FIRE!!!

(OK, so I admit this isn't the actual photo of the fire...we just wanted to add some drama to our blog. But there really was a fire though)

So, a couple of weeks ago, about 12:15am on a Thursday night, I am awaken from a sound sleep only to hear Matt say, "Uh...I think we might have to get ready to leave...it sounds like there might be a fire next door, but I'm not sure." (I seriously had thought I was dreaming - How could anyone be "not sure" if there is a fire?) So with my eyes still mostly closed I casually said, "Ok, wake me up if you hear anything else." I hadn't closed my eyes for anymore than a minute when Matt came rushing back into the bedroom to say "OK...Yeah, I think we are going to have to leave...there is a HUGE fire next door..." I instantly popped up out of bed, "WHAT??"

We both walked over to the window by our front door, and sure enough, there was a huge fire on the roof of a residence not even 20 feet away from us. Now, for those that do not know, we live in a condominium complex, so everything is extremely close together. Every building consists of 2 connected units, so if one unit catches on fire, you can be pretty sure the other one will go down with it if not caught in time. This particular fire ended up spreading to the attic of the attached unit. But also, the buildings in general are very close together - I'm guessing about 15 feet apart - so the neighbors were hurrying to warn other neighbors of the fire. Yep, I immediately went into an adrenaline-filled survival robot mom mode while Matt stayed perfectly calm and managed to keep a close watch on the fire while still helping to get things prepared in the event of an evacuation. In a matter of seconds we went to go grab Aaron who was sleeping, and then started to plan what we wanted to take with us in the event that the fire spread.

To our relief, within minutes, about 30 firefighters and about 5-6 fire trucks were there battling the blaze until 2:30 in the morning. Channel 30 Action News also showed up to cover the story. The residents who lived in the building were a couple (about our age) and their 3 young children. While the firefighters broke glass and knocked out walls, the guy and his kids went to stand in front of our place with us and explained what had happened. He explained that he had been outside in his backyard smoking a cigarette. After he tossed it, he went inside only to to find an alarm going off a few minutes later, and a huge fire blazing in his back yard. He attempted to put it out with the garden hose, but after that attempt failed, he called the fire department. For the rest of the night, Matt and I, and another neighbor were trying to make his kids as comfortable as possible while they waited for their mom to get there (who was working at the time, by the way) Imagine her shock as she arrived.

Luckily no one was hurt, but the aftermath the next morning was not pretty. Since the fires were mainly contained in the attics, neither residence has a ceiling anymore. Matt checked out the charred patio of the unit that initially caught fire, and I got to take a peak into the second unit affected by the fire and you can see clear up to the sky. Inside both units there was insulation and water damage everywhere.

Anyway, that was one of our fun-filled Thursday nights. You know...we usually like front row seats, but not to that kind of event....yikes!!! =-)

(And by the way, if anyone is wondering what the heck I am doing up at 5:40 am, I'm waiting for Aaron to stop laughing and talking to the ceiling and go back to bed. And I tried cradling him for awhile, but he apparently thinks my face looks funny because he wouldn't stop laughing at me either. Awww...you've gotta love him) =-)