Holy 4 alarm fire Batman!

[Udie]

Holy cow!  I don't have much time to type so I'll give more details later.

 Last saturday my next door neighbors house burned down to the ground.  WHAT A FREAKIN TRIP!  I've never been through anything like this before in my life!  First time I ever actualy called 911....

 film at 11..........


Udie


[edit]  ok here's the guts of the situation...   11:30 pm saturday night I'm about ready to hit the sack.  I was playing ww2 OL at the time riding in the back of a truck going to the battle.  All of a sudden there's a banging (very loud) at my front door. I got up put on my clothes (thank god) and went to the door.  I looked outside but saw nobody there, while getting pissed I happened to notice the orange glow on the garage across the street. So I went outside to take a look.

 To my amazement the house next door to mine (both duplex's) was spitting fire out of the garage and the car in front of the garage was on fire too.  I quickly went inside and called 911. LOL The first time I've ever called them. AND yes when you call 911 you yell at them when they answer hehe the dude told me to calm down.

 At this point I went back outside to see that the fire is now shooting about 30ft in the air.  Now is when my panic started to sink in.  The police had gotten there by now and I asked if they needed me to move my car, which they did.  I got the cat carrier out of the trunk and went to get the animals out of the house. (i have 1 cat and my roommate has a dog and a cat)  Well the cat's had other plans that consisted of staying just out of my reach.  So they got left to die   I did manage to get the dog out as he was actualy eager to get the F out of the house.

 I put him in my car about 100 yds away from my house.  When I turned around to go and get the cats I couldn't believe my eyes.  Flames were shooting about 100 ft into the air, and the fire department isn't here yet. Now fear sets in. I mean that heavy sinking feeling of dread.  I ran around the front to go and get the cats, but the cops stopped me and wouldn't let me in.

 About 2 min later the 1st truck shows up and parks infront of my house. They hooked up the the fire hydrant and within 2 minutes of being there turned it on.  Then the best part    This water cannon comes up on the top of the truck with a man sitting behind it, real star wars kind of stuff very cool looking.  Within 5 minutes of that the fire was out.  30 min later I was back inside contemplated what had just happened and what I nearly lost.

 It kinda makes you realize how fast all this material stuff we collect can get taken away.  Thank God nobody got hurt.....


Udie

[ 08-13-2001: Message edited by: Udie ]

[AKDejaVu]

Well.. I guess the good news for me is that I have the guidance control system accurate to within 100 feet.  The bad news is that I have to build another one now.

Seriously though... hope everyone is OK and that they have the means to handle this disaster.

AKDejaVu

[AKHog]

When I worked for montomery aviation (local FBO) we had a hanger fire one night. A 50gal drum of jet A sent the hanger roof and a 50 foot fire ball about 100 yards into the air. We dialed 911 but so had eveyone else in the county. Another guy and I were the only ones at the airport so we move all the fuel trucks and as many planes as we could. the fuel trucks were parked right beside the hanger. that was scarry knowing your driving a huge gas bomb.
All in all we lost a hanger and 2 brand new cessna 172s (2000 models   ) and a beech craft bonaza.
When we finaly left i counted 27 fire trucks plus a number of cop cars and ambluances, and some really cool trucks with the foam stuff from BWI (big airport).

Anyway no one was hurt. Thats my fire story.
Best wishes to your neighbors.

[ 08-13-2001: Message edited by: AKHog ]

[NATEDOG]

you were playing what?

[Ozark]

Fighting fires with roof turrets is a blast. Now, if you really want something to think about, look out the the Snozzel poking through the fuselage of a burning aircraft. Our only hope is someones not in the way.  

[Vulcan]

From my younger days:
Jet Boat exploded at the camping ground we were at, complete and huge fireball. Everybody for miles heard it and came. Except one person, who slept through the whole thing in his tent like a babey

Then there was the neighbhours garage next door, car caught fire exploding, bbq gas cylinders exploding, lawn mower exploded, petrol exploded. This time I woke up, only because my mother ran into my bedroom, whipped open the curtains, shoke me til I opened my eyes - she pointed out the huge fireball next door. I proceeded to say "uhhh"... then go back to sleep.

Then about 5 years ago I rented a place. Underneath the landlord kept his boat in a garage. One night they were charging the battery for it. The charger caught fire, the boat (fibreglass) started to smoulder heavily. It filled the entire flat with thick smoke down to about a metre off the floor.

I woke up to my alarmclock in the morning. Feeling really really tired (ie suffering smoke inhalation) I hit the snooze button and went back to sleep. 10 minutes later the alarmclock went off, this time I felt "a bit warm" and was coughing. I decided to rip a big piece of snot from my nose to clear the airways. As you normally do (even in a smoke-induced stupor) I looked at my prize-snot-ball... it was pitch black. At the moment I sorta clicked out of it, noticed the room was full of smoke and got my arse outta there. And got to call 111 (911 for yanks) :-)

Its amazing how f**ked up you get with smoke in you.

p.s. Udie, I'd take that as a sign that the MMPOG-God is angry, and you should come back to AH.

[Eagler]

Originally posted by NATEDOG:
you were playing what?

 

[Staga]

Several years ago my mom called me at 4am in christmas eve and said "I wanted to call you before you see it on TV: Our Motel burned down couple hours ago".

My parents were co-owners in a motel and for still unknown reason it caught fire.
All guests and my parents could escape just in time, some got injuries because they jumped out from windows thought they could still use hallways safely to escape from building thought in that situation I can see why they did that, but one of our workers (Handyman) went to the wrong direction in hallway, maybe he thought he could do something to save building.
He got carbon-monoxide poisoning and was found dead after fire-brigade went in to the building.

Not a funniest christmas in my life  

[AKHog]

Originally posted by Vulcan:
Its amazing how f**ked up you get with smoke in you.

I will say nothing.  

[Jigster]

Only had to deal with 2 house fires in my life, but man I have been in the middle of some wild fires that you would not believe.

[Mathman]

When I was in elementery school, my house caught fire on Christmas Eve.  Wasn't serious, but our kitchen caught fire while my mom was cooking the goose.  The people that remodelled our kitchen the year before hooked the oven up wrong and it took a year for the problem to build to the point of causing a fire.  Heheh, was funny looking back, but at the time, talk about a pisser Christmas.  Oh well, the important thing was that my family was safe and the house itself was fine.

-math

[Mickey1992]

Originally posted by NATEDOG:
you were playing what?

Natedog rules  

Before the online gaming craze, I was in my room playing XCOM.  Two of my roommates came in and told me that while they were coming back from the store, they saw what looked like a fire near the apartment complex where my then girlfriend lived.  I looked out the window of my second floor room and could see the smoke about 1.5 miles away.

There are about 20 buildings in that complex, what are the odds?

I still remember the feeling of driving toward her apartment, seeing the smoke the whole way, and thinking it can't be her's, it can't be her's.  Then I round the corner and sure enough, her end of the 20-unit building is on fire.  We had just left about 3 hours earlier.  Dry landscaping along the building caught fire (cigarette or kids) and it worked its way to the wood soffet on the second level.

She was at her parent's at the time, and I didn't have their phone number.  So I had to make the 20 min drive there, ring the doorbell, and tell her that her apartment building was on fire.  She didn't have renter's insurance (idiot).

So she moved in with me for about 2 months, drove me nuts, and shortly after she got a new place we broke up.  Living with someone sure does bring out the true colors in them.  I can't see how people get married without living together first.  

[Hangtime]

You were playing what?

There must be some mistake....

My fire story...

Acetone is nasty toejam... I used to build boats.. layup of glass.. you have to bathe in the stuff to clean up.

Break truck arrives; everybody lays down their rollers; steps outta the molds, walks to the acetone tank and 'washes' up. Moron next to me has a cigarette in his mouth.. he recovered; but he wasn't exactly pretty. Puttin that guy out was the worst job of my life.

Same guy; recovered, back on the job three months later.. does the same thing. This time nobodys close by to snuff him. He took building three with him; and 6 new boats. killed the buisness; and himself.

Darwin; at work.

Glad yer ok Udie. <S!>

[Nifty]

*makes note to call State Farm*  I knew I was forgetting something...  (renter's insurance)

[Maniac]

"You were playing what?"

It was Natedog who lit the fire methinks