andrew, heather and cordelia wood came over (ella and henry were at grandpa's house much to hayden's disappointment) for an evening of mexican lasagna, corn cake, fried ice cream, and of course, catan.
during our game we heard fireworks going off and heather asked if it was some fourth of july fireworks show. we had to explain that in our neighborhood, all summer long is like the 4th of july. and if the pistons or red wings win a championship? forget about it. jessica, justin and tina heard that first hand.
so we finish up our second game and andrew gathers some stuff up to take it out to the car before they wake cordelia up to take her home. it's probably just after midnite at this point. as andrew steps out of the house he sticks his head back in and says "wow, you can really SMELL the fireworks."
about a minute later, andrew runs back in the house and says "that's not fireworks, your neighbors house is on fire." i totally think he's joking and was just assuming someone was really having fun with the fireworks that evening. a second later he says "i'm not kidding, their house is on fire 3 doors down, call 911." i grab the phone and we all run outside as i'm dialing 911.
911 is quite the fancy invention let me tell you. luckily i've never had to call it before and was pleasantly surprised that they directed me right where i needed to be as they answered "redford 911." good thing since in a major panic one day, i might forget where i'm at. that's not even a joke...just ask tina about our tiny smore's fire.
when we get over to our neighbor eric's house just 2 doors down, he's standing on the side of his house with a hose trying to put out the huge flames shooting out of his next door neighbors bedroom window. apparently eric had already called 911 and the operator told me that they had people on the way already.
dave saw the lady that lives in the home standing away from everyone else on the opposite side of the house from where the fire was. dave went over to her to ask her if anyone was in the house as he planned on going in if they were (which i later yelled at him about because i'm selfish like that but he told me it didn't matter, he'd go in any way.) the lady completely ignored dave and turned and walked away.
not long after we got out there, a policeman showed up. a total jerk of a policeman in fact. he came over to us and asked where the homeowner was and we pointed her out to him. i watched as the police officer started walking towards her saying "ma'am" and she started walking away. he shined his flashlight on her and called for her again. she continued to walk away. he finally caught up with her and started talking to her.
from what we heard, there was nobody else in the house, but she was very concerned about a dog that was in the house (a dog that we never saw come out as long as we were out there.)
in the meantime, eric is still trying to spray the flames when dave went over and told him that wouldn't really do anything at this point and he should start spraying his house down to hopefully help prevent the fire from spreading his way. as eric was doing this, that kind police officer came over and told him he should back away and that what he was doing wasn't going to do anything. eric continued to spray as any homeowner would do.
we had asked eric, who has 4 kids, if anyone was in the house. anita was at work and they boys were at someone's house but the baby, who is talan's age, was inside. we told him to run in and get her and give her to me. i thought that talan was a chill baby....leanna is the most chill baby ever. she didn't cry or whine once. with lights flashing from 4 different fire trucks and a police car. with a stranger holding her. with her mom coming home and walking right past her. she was so sweet.
it seemed like it took the fire trucks awhile to get there...it must have been about 5 minutes if not a little more. and even when they got there it seemed like it took awhile to set everything up before they actually started putting the fire out.
eventually some of the family members started coming. the lady was apparently just sitting on the curb of the street not really saying anything. some people started talking about how she must have been in shock, but i don't know how in any instance shock would cause you to walk away from a policeman or other people trying to help you as your house burns down.
we haven't ever met the people that live there. when we first moved in, a young family lived there and the guy was an electrician...so right away dave said it most likely wasn't an electrical fire. after him, a gay couple moved in whom we never met. they were there for about two years and apparently they broke up and the one living there couldn't afford it anymore so the house went into foreclosure. it was quite awhile before anyone moved back in. poor eric was stuck mowing the lawn of that house so he didn't have to live next door to a mess of a house.
this family moved in maybe 6 months ago and we've never been able to figure out who even lives there. there have always been people coming and going. adults, kids of all ages.
apparently it is this lady and her husband that live there. her grandkids of all different ages come over often while their son and daughter are at work. from what eric said, the bedroom that was on fire was one of the bedrooms that the grandkids stay in when they are there. luckily they weren't.
the poor woods were trapped at our house since the firetrucks and police car were blocking their way out. they were finally able to leave a little after 1am. right at the time when the rain started pouring down.
dave said all of the firetrucks had left by around 2:30am but there were still insurance and construction companies there until probably about 4:30am.
in the morning i headed over to look at the damage. the side of eric's house is a mess. siding is completely peeling off and the door and windows are a mess too. the house where the fire was is also a total wreck. they boarded up every window in the house except for the 2 front basement windows. i can't even imagine how long it will be before people will be back in that house.
the day we brought hayden home from the hospital the house across the street from us apparently had a fire in a bedroom. they only ended up boarding 1 window and they were out of the house for over a year and a half.
eric said that he had heard the firemen talking about how someone had heard fighting earlier on and then someone had also seen someone leaving the house right around the time of the fire. he said he heard they were bringing in sheriff's to look into it all. still nobody has really heard a word from the lady that lived there and was there when it all happened.
apparently eric was inside, had just put the baby to bed and was just getting ready for bed himself. he heard the lady outside yelling for someone, who he said later must have been for the dog.
when he went out there to see what was going on, he saw her standing by the tree yelling for the dog and he then saw flames in the house. that's when he ran in, called 911 and then started spraying the flames with his hose. nobody even knows if the homeowner called 911 herself.
it is all quite odd and i hope that we will eventually hear what happened.
thankfully, eric was awake and heard the lady yelling out. and that andrew stepped outside the house at the time that he did. and of course, that nobody was hurt.
now poor eric will have to live next to a crappy looking house once again for who knows how long. trucks were in and out all day yesterday and i've already seen them back again today.
never a dull day when you live in redford.
the whole time i kept thinking about running inside to grab my camera but decided against it as i was holding leanna and the fact that the camera's were in the room that cordelia was sleeping in. so no exciting shots, but here are some shots from the aftermath:
eric and anita's house:
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1 comment:
hmmm; that's just all crazy! nutty crazy.
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