Too close for comfort

Watching a building burn down was not the way I planned on getting to know my neighbors.

The apartment diagonally across the street from us burned down today. A neighbor saw a large fireball and then the building caught on fire and she called 9-1-1.

I've never seen anything like it. The wind (which gratefully directed the heavy smoke away from our home) unfortunately also stoked the flames as the firemen worked on putting them out. They worked at it for a little over an hour before it appeared they were finished. I know they risk their lives in their jobs, but I'd never really thought about it until I watched some of them stand inside the burning building putting the flames out from the inside. You can see on the right a portion of the roof that they collapsed with axes - there was a small flame there that would not die down. At one point there were over 13 emergency response vehicles by our complex. Here is the building about 2 hrs after it was over.

Thankfully no one was hurt - it reminds you what is most importnat. That being said, I am also so grateful that the fire in our building a few months ago was resolved quickly and for the roof we have over our heads. What a blessing!