Monday, May 7, 2012

I Can't Get that TALKING HEADS Song Out of my Head

Saturday morning, I woke up excited to start the day since I knew I was going to be seeing Red again. I know we just saw each other on Wednesday, but we can't help it.

I take my shower and log on to Facebook as I do every morning and start scrolling down the Wall to see what has happened since the last time I was online. Being a Saturday morning, there were several people praising the fact that the weekend was here, a few people announcing their Saturday plans, the usual gripers and the obligatory pictures of someone's kid that no one cares about as much as the parents' think they do. However, the post from my next door neighbor did catch my eye.

Luckily, she stated "(not bretts)" so I knew it wasn't my house. I had heard the horrible storm the night before, but wasn't aware of this. I threw on some clothes and stepped outside.

I soon learned that there had been some excitement on my street throughout the night and I had slept through the entire thing. My neighbors had awoken to someone pounding on their door in the middle of the night. The heat from the fire caused their house to be in danger as well. They got out of the house alright, but their home sustained some damage.

Siding melted and cracked one of the windows
Despite the damage they received, they fared much better than the house on the other side.

The house on the left was significantly closer
and had a family of six inside.
The family got out alright and is now staying in a local hotel courtesy of the Red Cross. They lost all their clothing, most of their appliances and several other things.

The present story is that this fire was the result of a domestic dispute which ended with the boyfriend setting fire to her house to "show her."  I don't really know what happened, so I will not go into further details, but this is the general consensus in the neighborhood.

Well, he showed her. And the two families next door.
There was NO peace in this house that night.
Despite the fact that everyone seems to know that this was arson, there does not appear to be sufficient proof, so it looks like he will get away with it. I still do not know the entire story, but the whole thing disgusts me.




Beyond the damage done on my street, people keep asking me how I didn't hear all the commotion going on outside my house. There were fire trucks, police cars and sirens going off. There was an ambulance parked in my driveway. Windows were exploding and the whole street was outside watching.

I keep a fan near where I sleep to drown out noises. I don't want to be woken up by neighborhood kids playing outside my window. It's helpful when my daughter has a sleepover, so I am not kept awake by giggling girls. I've learned that it works a lot better than I ever expected.

34 comments:

  1. Oh my god Brett. I am glad you and everyone else are okay. How terrifying!! I am sorry for that family too.

    You know the fire investigations are pretty good. Maybe they will turn up evidence yet if it is arson.

    Man you mustve been rattled by this - upset, angry, shocked. Really scary. A house burned down a half block away last fall and it had 23 dogs and cats inside :( heartbreaking

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There were two dogs and a cat inside. I am glad everyone is all right, but it is anger that I felt. Not only that this guy was stupid and evil enough to do this to someone, but the number of people it affected that had nothing to do with it. Fire department said if it had caught in the tree line behind the house, due to the wind it would have burned every house on the block.

      Delete
  2. With the fan and the storm it is possible I guess to sleep through it all.

    If the guy did set the house on fire luckily no one was hurt. What sort of knob would you have to be to think that setting fire to shit is a reasonable method of revenge?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The house next door that got all the damage had people sleeping in it. A fire fighter even had to go in to get one of the kids out. I've never met this guy, but he doesn't sound very bright.

      Delete
  3. Wow. Those are some shocking photos. What a mess. I really hope they can prosecute that guy, at least to pay for the damages, which will be huge, no doubt!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Total loss. There is nothing salvageable. We are hoping the same, but will have to wait and see.

      Delete
  4. Wow, that's really crazy! Both that the guy was stupid enough to set the house on fire - and that you manged to sleep through the whole thing! I guess that if you had been in any danger they would have woken you somehow.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm still surprised I didn't wake up. That's a lot of excitement. I would liked to have seen it. The neighbors told me that if the house next to mine had caught, I would have been woken immediately. The FD told them it was unnecessary until then.

      Delete
  5. I've recently dealt with devestating loss to fire. It wansn't our home we did lose a lot of our Ag stuff. Some of the first questions we were asked by the investigators was if we had any enimies or knew of someone who would want to do anything like this to us. They also called a bunch of our neighbors to ask about us. The answer was no, of course but i did feel uneasy that the investigation started there. If there's any evidence to point to this guy, they will find it.

    Glad you and your family are safe. And that the kids from the neighborhood still have a house to play in front of. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are all praying he goes down for this, assuming what we believe is true.

      Delete
  6. I once slept through a (very rare for here) hurricane and woke up the next day wondering why my neighbors shed was on its roof in my garden.

    But that is pretty terrifying, and what a total moron to do such a thing. Glad nobody got hurt though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. That sounds like an amazing storm. It may have been louder than the ruckus outside my house.

      Delete
  7. Holy crap dude! Glad everyone was ok...I would be SO PISSED if that was my neighbor...and I too sleep with a fan...it's AMAZING!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I haven't gotten to talk to them. He better hope he never runs into them.

      Delete
  8. That's part of the reason we slept through the storm that night. We had both a window unit air conditioner and box fans going in our room. We use the fan for the same purpose. We have a teenage neighbor that likes to play loud music in his car and we've had one in Cheyenne's room since she was a baby since she is a light sleeper.
    That is awful for that family. Really hope they figure out what happened. And although I am sure it was interesting, if it had been me, I personally would've been glad to have slept through the commotion. Sleep is precious to me. lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like my sleep too, but I would have gotten up for this.

      Delete
  9. How wicked must you be to destroy someone's home and ruin their life, just to 'show them.'

    Show them what? That you're a complete psychopath?!
    Glad you're safe Brett but feel so sorry for the neighbours. What a terrible thing to happen.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's what everyone has been saying. I don't think he would be safe if he came back to this neighborhood. I have hurt a lot of anger toward him from many people.

      Delete
  10. I slept through most of the tornadoes that hit the south so bad in April last year. (I only woke up when the lights went out and it was too hot and muggy to breath. Then they came back on and I went back to sleep. haha) So, don't feel too bad about sleeping through that.

    I'm glad that everyone made it out okay and I really hope that he goes to prison for this (assuming that he is the one who started the fire). Things will work out for everyone, even though it probably doesn't seem like that now. God has a plan for everyone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. I have slept through many tornadoes. My neighbor once offered to come get me if her weather radio said a tornado was coming. I declined the offer. If I can see stars while looking up in my bedroom, I will know that something is wrong.

      Delete
  11. I'm so sorry about this, Brett. My prayers go out to the neighbors. I hope that justice will be served.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow that is terrible. Fires scare the shiza out of me. There was a terrible fire in the home of a friend of mine when she was a kid. The outcome was tragic. So glad no one died at the hands of this guy. If it was him of course. Talk about vengence gone awry. Awful.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The area was roped off with crime scene tape today, so they have at least decided this is worth investigating. I was glad to see it.

      Delete
  13. Wow, that is so freaky. I can be the same way with sleeping. One time there was this huge accident on the street behind my house. It was so bad that a shock trauma helicopter practically landed in my back yard. My husband was out back watching all the commotion, as was the whole neighborhood. I slept through the entire thing. I didn't believe my hubs when he told me in the morning until I saw it on the news the next day. Yet when my kids were babies, I would awaken at the slightest breath or squeek made by them. Weirdness.

    I'm glad everyone was ok. My house burned down when I was a teenager. A story for another time perhaps. Fire is an evil bitch. Sorry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was a light sleeper when the kids were younger also. Now I don't want to wake up unless MY house is on fire.

      Delete
  14. I would think if the girl said she and her boyfriend had a fight, that would be at least enough to investigate into him. Hopefully he doesn't get away with it if that's what happened.

    I'm glad everyone is ok but it has to suck to have to deal with the damage done. Especially if the damage done was over something that stupid.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She had just stolen his car, so she was sitting in jail at the time.

      We have had crime scene investigators over there all day today, so they are investigating.

      Delete
  15. I sleep through anything and everything without the need of a fan. I slept through the Northridge earthquake, my mother's screams on 9/11, and loads of other stuff.
    I am glad your neighbors are all okay, and that your okay.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you. Sounds like you are a very heavy sleeper. I use the fan because strange noises wake me up. The constant drone of the fan puts me out.

      Delete
  16. Oh my gosh, I am glad to hear you guys are okay!

    That's awful, to say the least. I hope they find 'sufficient evidence' to throw that guy in prison.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The has been fire inspectors and CSI here for the last few days. They are trying.

      Delete

PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT! I wrote this for you.

If you would like to leave a comment, but do not have a Google account just click on the COMMENT AS: dropdown box and choose Name/URL or Anonymous.

But if you choose Anonymous, please let me know who you are unless you really do not want me to know.