Enjoying the view (& a coke zero) from our new patio furniture. Cozy.
Our backyard is looking pretty clean. For now. ;)
Our backyard is looking pretty clean. For now. ;)
So yeah. The house three doors down from us was on fire tonight. Around 12:30am, we were about to walk Lily (yes, we walk our dog at ridiculous hours like 12:30am), when we thought we heard loud firecrakers - you know, the kind that just go boom. We had been hearing them all night, so we expected to see some kids playing with them. Instead, we notice something very bright - this:
Holy crap. The boom sounds we heard were coming from the car. I've never been this close to a fairly-out-of-control fire before. No fire trucks nearby, and we didn't even see anyone outside. I ran back inside while Evelyn stayed with Lily, called 911, and told them about the fire three houses down from us. The dispatcher told me there were already trucks on their way out.
I ran back outside, and Evelyn was shouting for someone to tell the people in the house next door to the fire to get out. Our next door neighboor was banging on their side gate to wake up, but I ran to the front door, rang the doorbell rapidly, and knocked as hard as I could. Just in the few seconds I was there, I could totally feel the heat from the cars (I was probably only 100 feet away or so). The neighbor finally opened his door, I shouted to him something like, "There's a fire next door; you have to get out!", and he then he shut the door on me (presumably to get his family together, though in hindsight, this makes me laugh as I didn't expect him to just go back inside ).
Sure enough, within just a couple minutes, three trucks arrived and went straight to work. Then more arrived. And then more still. And before I knew it, our entire street was filled with fire trucks (plus one with a ginormous light).
We stood outside our home and watched as the firemen put out the fire. It looked like it was mainly associated with the two cars parked in front of the house, but I believe the front of the garage also caught on fire as I watched them eventually remove it from the house.
It's now 2:10am, and I'm just starting to hear trucks leave. The cars and house are naturally messed up, but it looks like the family that lives there is safe, though I really feel for them. And at this point, we don't know what caused the fire. I really hope it was some punk kids playing with fireworks in someone else's yard.
Quick video of all the trucks and stuff:
On a pleasant side note, two guys from PG&E arrived to check out the electric panel on the house that was on fire. After finishing, they were walking by our house, and one tells the other that he used to live in "this" house, motioning to our house. We chatted with him a bit, and told him how we've lived here for a while. Small world!
UPDATE: It's 3:00am now, and all but one truck has left. Hopefully it's sticking around to make sure the fire stays out.
