In an Instant

 

Everything Can Change

Today is St. Patrick's Day and my parent's anniversary, a day for celebration. I got a little distracted on the way to celebrating though. There was a major fire this afternoon, right around 3 o'clock, in the building next door to the one I live in . The ground floor apartment where the fire started is a total loss. The two above will be unlivable for months. The fire melted the wiring, scorched the front of the building, and sent smoke  billowing up to the rafters and across to both my next-door neighbor''s and my home.

Before the fire engines arrived, people were asking if anyone was in the building. Someone asked if the fire alarm had been pulled. Even though I was dressed for taking my folks out for an anniversary dinner, I ran into the building and banged on what doors I could, smashed the glass for the fire extinguisher grabbed that, and on my way out the door I pulled the fire alarm. When I got outside the flames were burning the crisp bushes in front of the building. I quickly figured out how to work the fire extinguisher and sprayed the bushes praying that this was enough to keep them from catching fire all the way across. If they had, the big tree between the two buildings would have carried the flames to the roof. 

I never knew time could move so fast and so slow at the same time. It seemed like it took an eternity for the fire department to get there, while the flames burned so quickly. The extinguisher was only good for the bushes but it did the trick, and the fire was contained to just that building.

This was the second fire in a little over a year's time in the same building. The first one was not nearly as bad damage wise, but still brutal because it was on a dreadfully cold night. Then, stunned neighbors, many awoken from sleep, stood on the sidewalk watching the firefighters work. Some of them stood in bare feet, pajamas, no coats. Some of us brought blankets and spare coats, while others took barefooted ones into their homes. Then the firefighters were kind, solicitous, asking who lived where, and verbally reassuring us that we would be okay.

Today's fire, happened when most of the people were still at work. The firefighters brought the fire under control right when folks were arriving home. I noticed that this time, they avoided talking to any of the neighbors; they did not ask if we knew who lived where. I was anxious about a dog that I knew was trapped in an apartment on the second floor and Its owner wasn't home.  When I mentioned my feeling  to one of the people who takes care of the development, he said almost simultaneous to my observation, ?They didn?t talk to us?. He told me he thought this was strange too, and that they were not really very nice, almost surly with him when he asked them a question. He said BGE was great, respectful, and able to tell us what to expect next. I had noticed the same thing.The dog was happily rescued and reunited with his anxious owners.

I did see one firefighter working with some of the displaced neighbors. He seemed kind enough, and perhaps they just leave it up to him to handle the folks. After all people can get in the way. But, these people really needed someone to make sense out of what they were coming home to.  Some arrived to doors having been broken in, windows smashed or melted, and uninhabitable homes. All of us had to endure the invasion of men who needed to come in our houses to shut off the gas, replace valves, and then come back hours later to turn the gas back on and light the pilots. I had to leave so that I could take my parents to dinner, so I depended on the kindness of neighbors to look out for my stuff while these strangers were in my house. I hoped my cat wouldn't start climbing the walls; she really does not do drama well.

When I got back home, I arrived to find eight police cars in the parking lot, in addition to all the vehicles belonging to the various people who were dealing with the aftermath of the fire.  I was in sensory overload. I stopped one of my neighbors and asked what's up now? She threw her arms up in the air in frustration and told me she had just gotten here too and didn?t know. Her condominium was inhabitable. I asked another couple who was getting ready to move out of their condominium for three or more months what happened. They told me that the bevy of police was there to arrest a couple who lived in their building, for domestic violence. They told me these two fought all the time. 

Men were still going in and out of the buildings. One a large fellow with a big beard and lots of tattoos declared, "I could never live in a place like this. My house is going to be miles away from the neighbors." He said he did not want to have to worry about someone making the mistake of setting his home on fire or having roaches or paying fees. Then he started to talk about how dirty one of the condominiums was, so bad that his partner had to use gloves...It's a strange feeling hearing strangers  evaluating lifestyles in the middle of a crisis. 

We on this side are blessed with having just a momentary disruption of our lives. We have exchanged phone numbers and the pet owners are going to post notices on their front doors listing furred, finned, feathered, and scaled ones inside that should be rescued in case of fire or other calamities. All of us neighbors are reminded once again of the value of watching out for each other during a disaster. None of us wants to think about how much we could loose.

 Linda Joy Burke

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