House Fire

I was working upstairs yesterday (like I do everyday) when I heard a siren. It sounded fairly distant so I didn’t think anything of it at first. A few minutes later, it sounded a bit louder, but still seemed far away. Then, the sirens sounded like they were fairly close. When I went downstairs to investigate, the living room was covered with flashing lights. For a second, I thought I walked into a disco or something. I went outside and saw a half dozen fire trucks and emergency vehicles.

Apparently there was a fire next door. It must not have been a big fire, because I didn’t seen any flames or smoke. I think everyone got out okay; at least there were no ambulances. I went to the backyard to see if I could see anything else and I saw a fireman breaking out the upstairs window. Later, when I was able to talk to a firefighter, he said that it was just a small fire and they didn’t know the cause (or weren’t allowed to tell me). I’m betting that it was a space heater, an electrical problem or a candle. But, I’m curious to find out what the real cause was. If the fire were larger, our house would have been in danger as there was a strong wind blowing in our direction.

Lately, I had been considering getting an electrical upgrade to the house, but I had put it on the back burner (pun intended) until I had some more money. However, in light of recent events, I’ve decided to get the upgrades done sooner rather than later. Also, since I was thinking about it, I checked our smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

Tagline for today: “In elementary school, in case of fire you have to line up quietly in a single file line from smallest to tallest. What is the logic? Do tall people burn slower?” - Warren Hutcherson