The Fire Next Door

A couple of days after school was out, the kids and I were headed to take Sadie to dance.  As we got into the car to leave, I noticed a smell, kind of like maybe a diesel truck had just gone by.  But I didn't think twice about it.  Halfway to dance, I got a phone call from Tony, kind of frantic, asking where I was.  I told him we were on our way to dance, and he said that a house on our street was on fire!  About the same time, a big firetruck passed us going the opposite way with lights and sirens.  As soon as I hung up, our next door neighbor, Lynn, called me freaking out.  Our neighbor on the other side's house was on fire and the one next to it!!  She not so calmly asked me what they should grab out of my house in case it burned!!  I decided not to turn around and got to dance, where I spent the next 45 minutes trying not to freak out as I called friends and family to pray and kept in touch with Lynn and Tony about the progress of the fire. 

After dance we zoomed home, but had to park outside our neighborhood and walk up.  There were firetrucks and people everywhere.  The fire had been contained to just the two houses, but the fire chief told Tony had it been 5 minutes later, our house would have been burned too.  As it turns out, our next doors neighbors accidentally started the fire.  They own a BBQ food cart in Portland and they grill their meat at their house.  The teenage son had disposed of the burning ash on the side of the house, where it ignited the gas line, which caused their house and the house next door to them to catch on fire.

 Here are some pictures of what we saw when we got home.

The house two doors down

The house on the left is the house next door to us

 The next day I wanted to get some pictures a little closer up.  

It was very scary to have something so destructive happen so close to our house.  And it was awful to be there with the people whose houses did burn.  God was definitely watching over our neighbors, as no one was hurt, and He protected our home from the fire.  I am so grateful, but I tell you, I never want to have to deal with anything like this again!