Watched a neighbours house burn this morning

**jetguy5150** · 09.13.06, 12:25 PM

So I decide to sleep in a bit this morning, so I get up around 8:00am. While I am brushing my teeth I hear a fire truck go screaming up the street. Then I hear a second truck. No big deal because in our area they always dispatch two trucks no matter what the call is for. I keep brushing my teeth... then I hear the third truck, then the ambulance, then the police then the fifth through eighth fire trucks. Being human, I get dressed and go outside to see if I can see anything. I step out the front door and look up the street and HOLY SHIT!!!!

Six houses up the street from me the house is completely consumed in flames. We are talking a big house that has flames coming out pretty much every possible opening. I walked up the street to get a better look and make sure everyone was ok. Turns out the father had left for work about an hour prior, the mother had left shortly after him and the 17 year old son left about 15 minutes before smoke was spotted by the neighbour right next door. He actually smelled it in his house before he saw it so he looked out the side window and called 911.

By this time I couldn't leave for work anyway because my driveway was blocked in by fire trucks and hoses etc. so I hung around like one of those gawking morons you see on tv. It took them over an hour and a half to get this under control. The fire had spread to between the ceilings and the roof so they were having trouble getting to it to extinguish it.

After I had been there for about half an hour the man who owns the house came running down the street from where he had to park his car. It just made me sick to my stomach to see this. He was intercepted by the police and the fire chief who assured him noone was in the house. He then got on his cell phone and called his wife who arrived home 15 minutes later. She just collapsed into his arms and started sobbing. This got me thinking....

These people woke up and went through their normal routine and headed off to work only to be called a short time later to find out there is nothing left of their house other than the framework of bricks. I can't even imagine what that feels like. I felt sick watching it and it wasn't my house. To make it worse there was a group of neighbours that were standing there within 50 feet of the owners and they were gossiping and laughing and having a grand old time. I atleast made myself useful by telling these insensitive jackasses to shut the hell up. I felt I had justified my being there atleast.

Anywhoo... there was nothing left in the house for the firefighters to clean up and this house pretty much needs to be knocked down in order to rebuild. It's just sad how quickly life can change for any of us.

**chefcraig** · 09.13.06, 12:36 PM

Well that certainly blows. I hope they at least have someplace to stay in the interum.
Losing a house is truly traumatic. Things that once were taken for granted seem to affect new signifigance in this light.
My thoughts are with your friends, and good on you for shutting up the clueless horse-fuckers who were enjoying themselves.

**hatchetforce** · 09.13.06, 12:36 PM

Jeez Jets, I'm glad you are OK

**billy007** · 09.13.06, 12:40 PM

That's a big fear of mine - to return home to find everything burnt down. It's only possessions and I shouldn't care as long as my family's safe, but you can't help but grow attached to things...

**BottomzUp** · 09.13.06, 12:57 PM

Man that does suck! Of course ultimately human safety prevails over EVERYTHING but I couldn't imagine losing stuff like baby books, family pictures, baseball cards/sports memorabillia and 'irreplaceables' along those lines. Down here in hurricane land we have a list of MUST brings whenever we need to leave but as for a fire...shit what can you do?

**jetguy5150** · 09.13.06, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by hatchetforce

Jeez Jets, I'm glad you are OK

Well it wasn't my house so I was never in harms way. The only risk I had was being spotted wearing half a suit and a pair of scrubs.

It is true about the things we get attached to. The main topic of all the people I was talking with was how we need to do a better job of documenting and video taping everything in the house, protecting photos, keeping a copy of the digital photos at someone else's house etc. etc. etc. Guess what I am going to be doing tonight?

**jimmy812** · 09.13.06, 12:59 PM

That truly sucks. And good for you to tell those idiots to shut up (especially in front of the owners).
I guess the most important thing is that no one was hurt. They at least still have each other.
Sad story...

**WinterlessIceness** · 09.13.06, 01:38 PM

I had to call a fire brigade about a month ago because the building near my job was completely ablaze, wasn't the most pleasant thing I've seen. I can't imagine how I'd feel if it was my neighbour's house. My own, different thing. I return to the though I could lose everything every now and then.

**BottomzUp** · 09.13.06, 02:18 PM

When I was 9 years old I burned down an entire floor of our house! It SUCKED! I was in my sister's room playing with her art supplies and some matches. The phone rang so I blew the match out and ran down the hall to answer it. The call lasted no more than a minute and when I turned to head back up the hall..her room was ENGULFED in flames! She had medals and trophies from being an all state swimmer, art work and a BUNCH of other meaningful things. The 5 bedrooms upstairs ALL were trashed. Her's was the only one that had fire damage but the smoke and heat did in the other rooms completely. MY parents room was on a different floor THANKFULLY or else I think I would have gotten in worse trouble than I did.

Believe it or not my folks were just thankful I wasn't hurt. The took me to a fire department to watch some fire safety videos and stuff like that. I think most of us played with fire as a kid. I didn't do it much but apparently when I did it..I did it BIG and completely WRONG! THAT really sucked and to this day I feel bad for toasting all of her stuff! My toys and shit were all replaceable unlike her items.

How's THAT for a fire story! Yeah...REAL proud of that day in my youth!

**smithjc** · 09.13.06, 03:23 PM

I watched a neighbor's house burn to the ground earlier this year. Very sad. Think it was propane sparks or something that started it.

One time I was at a bar and one of my friends called up the bar and asked for me. So I grab the phone and he tells me my house is burning down. Having a woodstove, I honestly believed the a-hole til he started laughing. Bastard!!!

Anyways, the threat of fire's always at the back of my mind b/c of the age of the wiring in my house. Guess I should probably get it checked out to make sure it's okay.

Losing your home and all your possessions is a very traumatic thing. I'm glad nobody was hurt or lost tho.

**jetguy5150** · 09.14.06, 08:05 AM

Originally Posted by BottomzUp

When I was 9 years old I burned down an entire floor of our house! It SUCKED! I was in my sister's room playing with her art supplies and some matches. The phone rang so I blew the match out and ran down the hall to answer it. The call lasted no more than a minute and when I turned to head back up the hall..her room was ENGULFED in flames! She had medals and trophies from being an all state swimmer, art work and a BUNCH of other meaningful things. The 5 bedrooms upstairs ALL were trashed. Her's was the only one that had fire damage but the smoke and heat did in the other rooms completely. MY parents room was on a different floor THANKFULLY or else I think I would have gotten in worse trouble than I did.

Believe it or not my folks were just thankful I wasn't hurt. The took me to a fire department to watch some fire safety videos and stuff like that. I think most of us played with fire as a kid. I didn't do it much but apparently when I did it..I did it BIG and completely WRONG! THAT really sucked and to this day I feel bad for toasting all of her stuff! My toys and shit were all replaceable unlike her items.

How's THAT for a fire story! Yeah...REAL proud of that day in my youth!

Aye carumba! It is true though...we all played with matches or a lighter at some point when we were young. 99.9% of us got away with it... but you always read about the stories where the fire got away from a kid. Looks like you were one of those stories. That's a tough one.

**Bugs Meanie** · 09.14.06, 08:14 AM

I'm glad you told the gawking neighbors off! I would have loved to have seen their faces when you bitched them out for turning your neighbors misery into an excuse for a block party.

**chefcraig** · 09.14.06, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by jetguy5150

Aye carumba! It is true though...we all played with matches or a lighter at some point when we were young. 99.9% of us got away with it... but you always read about the stories where the fire got away from a kid. Looks like you were one of those stories. That's a tough one.

I'm frankly amazed that more of us did not burn the house down when I recall the crap we did as children. Like lighting "Hot Wheels" track (the orange, three foot sections held together with the purple connectors) on fire. One would hold a section while a friend lit it, and the damned thing would ignite and drip these ungodly "blobs" of flaming gunk, splattering all over the garage, usually right next to the lawn mower or it's gasoline can.

Not to mention all of the misadventures with fireworks, like purchasing a cheap, wooden glider airplane model and strapping a pair of bottle rockets to it.

Any wonder why I simply looove "Mythbusters"?

**ZeoBandit** · 09.14.06, 08:42 AM

A friend and I made our own Godzilla movie on a betamax video camera back in the day. It involved several effects that used large quantiies (for kids) of fire. I'm amazed we didn't burn ourselves or anything that we did not intend to burn.

I wonder what ever happened to that video........

**hatchetforce** · 09.14.06, 09:20 AM

Originally Posted by ZeoHalen

A friend and I made our own Godzilla movie on a betamax video camera back in the day. It involved several effects that used large quantiies (for kids) of fire. I'm amazed we didn't burn ourselves or anything that we did not intend to burn.

I wonder what ever happened to that video........

I found it!