Fire in the Village

Last night the house five doors down at 2 Magda Lane had a fire. The loss looks total from the fire, smoke and water damage. All six residents are accounted for and beginning to cope with the devastating loss including a home, a truck, a car, a motorcycle and a lifetime worth of stuff.

It was early evening when we heard sirens nearby. We were in our backyard and knew it was close but just thought it was out on DeSoto Boulevard. We settled in to watch a little television and the puppies were wrestling around making lots of noise. We did not hear the first explosion. The puppies got more restless and I took them out in the backyard again.

When I went back in the house Lee was on the phone with our neighbor across the street. She said the street was on fire. We met each other in the street and saw indeed the end of our little cul-de-sac was on fire. The fire was huge and intense and we feared for our homes and our lives.

Thank goodness we had so much rain and dampness over the weekend or our whole neighborhood would have gone up in flames.

Our hero is the son of one of my neighbors catercorner across the street from the home that burned. He was watching a little television with his parents and saw the fire between a car on the side of the home and the garage. By the time he was off the phone notifying the police and fire department the garage was fully involved with fire. By the time the firefighters and the police arrived the entire house was involved as the fire spread through the attic.

The fire was fierce, intense and loud. The sound the fire made as it whooshed upward was deafening. We all thought the trees were going to catch and spread the fire to nearby homes. We live in the older part of the Village and the homes are in neighborhoods similar to the suburbs we moved here from, houses fairly close together with but with lots more trees.

Firefighters kept the fire from spreading but the house at number 2 is damaged beyond repair. The firefighters did not have a determination of what started the fire yet. An on-duty police officer told me the six residents of the house were not injured and were all safe.

A fire in the Village is a scary and dangerous thing, especially for us in a cul-de-sac with no way out. One of our neighbors with a truck with four wheel drive was prepared to gather up everyone's valuables and the elderly and drive through her backyard and the yard behind her to get to Arias to a safe escape, not an easy or safe feat. The more able bodies would be left to hike out. We would have had to leave just about everything behind including our transportation.

Since the fire was at the mouth of the cul-de-sac there would have been no escape that way. Fire has always been our worst nightmare living here. As I stated before our close-knit neighbors are all very grateful for the rain. If this fire had been last summer we may not have made it. The loss might have been far more serious than one home.

Thank you to all the support personnel that got the firefighters to the neighborhood so quickly. Thank you to the firefighters that did the best they could. Thank you to my neighbors that never cease to amaze me with their cohesiveness and generosity to each other.