Remember when I said . . .

If you dropped by Tuesday and read that there are others far worse off than I, I was actually thinking about the people devastated by the floods in Australia, the homeless living on the streets in the cold, or the people snowbound along the I-95 corridor, but NOT anyone in my neighborhood. However, Tuesday afternoon, I heard the fire engines go by my house and turn off their sirens rather close by. I didn't think anything about it at the time, but decided to investigate after a few minutes. When I stepped off my porch, I saw billows of smoke coming from down the street, and knew it was either my neighbor Sally's house, or my neighbor Donna's house. By the time I retrieved my camera and card, which was still plugged into the hard drive, some of the smoke had dissipated.

When I stepped across the street, still in my house slippers, I immediately saw it was my friend Donna's house. I would have posted these photos sooner, but I was told her DIL Helen reads my blog and I didn't want her to get the news on my blog before someone had a chance to notify her.


I snapped photos as I walked to the scene. Others had gathered on the west side of the street, too.


As I got closer, I didn't even notice the firefighters on the roof.


My concern was for my friend.


The fire marshal arrived about the same time I took this photo.


As the smoke began to dissipate, I finally noticed the firefighters on the roof.


There was more smoke as they cut through the roof of the garage.


More firefighters


joined the ones already on the roof.


Real drama was playing out in front of my eyes and my camera.


As I snapped shot after shot (over 200 in all), I noticed my friend Sally standing in her doorway.


Although you can't see it here, she is talking to the fire marshal. She couldn't remember the phone number of Donna's daughter. It was at this point, I joined her and gave the fire marshal Donna's daughter's name, while Sally looked up her phone number.


I couldn't believe all the people who came to gawk,


and all the firefighters who came to this fire.


Although it's hard to see in this photo, onlookers are now starting to arrive from up the street,


even though the smoke was gone, and the firefighters had entered the house to make sure the fire was truly out. The glass in the garage windows had shattered under the intense heat and the cold water that was directed toward the roof area.

After making sure Sally was OK, I took one last shot of the fire crew, then


headed home. Since Donna was not home, there was nothing I could do, except possibly get in the way.


There was even a truck filled with equipment parked across the street from my house.


One final shot from my driveway, perhaps my favorite of all.

It just goes to show, no matter how many problems you think you have, there is always someone who has it worse. When I couldn't get to my basement, it was a HUGE inconvenience (and I admit, a bit of a panic on my part). But I still had the rest of my house, Bleubeard and I were safe, and we could sleep in our own beds at night. Thanks for dropping by and I will add updates as I learn them.