Miracle #3: My House Didn't Catch on Fire a Second Time


For those of you who are reading, this is BIG Miracle #3. To read about Miracle #1 click here and Miracle #2 click here.


This is my neighbor's house catching on fire story.

It was late. My kids were in bed, and I was sitting at my kitchen counter with a kettle on to boil making me some tea. (If you read my last post, you would assume that that is how I spend most evenings...when in actuality I hate most tea... and instead drink this night time cold care tea to help me sleep, and am usually in my bed reading to decompress). But I digress.

So there I was at my kitchen counter, when I smell something funny. It was a burnt toast smell, so I checked my kettle and it was fine, and no weird smells were coming from my tenant's apartment, so I opened the door, and a wave of campfire smoke smell hit me like a ton of bricks! (That is a simile folks for all of you with 9th and 10th grade English folks in the house!)

I ran around to the side of my house and saw the smoke and flames coming from my neighbor's house. I hollered at my other neighbors who were on their patio watching it and asked if they called 911. They had. I then ran back inside to turn off my tea kettle (thankful I remembered it was still on the stove!) and then in my slippers, ran over to this family's house.

I found Mr. H on the curb with his adult daughter, and my other neighbor who was gently covering his shoulders with a blanket. Mrs. H was warm and safe in the house across the street. This neighbor's husband was getting his hose hoked up because the fire was still relatively contained within the garage. We watched, and waited, and I saw him shed tears, but the one thing we didn't hear were the sounds of a fire engine.

At this point the fire was growing, but still relegated to the garage. In desperation as I watched it engulf more and more of the space I frustratedly said to no one in particular, "Where is the fire department?" A police officer heard me and rather annoyed approached me and told me they were on another call for that was a suicide assess. Out of no where another onlooker stepped between me and the police officer and angrily yelled, "A suicide assess?" They don't need hoses for that kind of call. We need hoses here!!!"

Still the clock ticked on and the fire grew. At this point the wind started to blow and was blowing flaming embers in the direction of my house, which shares most of the property line with the house whose garage was now almost completely engulfed. Worried about my still sleeping kids at home, and that something on my property would catch fire, I ran back to the house, only to be met by two guys standing on my front lawn watching as smoke, embers, and soot were being hurdled over my roof by the wind.

They asked if I needed help. I of course said yes, and seeing the amount of flaming embers in the air asked them to help me hook up my hose and soak my roof. They obliged. My tenant came out, I put on sensible shoes, and we stood in my backyard and watched the fire consume the house, then the trees in the backyard.

Worried that those trees would crash down into my yard and start a fire, I asked them to turn my hose on the perimeter of my yard. By that time, other friends started arriving. They couldn't get to Mr. H's house so they came to mine, as it was closest. The bishop (my church's congregation leader) and his wife came. Then another friend who had heard the address on her police scanner.

Finally (after what seemed like forever... and was later clocked at 17 minutes by my neighbor's outdoor camera) the fire department arrived.

The flames soon became a cloud of black smoke, and eventually we were all able to make our way over to Mr. and Mrs. H's house. By then quite a crowd had gathered. The house was blackened and was a complete loss.

Eventually Mr. H was coaxed inside a neighbor's house where his wife had been sitting. I approached one of the teams of firefighters and asked if they would do a pass on my property with heat sensors because of how much the wind had carried embers (which they graciously did).

    That night, when the fire was out, the crowds had dispersed, and the evening had settled a bit, I sat in my kitchen again and wrote the following journal entry:

"I sit in my kitchen at midnight after just witnessing another miracle in my life. My backyard neighbors the H house caught on fire tonight. The fire department took forever (not exaggerating) to get there... and the wind picked up and started blowing embers onto my property. Long story short, I didn't end up having to be evacuated, good Samaritans came and helped me hose down my roof and trees so that nothing would catch, and my kids slept through it all.

After showering to get the smoke out (the whole neighborhood reeks of campfire) and posting to my social media about tonight's events, the spirit whispered "you need to blog about the miracles you are seeing." And I saw so many miracles tonight. I saw a community rally, I saw neighbors opening up their homes and hearts to this sweet couple. And even though this is a terrible tragedy, everyone in that home got out safely. Even though the winds picked up and the fire department took forever to get there, nothing in my yard caught fire... despite ash and ember raining onto my property. Nothing on my roof caught fire. None of the surrounding houses, mine, and the neighbors to either side had any damage.

And so I immediately went to my computer to testify of the miracle. But I couldn't start with tonight. I had to start with the first major miracle that I witnesses in 2020... the fact that even though my son broke his femur, that break barely missed his femoral artery preserving his life when all the odds were stacked against him.

And then I thought of the miracle that transpired when my ice melting roof cables caught on fire.... and how I was there and caught it in time... and because there was snow on the ground and snow on the roof... the sparks that were raining down never ignited anything.

And then tonight. I have video that shows how close all the embers were to my house... many blew right over my roof and into my front yard.... and yet I am safe. My house remains undamaged even while my neighbor goes to bed in a stranger's house tonight having lost a huge percentage of the home that they built together and have lived in for 50 years."

This post constitutes the last of the big three miracles that I have chosen to write about. The first miracle of the health of my son, the second miracle that my house didn't catch on fire, and this one. But they in no way constitute ALL the miracles that I have witnessed these last few months. These are just the BIG ones. And so I will continue to write about the miracles that I am seeing in my life, and you will be able to continue to read about the mess that is life whilst experiencing these miracles. Because I have come to know that while I am the direct recipient of these miracles, I am in no wise the only one who might benefit from the knowledge that miracles can and do still happen. The message I share, is one that is especially needed during these uncertain times, and that is God is a God of miracles.

Love,

Madeline


  


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