Yesterday at work my coworker asked if I had any plans for the weekend. I told him, not really. He then made the comment, "Yeah, but you always come back on Monday with a new story." My son had a friend spend the night and I went to bed and studied for about an hour before I decided to sleep. That was the extent of my plans.
I was exhausted. I haven't slept much the last week due to well just various reasons. I was really really really looking forward to a nice nights sleep.
Right around 2 am I heard a pounding upstairs. Then I heard my 2nd floor neighbor call my name. I KNEW something was wrong. At first I thought perhaps her husband had a heart attack and they needed me, or that there was a fight because of the 3rd floor people. Then I heard my name again followed by, "FIRE GET OUT!" (Have I mentioned how much my second floor neighbors rule?)
Normally, I sleep in the nude, but not last night. I grabbed my shoes and started yelling at the boys to get up. I got both of them up told them to grab their shoes and we were going outside as there was a fire.
Thankfully my camera was right next to my purse so I grabbed both. I opened the back door and immediately smelled the smoke and saw some embers flying. I closed the door and decided that we would use the front upstairs door. I told the boys to let me go first so I could see where the fire was.
We made it outside and I could smell the smoke and hear the fire roaring. The fire was one house over from me, across the street.
(The first sight outside my house taken from my parking spot at 2 am)
There was at least one fire engine on the street at that time. But before I knew it, our entire street was closed off with in a 3-5 block area. They had fire hoses connected to the hospital a mile away in order to supply enough water!
Before I knew it, we had 5 towns covering our fire. Er, fires.
From what I gathered from the officals, there was a fire in the first building on the corner. It was an abandoned building. The embers jumped to the building behind/next to it and started that one on fire.
The firefighters had evacuated the surrounding houses for saftey. The yards were filled with people.... I'd say my best guess was about 50. They didn't want the embers to ignite our places and put our lives at risk either. The land behind and next to my house is all wooded, because 40 years ago, a house burned down there too.
Usually my back yard is filled with dry leaves and brush, but I cleared that last week.
Just before 4 am, I ran into the house to use the bathroom, while inside I grabbed some marshmellows and asked if anyone wanted any. I don't think the fire fighters thought it was funny. Then, we were allowed back into our houses, but I wasn't able to sleep and stayed outside with my camera to take pictures and video.
Just before sun up, the police chief, fire marshall et all were asking question to see if they could find what happened. I gave them my information and told them who I thought the one house belonged to and gave them the contact information for them as well as my contact information. I also mentioned that I had video and pictures from the night.
After the fire was contained I watched the fire trucks pack up. It's amazing how something like that seems like it takes forever and yet it all happens so fast. I know things happened in a certian order, but I couldn't recall them in exact order if I tried.
But after all the smoke was gone and the dust was settled, I went back to the houses to see what else I could see. I was able to get behind the houses and see the true devistation there was. The houses are destroyed. Beyond repair.
Even though there was such a horrible fire, there were no fatal injuries. One firefighter did have to be admitted to the hospital for an injury to her arm. But from what the fire marshall said, she's ok.
Someone working with the State Fire chief noticed I was taking pictures. As he approached me I thought I was going to get in trouble. But he asked if I was the one that had taken video. I said that I did, and he handed me 2 disks and asked if I could burn them onto there for him so they could see if they could find the flash point.
I asked how long he was going to be there and then came back here and burned the images and video onto disk for him.
It's now 5:15pm and I'm still awake. My adrenaline is up and down. I know I should lie down, but each time I do, Joey Sky needs something. Just got back from a friends house... I've got my windows open to help with some of the smoke smell in here (which isn't bad thankfully.)
As I said, although there was lost sleep... no one was critically injured. And my son's friend has a great story to tell at home and I've got a great one for work.
When I watched the news this morning, there was a 6 alarm fire in Norwich, 5 alarm fire almost next door to me, and from what another fire marshall said, at least 4 others in the state.
Which leads me to believe that 1. Either the weather is so hot and dry it's causing all kinds of fires.
2. Some thinks Devil's night is in April.
Standing on my driveway. You can see the smoke coming from the house on the corner and the fire from the second house behind it:
I know the picture is dark, but I thought it looked cool. This is the reflective tape from all the fire fighters standing in the road.
Another image of the fire fighters
As a side bar, it was incredibly scary to watch the fire fighters on the second floor of the house using their lights and then a few seconds later see the floor above them erupt into massive flames.
View from ajcent corner:
Packing up in the morning- thank God for the hydrant RIGHT outside my driveway:
The aftermath:
The house where it supposedly started:
Direct view from my backyard, notice the door that was literally ripped off by the bottom of the telephone poll. This fire is responsible for the embers that I saw out my back door.
The side of the house: Note the siding melting off.
The worst, the backs:
A quirky side note: As I'm standing in my back yard early this morning taking pictures of the aftermath, I see a gentlman standing outside.
I'm in my PJ bottoms, my hoodie with saftey pins on it and scarf around my head. The gentleman notices I'm taking pictures and asks, "Are you with an insurance company?" I tell him, "I do work for an insurance company, but I live here." So then he asks, "Well what do you do?" I then tell him, "Actually I'm in claims..."
For the rest of my images and video click this sentence.
On the way back from his friends house, the windows on the ground level are now boarded up and there is an orange construction fence around the perimeter of both. All but one emergency vehicle is gone, 15 hours after we were evacuated from our houses.
Although the fire never got to my apartment, I am so thankful for the fire departments that came and woke us up. Even though I'm beyond exhausted, coughing like a 10 pack a day smoker and am crabby, I'd much rather be awake and tired than anything else that could have traspired.
With that... I'm off for the day. My adrenaline is gone and I've got the WORST headache ever.
Thank God everyone in this fire is safe and sound and my thoughts and prayers go out to the families of those in the 6 alarm Norwhich fire which may have fatalities.
-MetalRose
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