Frightening Happenings

My brother and his wife have finally arrived to stay for a few days. Tonight, around four, we heard several fire trucks race down the street. Now, this is no uncommon occurance. We live five houses down from a volunteer fire station. But, this time two more came from the opposite direction; the fire station about five minutes east of us. Usually when they drive by, we say a small prayer for whoever is the unfortunate victim of the emergency. But this time, the trucks went directly to a house on the road behind us. My sister went to the kitchen in the back to see what was going on, and the house was billowing smoke. Quick as we could, we grabbed our jackets and shoes and ran outside. One of our neighbors told us what happend. Appearently, the family was, thankfully, gone: the dad out hunting and the kids at their mom's house. They had a live tree for Christmas this year and they left the lights on continuously. Our neighbor, who is an electrician, said he saw the smoke and tried to put out the fire with his hose. The tree had caught on fire from the Christmas lights and had spread to the wall behind the tree. The fire got into the wiring and spread all the way into the attic. It was quite frightening. But I guess we learned a lesson: Never leave your lights on.