Everyday Is Better Than The Next

I went to bed about 10 last night, settling down after a long 3 day weekend of boozing it up like a champion, only to be woken up at 12:30 by wife saying “Hey, do you want to go watch a house burn down?” Now, when I wake up I don’t really wake up for about a half an hour. So when she said this, I was completely confused. But as soon as I got up I noticed that it smelled like smoke really bad in my house. I then began to hear sirens and saw lights flashing everywhere. I kind of panicked for a minute, started to walk down the steps in my boxers. That’s when the wife said “Hey you should probably put some pants on”, and then I began to wake up and realize what was happening.

A house about 4 houses down from ours was on fire. I can’t say that I have ever really witnessed a big house fire. I have seen the occasional smoke coming out a window, or the aftermath of a major fire, but I have never sat and watched a house burn down. It is like nothing I have ever seen. This particular house was made of brick, so the fire was burning straight up through the house. It was like a giant furnace that was shooting flames about 60 feet into the air out of the top of the roof.

There was probably about three fire trucks there spraying water on this house trying to put it out, which didn’t seem to be going so well. But that is another thing that I didn’t realize, how much water a fire truck can put out. There were three trucks spraying water on this fire, and because the house was brick they had to spray it in the top of the house. I was looking at the front door watching the water come out and I bet it was about a foot deep at the door at all times, just gushing out.

Overall it was a crazy experience. I don’t know if it’s because I haven’t had much sleep, or that it was late at night, but it was just strange to think that fire could do such a thing.