FIRE!

New Year's Eve I was looking forward to taking down Christmas decroations and returning items we got for Christmas that we didn't need. As we were getting ready to head out for some lunch and returns, in the distance we could hear fire sirens and they were close. Come to find out they were next door to our complex. There is a carpet business just to the south of our complex and it was on fire. In fact we could see the whole thing from our office window. We opened the blinds and Stu kicked back in the chair and watched the whole thing (he told me it was better than a movie). Anyways this building continued to burn to the point where it was not going to be saved. The carpet fibers were so flammable that it was no use to try and put them out. The fire dept just stood by to make sure the fire did not spread. Stu was curious about the fire so he headed out to see it up close (only a fence and a parking lot separated the fire from our complex's driveway). I went to join the fun but Stu told me I had to go in because the fumes were really bad and he didn't want it to effect our unborn child. (No fair).
The fire started at 11:30AM New Year's day. We had plans that night so around 6:30PM (the fire is still burning) Stu found out we could leave (before no one could leave or come in) but we probably would not be able to get back in. We took the chance, we had been indoors all day. So we went out to our New Year's Eve party.
When we got home around 12:45AM the fire was still going but we could drive into our complex (WHEW, I didn't want to walk through that nasty smoke).
As it turned out the fire burned for about 36+ hours. The building was a totally loss but there were no causalities (except the owner's 20 yr old cat). Thank goodness for the quick response of the Fire Department and thank goodness the fire did not spread.

From our backyard view point. The building was only a hop skip and a jump away from our complex.

The fire burning out of control

The entrance to our complex. The whole main road was blocked off for about 10 blocks because of the fire trucks and the hose lines. Can you see all the smoke. YUCK

Front view of the one of the buildings windows. You can see the fire raging inside.

6:30PM as we were leaving for our party, the fire was still burning