The Aftermath... New Siding.
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon (Easter, in fact), I was in my room upstairs and I noticed a slight smell of smoke in the air. I thought to myself, "Ah, someone must be lighting up the old barbeque." It seemed like it was coming from a few houses down, so I wasn't concerned. Plus, it did smell pretty good.
When I saw wisps of smoke go past my window, I realized something was wrong. Very wrong. I ran downstairs, and looked out the window and saw flames. Actual flames were coming from outside the house! They were almost pastel in color.
Immediately, instinct kicked in and I dropped to the ground. "Stop, drop, and roll!" But strangely, that didn't put out the fire. Hmmm. Or maybe it was "Stop, then go tell someone you trust." Regardless, all I could think was "I must save my family, including the poor helpless puppy." Okay, maybe I didn't think that exactly, but I did go in to tell everyone to get out of the house and call 911.
A neighbor ran over and began screaming for everyone to get out of the house. (But, as you can see, I already warned the family by this point, so he shouldn't get credit.) He looked for a hose to spray the fire, but the only one out front was now a crispy black goober (thanks to the fire). Well, I went out back with him and got the spare hose. He went to work on the fire. It was funny because he really did look like one of the actors in the movie "Backdraft." Hmmmm.
About then, three police cars arrived. Then a minute later, some fire trucks. They closed off the entire street. There were even some people sitting in lawn chairs watching. We should've charged admission.
The fire was eventually put out, but not before the front of our house turned black and melted... and our basement was filled with water. But nobody was hurt, so we can't complain. And, hey, you're getting to read a web page about it.
We later learned that it was probably started by a relative who was smoking on the front porch. Good 'ol grandma! She chucked the cigarette to the side of the house when she was done, but it wasn't completely out. Most likely the filter just smoldered for a few hours before flaring up.
So, there's the story. Now your life is complete. As for me, I'm currently negotiating the film rights with a major motion picture studio. The working titles are "Smokin' Granny" or "Grandma Hot."
The Aftermath... New Siding.
Page Debut 4/21/95; Updated 5/10/96