So. That was an odd 20 minutes.
Eingy & I were lying in bed, when we heard what I thought must have been crunching aluminum. So, I looked outside, to see if anything was happening, and there wasn’t any sign of movement. I figured, well, you’ve got some raccoon wandering around crushing someone’s cans in their recycling bin. I almost went back to sleep, but instead, decided I’d go to our front window, and take a look around, because it was certainly louder than any sort of raccoon I’d ever heard. I looked out our front window, and there it was, unmistakably. A fire, about three stories high, the cloud of smoke just coming out of the top of the roof. So it’s fresh, and it’s only been going for maybe two minutes, at this point.
I grabbed the cell phone, threw on some long pants, woke up everyone in the house, and ran out to see what I could do. When we got to the house, which was an old, run down, structurally un-sound house that had just recently been sold (yes, the obvious conspiracy theories have been brought up, and discussed), it was obvious that if there was anyone inside, there was nothing that anyone without a seriously flame-retardant suit could do for them. The house was bright orange inside, anywhere you could look, and thick smoke was pouring out of everywhere where there was oxygen. Windows were breaking, and letting more air into the house. We ran to the side closer to us, and woke up the woman inside. I grabbed her hose, and started hosing down the tree next to her house, and the house that was on fire. It was a small, spindly tree, with lots of small leaves. The window next to the tree broke, and flames were licking at it. The woman from the house ran around to the back yard, and started hosing it from the other side.
The fire department showed up after about five minutes (those guys are quick), and began the process of stopping the fire. I stopped hosing, since the professionals had arrived, and lined up with the rest of the neighborhood, watching the fire from across the street. I’ve never seen a fire of that intensity. Seen the aftermath, last time I was in NYC, of a deli that had gone up like that, but I’d never seen the active fire in person. Unbelievable. You’d hear a window break from the heat, and moments later, four foot flames would be spewing from the thing. There were certainly moments reminiscent about Backdraft, but fortunately, at least to this point, where the majority of the fire is out, and things are controlled, no one’s been hurt. Hopefully, there was no one inside. If there was, they’re undoubtedly dead, and were long before we got to the scene.
Pretty damned intense. I didn’t have my camera, or time to get it, and by the time the thought occurred to me to take pictures, it was more or less too late, and the fire was mostly out. I’ll take some snaps of the aftermath tomorrow.
Wow.