Last Nights' Wienie Roast

Did I spell "wienie" correctly?

Last night was one crazy night. It was a gorgeous day, shades of Spring. So it was nuts when we had a downpour of rain all of a sudden. I could hear loud noises. Thunder????

I had a lot on my mind and needed to write. I needed to avoid it for awhile first so I blogged instead. Once I posted, I was ready to go to sleep but I made a pit stop first. OOOOOOOOooops! I'd promised the Chicklet I would wash her gym clothes and I did do a load of laundry but her gym shirt was hanging in the bathroom. So there I was at 2am doing another load.

There was no avoiding my journal then so I started to write. I've been writing a lot lately. I'm only scratching the surface but it's good to get things out. When the thoughts keep swirling in my head, got to get them down on paper to release them or make sense of them.

It's so still and quiet at night it's possible to gather my thoughts. Then the noises started. I kept wondering what on earth the neighbors were doing so I noted the time 2:40 and I went to look out side. I couldn't believe my eyes. The vacant house across the street was burning.I went outside and the neighbors were out. They had already called 911. There had already been the sounds of sirens going down 7th Street. We heard more and more but the fire dept. still didn't come. We watched the fire grow. The flames were shooting through the roof and into the sky. They were at least 10 feet high. We still could hear the engines but they still didn't come.

I went across the street and woke up the neighbors in the house next to the burning one. The houses in this neighborhood are about ten feet apart. With the flames growing and the fire dept nowhere near... They got out. They'd been sound asleep.

The engines finally showed up. Three of them. The firefighters went stright to work and they had the fire under control in minutes. The roof was destroyed.This is what it looked like in the daylight. Why did we hear sirens but the engines didn't show??? There was another house fire on the other side of 7th street. It gave the opportunity for this fire to really take hold.

Some firefighters came by the house this afternoon so I went over to talk to them. It was bad enough that this house has been sitting vacant for the past few monthes. We don't know if it's a foreclosure or what but it's been sitting there like an open invitation for something to happen and then this did.
All I can see from my house is the previous picture. We went into the carport and this is the front door. The house is completely destroyed. Even the firefighters wouldn't enter because it was so unsafe from falling debris.This used to be the kitchen. I'd been in here before. I can't believe this is the same place...There were 3 fires set last night. I knew of the two off 7th Street. There was another arson near 13th Avenue and Northern which is also being investigated.If you want a skylight, this is a pretty extreme way to get it done. So now what? Aqua Man and I walked around the property. The back gate leading to the alley was pushed open. We're expecting that it's going to be open season for tweekers or bums to come in and vandalize until the house is fenced off or demolished.I tried to look past the destruction and find something to salvage. These patterns were beautiful.
It was brought up that some arson fires are committed for the insurance money to get out from under mortgages during these tough economic times. Wow, I had no idea. Am I being naive? I don't think those thoughts. To think that this is what people do....

Fortunately, no one was injured. There wasn't any damage to any other property. This isn't good for our neighborhood. A couple of us have updated our properties since this summer. Two houses down the street landscaped, one of them re-did the roof and painted. It's been looking up.

Next time, can we get the heads up? We'll bring the wienies!
Marissa