Think and Do; A Fire Story in Brief

Yesterday Equity was at my house working on two issues of plumbing when the tech, Tristan, asked me if I was burning anything.  I said no.  We both then heard the smoke alarm going off down the street.  Yes, my hearing is usually really good and amazes everyone to the point they often think I'm hearing stuff.  I wished I had been hearing a figment of my imagination yesterday.

Tristan and I drop everything and dash out the front door. We both just reacted without really giving it thought.  Running down the street I saw my neighbor's house engulfed in smoke.  I stopped next door to the fire to pound on my friend's front door.  Her husband had left for training that morning and thought perhaps she had finally fallen asleep.  As I couldn't raise her to come to the door I decided to turn her hose on and offer it for firefighting if any one wanted to man it as I ran to the back of the house where there were shouts for help there.

A soldier, a new move-in that I don't yet know, said there are dogs trapped in the locked house.  He broke in and grabbed the dog crate that got passed to Tristan and I over the fence door. The fence doors along most of the neighboring lots including mine have been padlocked of late because of a rapist that was on the loose over the weekend.  We ran with the dog crate as best as we could down to my yard and I had to unlock my fence.

The smoke was so thick I had to shut all the windows in the house to prevent getting more sick.  The dogs, Oreo and Brownie, were now safe with me.  I made sure they were okay and had plenty of water. 

The owners came to check on them during the fire and picked them up later in the afternoon.  Unfortunately they forgot the dogs' crate of which isn't a problem for me and I'm sure they'll think about getting it later on when they are allowed to go back in their house to get some possessions this week.

I washed and dried the blankets in the crate so that none of the fire smell was still on them.  Wishing I could do more for the neighbors right now but they know since I offered if they need anything I'll try to help out.

The first few pictures were taken during the fire of the scene by the friend I was trying to wake up.  Turns out she was safe on another area of the post.  During the fire my friends came to visit me and the dogs to make sure they were okay.

Other than a mild case of smoke inhalation from running to a burning building I'm fine.  My asthma inhaler taken twice yesterday worked wonders.
The next photos are the ones I took yesterday after the scene was cleared of crew.

The back half of the house is burnt under the roof too all the way to the bedrooms.  They think it started in the utility room where the dryer was left going while both adults were at work.  Most of the interior, from my information, will be gutted for repairs as it is an almost total loss.  This is the seventh fire this year on our installation. 

I'm really proud of my Army Family coming together to help out a neighbor in need.  Hopefully I'll find out who that soldier was that got into the house to thank him for being so brave.