The Fire

Sunday night, the kids are in bed and I'm watching a movie. All of a sudden I hear a TON of sirens. I knew it sounded close, but didn't know how close. I was home alone and you just never know what the sirens are for, so I just kept on watching the movie (keep in mind, we have had a shooting at our apartments...this was shortly after we moved in...no problems since, that I know of). Then a couple minutes later I hear windows breaking. It wasn't on the side where the cars are parked, so I'm thinking someone is outside breaking windows of an apartment. Well someone was. But for good reason. The building next to us had an apartment on fire! I looked out the window and saw flames and smoke coming from a bedroom. As the firemen were putting out the fire, I am assuming that is what broke the windows since our windows are paper thin and the pressure from the hose could easily burst right through them. The fire was only in one bedroom, so it could have been much worse. After they had the fire out and the smoke cleared they emptied the entire contents of this childs bedroom onto the lawn where they then hosed it down even more. I am sure this is normal procedure for a 2nd floor apartment because I can only imagine how much more damage all that water would have caused. But let me tell you, it is absolutely heart breaking to see melted hula hoops, burnt barbies, a burnt mattress, a dresser burned so badly you can hardly tell it was a dresser, a pile of clothes barely looking like more than a pile of ashes. I know it's all "stuff", and "stuff" can be replaced...but wow, a fire changes your life in a matter of minutes. I have no clue what caused the fire to start....but this is certainly a good reminder of all the basic things we already know to prevent a fire! If you haven't checked your smoke alarms recently....please go check them! I checked ours before going to bed on Sunday night! I wouldn't have slept if I didn't!