We Didn't Start the Fire!

Summer was so busy, I didn't have a chance to update on really anything.  Hopefully I can catch up a little bit before school starts next Monday!  Anyway, the most exciting/terrible thing that happened this summer was the fire that "hit" our house.  We had only been in our house two months when our neighbor across the street shot off a firework that "malfunctioned" and shot sideways into our bush.  (I have a feeling it just tipped over before it shot off).  It went straight into a huge juniper bush that we have (had) right up against the front of the house.  It immediately went up in flames.  A few neighbors saw it happened and ran to help.  They pulled out our hose but couldn't get the flames down.  I was at the theater and John was in the basement.  One of the neighbors pounded on our door yelling to John that the house was on fire.  You can imagine he lost his calm.  The firefighters were called and showed up pretty quickly.  They hosed off the bush, but had to chainsaw it down to make sure they had taken care of all of the burning.

It was an interesting night for me, since I arrived at the scene of the crime as the firefighters were spraying off the house.  The road in front of the house was blocked off so I parked down the street and ran to see what was happening.  I don't think I've ever been so panicked in my life!  However, since almost all of River Heights came to see what was happening, I was able to meet many of my new neighbors. :)

When things calmed down that night and we were able to look at the damage it didn't seem that bad.  However, when the sun came up we noticed a lot more problems.  The brick and siding on the front of the house is burned pretty badly.  The awning above the window is toast (pun).  The heat from the flames put huge cracks in our large, front window.  The railing by the door is charred and the front step needs to be sandblasted.  ARS has come to give us an estimate and they are thinking it will be about $2,600 to fix everything.  We have to pay a $1,000 deposit, which is supposed to be returned to us when the neighbor's insurance reimburses our insurance.

Overall it was a scary experience, but we are very grateful that no one was harmed, and the flames didn't make it inside our cute little house.  We are also grateful that we have great home owner's insurance!