FIRE on my fence

At 3AM, there was a loud knocking on my door. I was thinking, something weird was going on. I was careful to answer the door. The knocking was strange and powerful. I got up and approached the front door quietly, but while I walked up, I saw an orange bright flickering light out of the window. A fire! A 9-11 call. Put on pants (I just couldn’t run outside in boxers), put cat in bag, go to the backyard and turn on the hose and spray the roof next to the fence. I sprayed and sprayed until I heard the fire engines arrive. The fire was growing despite my efforts. I saw flames and embers flying up towards the roof. I turned the hose only to the roof. I was getting bummed. I stopped when I felt water hit me from a different angle, which meant the firemen were on the scene and missing the target.




(This is after the fire was mostly out and I could run inside to get my camera. How weird, I thought about taking photos right away.)

After I realized that I would be getting in the way, the firemen were tearing down my fence. At this point, I realized everything would be fine and I could take photos. Outside, was Jesse from Jabberjaw. I once put her on my blog (see her photo at bottom) because I saw her walking her dog, and she’s a friend from long ago who happens to live across the street. Her boyfriend heard a car peeling out and leaving the scene, then he saw the fire and they called 9-11. Then she knocked on my door until I got up. She tried to explain to a fire fighter that someone lit the fire and sped away, but the first guy was a jerk. Only when we explained to the “right” person (go to the firefighters wearing orange helmets – they’re senior firefighters) did he surmise that it could have been a tossed cigarette from a parked car outside. Perhaps kids were drinking beer, then they noticed it, and bailed out quick. But another fire fighter said that it was a weird place for a fire and asked if I had enemies, threats, or anything like that. Do I? Maybe? GR Haters? He did say that Jesse saved my house. A few more minutes and my house would have been ablaze. Imagine if there was no knocking on the door? Although 4 fire trucks came and it was loud, hardly any neighbors came outside. It was still dark and quiet.

Time for cleanup and a new fence. Hope this wasn’t because the Lakers won a championship.

Thanks much Jesse.