Thursday, August 07, 2008

The Lightning Strikes...

....and the thunder rolls...
We hardly ever open our windows. We get zero circulation inside our house, so if we open the windows usually it lets in the humidity, but the temperature doesn't change. It's great (not, really. that was sarcastic.). Well, tonight I thought I'd give it a try. It was raining and I do love rain. So, we were just enjoying the nice thunder storm with the windows open and, of course, just the world's loudest thunder had to come along and scare the pants off of my daughter. We were still calming her down a few minutes later when I heard sirens getting really close and loud and almost annoying, but then thankfully they turned off. Then a minute later some loud trucks pulled into the parking lot outside. I threw up my hands - just threw them right up - and went to close the windows. Apparently that's another reason why we never open the windows. It's so dang loud outside! Then, that's when we smelled the smoke. And noticed that the big, loud trucks outside? Yeah, they were fire trucks. And no less than three of them. All of the sudden our whole little loop was abuzz with big yellow raincoats and big black galoshes running here and there twisting nobs, hooking up hoses, climbing up ladders. It was all business. Serious business.
Dave has no interest in such things, but my curiosity won't let me leave them alone. The fire was apparently a building away. We couldn't see it, just the ladder truck that was spraying water over the rooftops somewhere in the direction. So, I grabbed my camera and went over with the rest of the neighborhood to see what I could see.

There were fire trucks from all over the place! Seriously, like five or six, and more coming. They just kept coming.

Do these guys look young to anyone else? Maybe they are training. Maybe that explains why there were so many of them. The place was crawling. They sure look cool in their outfits though. (Outfits?)

See, check out this guy. A camera phone? Have you never seen a fire before? You are inside a fire truck. And really from where he was sitting, I'd be surprised if he could see more than a little smoke stack. Posterity. They need to see these things. Thank goodness for camera phones.

So, it turns out... that world's loudest thunder that I mentioned before? Yeah, it hit our neighbors house a couple of buildings away. A little girl from Evie's dance class's house. And so the melee. They were just about to move out, but all their stuff was still inside. And it wasn't a huge fire, but I'm pretty sure everything in or near that residence was soaked to the bone. In a building like that, I would guess that firemen, er... firefighters don't like to take chances. Actually, they probably don't take chances anyway. I'm just saying that not only are there sprinklers inside, but those guys, they watered away at the place for four hours. Four hours. Not only is everything inside wet, but it's probably all pruny too. But all the people are safe. Don't worry, I wouldn't make jokes if everyone wasn't safe. Sad, but safe.

That could have been my house. Even though I don't smoke, I don't own a barbecue, I unplug my iron religiously, I clean out my dryer vent (well, pretty well at least), I don't play with matches... that could have been my house. And the lightning strikes...

And the thunder rolls.
(forgive the cheesy lyrics. it was Dave's idea.)

9 comments:

Unknown said...

You gotta love action in the neighborhood! I can see Dave just chillin on the coach while your running out the door with the camera!

Nelson fam said...

Holy Hannah!

Your neighborhood is crazy. Last year the town homes across the way burned, now this year your complex gets struck by lightning... thinking of moving by next summers catastrophe?

Earthquake, termite and flood insurance are all sold separately. I wonder if lightning is covered...

Hizzeather said...

I love that you are out there taking pictures, clowning on little boys taking pictures. That's my girl. Cool post though. I like how you allude that the thunder struck the house. Reminds me of the time Cody and I argued for hours about thunder & lightning, whether you could have one without the other or if they were a package deal. I forget what side I was on. We're dorks. :)

Emily Norby said...

I love that you're not afraid to take pictures. And then pen super funny comments about them. It made my morning :)

Anonymous said...

Scary stuff. That's right behind Becca's house! I hope all their stuff is okay! Headed over to check!

Anonymous said...

False alarm. The angle of the pictures had me confused. Glad everybody is safe!

Cal said...

Why didn't you get any pictures from inside? You know, where all the action was. My favorite part of these pictures is the "tower" (that is a ladder with a basket on top carrying firefighters) behind the building shooting water across the building. It looks like they are totally missing, even though they probably know exactly what they're doing and have a good reason. Or maybe it's because they can't be as precise because their "outfits" are in the way.

Starley Family said...

I liked the lyrics. I am so glad it didn't hit you guys. Sad about all their stuff. What an awesome fire squad response though! Very thorough. Umm...this is totally off the subject but I was looking at Melissa's blog and saw your yellow t-shirt with the trees. I almost bought the exact one yesterday at H&M. We would have been twinners. Now I have an excuse for Nate of why I need yet another t-shirt. Lol, Stace

Our Bitter Sweet Life with T1D said...

I still can't believe that happened. It was so loud, we heard it hit at our house and all the kids were screaming. Then we ran out to see where it hit because we know it was close. Then we saw the smoke. So glad that you guys are okay and that it wasn't your house.