What would you grab?

You know that question that is always asked, "What 3 things would you grab if you had to evacuate due to a housefire?" I know the answer to that, now.

On Thursday morning I was working at my desk, the boys were playing in the living room and Rob & the girls were gone. I heard a bunch of thumping and thudding, and just figured one of the neighbors (I live in a 4-plex) was moving. Suddenly, just as I had gotten B down for his morning nap, there was urgent pounding on my door. I was irritated and wondered what was so important that they were literally POUNDING on my door. I answered and the frantic lawn guy told me that the house was on fire and I needed to grab the kids and get out.

I was kind of in shock and just stood there for a minute and said, "Um, ok..thanks." And he said, "Ma'am? Now. There's smoke pouring out the windows and the fire dept is on the way."

I started barking out orders to Corban, "Grab your crocs, get them on, c'mon..let's go! Let's Go! LET'S GO!" As the reality set in...so did the panic and my thoughts become a disjointed, jumbled mess: Oh my gosh - what do I grab? What do I do..where are my shoes? Where is my phone? Corban get your shoes! C'mon boys let's go. Do I lock the door? Does it matter? Where are my keys? Wait, did I grab my phone. Shoot..diapers..I def need diapers. Where's the diaper bag? Get the diaper bag. And my wallet. Are my keys in there? CRAP - I need to get the safe and all of our birth certificates, etc. Oh the HELL with that, let's go boys. Let's go. Get out. Get out. Get out.

I strapped them both into the stroller that was sitting on the porch, went back and grabbed the diaper bag and saw my camera sitting there, so I grabbed it, too. (*ahem*) and then we got the heck outta dodge.

The whole process took minutes but it felt like eternity because I had NO idea how big the fire was or where it was or what was on fire. I could hear the sirens by now as we ran out into the parking lot and across the lawn. The engines pulled up and I saw the smoke coming out of the attic vents on the unit on the opposite end from ours.





The firefighters went over with hoses and axes and started trying to break down the door. There was smoke coming from the back of the house, now, too. Neighbors were pouring out to see what was going on.

They got the door open and smoke came pouring out.





The firefighters went in on all fours and determined where the fire was and cleared the rest of the apartment. They opened windows to let the smoke out.



The got the fire out and brought in fans to air the rest of the smoke out. The apartment next door was checked and cleared - but they sustained some pretty major smoke damage. The apartment between that one and ours has a heavy smoke smell and ours less so, but we did have to have the apartment windows and doors opened all day to air it out.

The firefighters started pulling pieces of wall and cabinetry out of the house and laying it in the driveway to be hosed down. And the story started coming out..

It was a kitchen fire. My neighbor had put a toaster streudle in for her son on their way out the door. Both forgot about it and left the house in a hurry because they were late. The toaster streudel caught fire and the fire melted the toaster and spread to the wall and the cabinets above the toaster. The kitchen just started going up, from there. The micorwave is melted, the ceiling is black. The leather couch in the living room has melted spots on it. The plants melted. The pictures and posters melted. The floor is burnt. The cabinets are fried.

Had the lawn guy not spotted the fire when he did, the whole kitchen would've ignited and who knows how bad it would have been from there.

As it goes, he was working on the lawn and saw smoke coming from the attic vent and upstairs window. He started banging on the door and got no answer so he climbed up on the the roof of the garage in this pic:



and tried to see if anyone was in there. He called 911 and the property management place. Then he went from door to door, banging on all of them and evacuating us all.

What if he hadn't have done that? What if he decided it was none of his business? What if he just went about his day?

I don't want to even imagine.

Our neighbors have been moving stuff out onto the lawn all weekend and the wind blows the smoke smell down this way during the day. Today is their son's birthday and they had to cancel his birthday party celebration. It isn't much, but we took him to DQ last night and gave him $10 to celebrate. He's been over at our house most of the time, while they clean up the carnage and see what they can salvage.

So, I know now...that if someone tells me there is a fire and to get out, that I'll only grab kids, my diaper bag and..yk...my camera.