Last week my neighbors house caught fire. My 6 year old daughter looked out the window and told my wife "mom, there's smoke over there", my wife was working and initially dismissed it thinking it was someone doing some spring cleaning burning grass clipping or something along those lines. She then asked my daughter what kind of smoke? My daughter replied, "thick black smoke mom". This kicked her into high gear, she jumped and looked out the window, yelled to me downstairs and I jumped out side and quickly realized this was a real thing. Grabbed my cell phone and ran over there in my house slippers (and mustard on my face as i had just bitten into a sandwich) while calling 911.
At this point the shed on the back of his house was fully engulfed. No stopping it now, neighbors truck was gone so I was fairly confident he wasn't home but I still knocked on his door like hell. Also he has a labrador he'll keep in the garage while he's gone. I knocked there too to see if I could hear a bark or anything dog sounding. As we waited for the 12 minutes for the Fire Department to arrive the shed fire jumped from the shed, to his boat structure/boat, and to his house. It was in his roof structure and top floor quickly. Super scary to just sit and watch it move like that and being so helpless in what you have the ability to do.
Good and bad, no one was hurt including the dog who was out running errands with the homeowner. However, the house was custom built from Yellow Cedar and with rising lumber costs and logistical issues it most likely won't be replace in kind. It's a good reminder to have a talk with your kids about what to do in case of a fire and to move some things out of the garage that you become complacent with.
As of right now there's still no known cause of the fire as he doesn't have electricity to his shed. He didn't have self igniting chemicals oils/rags but did have typical garden type things. Half the shed also stored cords of firewood so once it was lit, it burned hot...trust me.
Last little tidbit, my daughter was presented with a plastic fireperson hat and badge for seeing something and speaking up. We're super proud of her and so is the neighbor who has been really thankful. Because of her most all of his possession were salvaged.
At this point the shed on the back of his house was fully engulfed. No stopping it now, neighbors truck was gone so I was fairly confident he wasn't home but I still knocked on his door like hell. Also he has a labrador he'll keep in the garage while he's gone. I knocked there too to see if I could hear a bark or anything dog sounding. As we waited for the 12 minutes for the Fire Department to arrive the shed fire jumped from the shed, to his boat structure/boat, and to his house. It was in his roof structure and top floor quickly. Super scary to just sit and watch it move like that and being so helpless in what you have the ability to do.
Good and bad, no one was hurt including the dog who was out running errands with the homeowner. However, the house was custom built from Yellow Cedar and with rising lumber costs and logistical issues it most likely won't be replace in kind. It's a good reminder to have a talk with your kids about what to do in case of a fire and to move some things out of the garage that you become complacent with.
As of right now there's still no known cause of the fire as he doesn't have electricity to his shed. He didn't have self igniting chemicals oils/rags but did have typical garden type things. Half the shed also stored cords of firewood so once it was lit, it burned hot...trust me.
Last little tidbit, my daughter was presented with a plastic fireperson hat and badge for seeing something and speaking up. We're super proud of her and so is the neighbor who has been really thankful. Because of her most all of his possession were salvaged.
