Fire

Lessons in Fire

Fire seems to be a theme for this past week.

First, there were the wildfires in Texas. The Magnolia fire to be exact.  It’s one thing to watch it on the news and pray for people in harm’s way. But it became more personal for us when Nana and Uncle Bob were evacuated.

The fire line came within 4 miles of his property. They were out of the house and in a hotel for about 3 days. It was quite an anxious and expensive time for them, especially with the 2 little dogs in a kennel.  I was able to follow the evacuation updates online. It was neat to have the fire line and Uncle Bob’s spread on the map in front of me at work so I could pray that it would not go further. All is well that ends well. Nana and Uncle Bob are back home with their little doggies.

That was last week. Sunday, hubby was at the school and my son and I were hanging out at home. I had a pork butt on the smoker and was planting some onion sets out back when I heard the fire trucks. Now, that in itself is not unusual since we live 5 blocks from the fire station. But the sirens stopped and the sound of the truck engines kept coming closer.

Then I heard it stop out front. I was so sure someone had seen the smoke from my cooking and called the fire department.  I wish now that had been the case. I bolted through the house and out the front door.  The truth was, my neighbor’s house was on fire.

At first it didn’t seem so bad. My neighbor was in the front yard on the cell phone I think. The firefighters arrived and started to lay out the equipment. My son came outside and we watched the firemen flush the hydrant and hook up the hose. Everyone seemed so calm and professional. We could see some smoke coming from the back of her house. It looked like maybe her grill had got away from her.

That reminded me of my own cooking project. I decided I better get back out to check on it. I had thoughts of people thinking there was another fire, so I checked it often. I kept going back and forth, planting a few onions, checking on my son and peeking at the action out in front of my house. They had blocked off the street, so I called hubby to warn him to come home the other way.

Then we started hearing a lot of noise. People were yelling, windows were popping and firefighters were running. I found out later that they were inside fighting the fire in the wall when it began to burn through the ceiling. They had to get out quick and fight it from the outside. Remember the personal alarms the firemen wear? I learned about then after September 11^th. They go off if a firefighter falls so the other members of the team can find him in the smoke. I actually heard them go off a couple times.

In minutes they lost a home that was completely paid for and the family cat. Several of us came out to see if we could help, but the Red Cross was there to help, so there was nothing to do but pray.

 That evening, we enjoyed our dinner, although I think it was too well done. My son had asked questions throughout, but did not come out of the house again that evening. At first I thought it did not affect him at all. The next morning however, he had a complete meltdown because he could not find his wallet. I thought we would never get to school. After the tantrum, he calmed down and had a great day at school.

 I thank God for blessing my family and keeping them safe. Thank you for sparing my in-laws’ property from the fire and the food that fire helped to provide.  I am praying hard for the family a few doors away who lost their home to fire.  Help them to begin again and let that fire bring them closer to You.

Amen