Oh what a night! and Thank God everyone is safe!
It's weird, you think that you would respond differently, but then something like this happens and you are shown that reflexes aren't how you think they should be.
It was 1 AM and I woke up to the sound of a loud truck and it's boom box right outside my bedroom window. Josh wakes up too and we look outside to see a over a half dozen trucks from fire, police, electrical, etc in our front yard. We aren't deaf, we just live on a busy street that firetrucks love to use as a fast way to their destination, and we hear them all the time.
I rush out the front door, trying to figure out what is going on, Josh rushes out the back door. Josh finds the neighbor's house on fire. I was able to find the neighbor's.
Turns out, thank God, they were both not at home at the time. The one got home after midnight to see smoke pouring out of his bedroom windows. The house normally houses 4 college guys and thankfully, 2 were out of town for the summer.
Last thing we heard before going to bed was they didn't know what started it. Unfortunately, their whole house interior was paneled in wood, walls and ceilings. It smelled like a really intense bonfire. The whole bedroom half of the house is destroyed completely. I am assuming it was the construction of the home, it was a flat roof with no attic space, that made it really difficult to get all the hot spots out and they were out there all night putting out the fires. (The report says they were done at 2:17 but we went to bed at 2:30 and they were still working on it and at 7 this morning the house looked a whole lot different than when we went to bed.)
Here is our neighbor's house this morning. What is really a bummer is the parent owner's were just starting to really get it looking nice. (That is our house on the right of the photo.) The college guys only had 10 days left on their lease and all their earthly possesions are now destroyed, they literally only have the shirts on their backs. Please pray for all the insurance stuff to come through in their favor in some way.
I tell you what, I am inspecting all our smoke detectors and maybe even going to add a couple more today... how about you?
If you get wind of them needing anything (place to stay, clothes, food, furniture) will you let Jonathan or I know. We would love to help them if we can.
Wow! Praise God nobody got hurt and it didn't spread to anyone else's house! That would be so scary!
Oh I know!! And I will hopefully get a chance to talk to the Dad/owner this afternoon and let anyone interested if there is a way to help. I was thinking of maybe doing a gift card to old navy or something for the 2 college guys? I will let you know.
I just talked to the guys, no ruling on what happened yet. Thankfully for them too, they are young college guys and their parents are definitely there for both of them. They are both going home for the weekend with their parents. The fire did spread farther than they thought too and it was also in their kitchen but did not make it to the living room.
Wow- that is scary! I came home after John and Jade's wedding to find my next door neighbor's house on fire. It wasn't quite so bad as it sounds like your neighbors, we didn't see any flames, just mostly smoke. But they did have to punch a hole in the roof so they've got that plus lots of water and smoke damage. And they have six kids! They are christians and pretty plugged in with their church so I think they are doing ok. Shook Mike up a little though- his house burned down completely a week before Christmas when he was 8 years old. He still recognizes the smell of a house fire. I'm glad that you guys are safe and your house stayed safe! You guys have really had some near misses with disasters- Praise God for his protection!!
I first caught wind of this when I checked my work e-mail and saw a press release from the Iowa City Fire Department about a fire. At first, I feared it was your place until I double checked your address in my records. Glad everyone came out okay. Like Sarah, if you find out any way we can help, just let us know.