Holy Fire Batman!

In 2008, Nate's parents' house caught on fire.  I've never been in a situation like that before, looking at the blackened charred bones of the house you loved.  When we arrived on the scene back then, I was shocked at how destructive the fire had been and it was only the garage that burned and the rest of the house was smoke and water damaged.  It was horrible to witness the destruction it wreaked on the lives of Nate's family.

Yesterday, another fire burned closer to home.  The picture to the right is the apartment building behind ours and down the street.  That picture doesn't even do it justice.  The entire back of the building is gutted.  It still smells like an arts and crafts room at summer camp outside (when I went to summer camp, we did woodburning as a craft).  The siding is melted and there's bright pink insulation hanging from the hole in the roof.  It was really bad yesterday.

Nate and I felt like bad neighbors because we didn't even know something had happened until our power went out while I was cooking dinner.  I was so upset because of all the things I didn't need, the power going out was one of them.  2.0 has asthma and if he gets too hot, he has trouble breathing.  Without electricity, my air conditioner wasn't running and I had no way to get a breathing treatment to him if he started having trouble because the nebulizer is powered by electricity.  Talk about a bummer!

Then Nate went outside and said there was a fire.  I'm thinking 'oh great, someone couldn't control their grill and part of the lawn is on fire.  What does that have to do with my power?'.  But he told me to come outside really quick and see it because it's really big.

Firetrucks outside the front of the building

When I went outside with 2.0 in his stroller (he was a giggling fool at the sight of the lit up firetrucks and the firemen in their gear), I was surprised at first by the amount of people who live here.  I didn't know I had so many neighbors.  I also didn't know how nice they are.  As we walked, people were saying hi and waving at 2.0 as they stopped to pet Coco.  I was also surprised by the genuine concern they all had for the people who live in the building that caught fire.

Then I saw the devastation.  I've never imagined something like that could happen in this neighborhood.  Suddenly renter's insurance sounded better and better...

The fire department arrived very quickly and we had three engines trying to control the flames.  The police department also responded quickly, along with the Scott County Sheriff's office.  But one stupid woman drove her car down the road, looking at the flashing lights of the fire truck blocking off the road with hoses everywhere, and rolled down her window, cursing at the firemen running around for blocking her way.  She stopped within inches of the back of the fire truck, making five firemen and one Davenport police officer stop what they were doing to deal with her.  I've never heard a police officer yell at someone before in person (I've seen it on TV of course), but this officer was yelling at that woman, asking her what did she think she was doing and why didn't she stop when she saw the lights on the fire truck?  I wish I'd taken a picture of that.

I'm also very thankful that my family wasn't impacted more than losing our power for an hour.  We spent most of that time outside, staying out of the way of the firemen and police trying to handle the situation, telling 2.0 what was going on and who those people were, and talking to our neighbors.  Thank God we were safe, that the people in the building were all able to get out safely, and that the fire department was so quick to get here.  It could've been so much worse than it was.