Firefighters in the Neighbourhood

Friday and Saturday afternoon were spent studying for the Critical Thinking Exam. I came home on Friday night to find the place all decorated for the Christmas party as Vero is a sweetheart and took time out of her busy day to come by and do so. Mike was also an amazing help for the Christmas party as he cleaned the entire house. Heck, at one point I saw the fridge pulled out and he was mopping the floor! Ladies, I can arrange to supply you with a phone number for the man who can clean like no other.

I also picked up some graphic novels on Friday night that Paul and I had ordered. I am pretty excited to read Watchmen as I have never heard anything bad about it. Paul got the lion’s share of graphic novels and I am happy to see that Carrie can get them to him at Christmas time for some reading next to the fire (or the furnace…)

Around 3PM on Saturday, I had hit the wall in terms of studying. I was studied out! So I helped clean a bit with Mike and then we headed out to pick up some things.

When we were leaving the house, our new neighbour Tasha was at the door. Turns out that the house next to her (as in, two houses from me) was thought to be on fire! She had called 911 and so we went over. There was the dog barking and the alarm going off but I really couldn’t see much smoke. Then the firetrucks appeared. After explaining how the smoke alarm was going off they broke the window next to the front door and opened the door. We grabbed the dog and put it over at our place.

Considering there wasn’t any smoke coming out, I just thought it was a false alarm but then you hear people yelling “Get the pumps going!” and “Bring the hose in!”. Then we are anxiously watching the scene and someone busts the upstairs bedroom windows out and the smoke escaping is BLACK. It was incredible (in a bad way of course. I’m using the word incredible for the actual smoke coming out as there was a lot of it!).

A lot of commotion was going on – neighbours coming over, 5 fire trucks all around us, police everywhere. We went to and from our house where the new neighbours were inside. A police officer asked who lived in the building and no one knew her last name. After finding out from calling the old neighbours, I spoke with the police officer for awhile. At that moment I realized that it’s a strange world we live in when we really don’t know much about some of our neighbours. Sure, I know their first names, but that is about it. Mike suggested giving out emergency phone numbers and we will definitely do that before leaving on holidays this winter. It’s one thing to have Eric and Annie go and check out our place once in awhile, but they would never know if the house went up in flames until they went over.

In the end, it was discovered that a candle in the upstairs bathroom was the culprit. We were also lucky as the firefighters said to Tasha that if they didn’t call when they did, it probably would have spread to their own house (and who knows who else’s? We are so close together…). As far as we can tell, the entire upstairs is gutted. The woman who lived at the residence did eventually come home and was understandably upset. Dad pointed out that the worst thing that can probably happen to you emotionally is a fire (other than a death or something like that).

It is a shame that something like this has happened…especially in the middle of winter and right before Christmas. Luckily she has some family and friends to help her through this rough time.

Here’s some thoughts going through my head that I’d like to pass onto you…

• Emergencies are something you should be prepared for. Think about that.
• Give your neighbours some emergency numbers if you are going out of town, or even if you are still in town.
• Take a look at your insurance. Make sure you have adequate insurance to cover everything you want covered.
• ESPECIALLY during this holiday season, take care in not leaving Christmas lights around the house when you leave. Sure, they look nice when you come home, but you never know what can happen.

iplaying: Warm and Sunny Days – The Dears (No Cities Left)