too. Cindy and Paul drove by the fire and then finally made their way to our neighborhood having first acquired footage of the flames. We stayed outside with our neighbors talking and evaluating the situation until we were all certain that the fire seemed to be under control and the ember cloud ceased to rain down on us. Cindy and Paul’s pictures showed that the six story building had indeed burned right to the ground and only the cement elevator towers remained. Everyone checked around their homes for start up fires and we finally went inside feeling a little chilly and little shaken. There had been some electric explosions during the fire and sure enough we too lost power before getting into bed. The power came on a few hours later but quickly went out again leaving our home fire alarms beeping for most of the night despite my attempts to silence them.
This morning we got a better look at things and could see the fields behind covered in ash and debris. Some dear woman went out with a garbage bag and started trying to pick up larger pieces. The lawn mower tracker came and went over the fields which helped the situation. The school children were kept inside and off the fields today. I hosed off our driveway and front yard and Tom used a long pull to knock a large piece of debris off our roof. We walked over to the fire site and found the area around blocked off by police. The fire is still smoking and they are still pouring water onto it. The building next to it was partially burned as well and there were flames on the top floor that firemen were still working on. Beautiful day though and dear sweet Maureen Fairbairn is bringing us dinner. We are a little tired.
Tom’s pain seems to be doing better since the completion of radiation and he is walking farther and doing more. We are always hopeful and prayerful. It has been a lovely sunny week and we have both been doing some yard work and Tom has hosed off the back deck and washed the windows facing the deck. We have the outdoor furniture set up and we have been enjoying our time using that area. We have been listening to audio books together and doing our regular “Come Follow Me” activities. We watch or listen to five podcasts each week and really enjoy them. We listen to a conference talk during supper and then the podcasts right after we cleanup the dishes and before watching our movies and programs. We have no more medicinal appointments until May which makes for a nice break. We love zooming with our family each Sunday and we are still taking Carol the sacrament on Sundays.
We are very grateful that our home and our neighborhood was kept safe during the firestorm last night. It really could have turned out much differently.
No comments:
Post a Comment