An out-of-control grassfire came dangerously close to our house today....it burned the back part of our wooden fence in our backyard. All of the houses in our neighborhood are okay....mainly just some fence and siding damage. Well, our neighbors lost their trampoline, but I think that's about it.

I noticed a fire up the road when I came home for lunch. I went home and let our dog out and thought I should go check it out. My MIL was there watching Sam at the time. So I drove up there and our neighbors' barn was on fire. I called 911 from my cell. By the time I got home, told MIL to load up Sam, I put our dachshund in her van....and it was getting close, racing across the wheat field behind our house. I loaded our bigger outside dogs (2 of them) into my SUV and hooked up the hoses outside. I called our neighbors and then I pulled out of our garage.....and by the time I was at the end of the concrete slab (no more than 30 feet away), I literally could not see my house because of the smoke. I pulled out across the road and was just sure our house was on fire. By this time the firefighters arrived (about 10 minutes.....EXCELLENT response time for a somewhat rural town). I work in the small town east of here....it just has a volunteer fire department and a lot of the crew I work with at the telephone company came to help. I'm taking donuts to work for them tomorrow.

My poor neighbor's husband is in Iraq right now. She was about to freak out thinking her house was going to burn. It burned right up to her back porch and actually melted the siding on her house, but it didn't catch fire, thank the Lord.

We are all so incredibly lucky! I'll have to post some pictures for you tomorrow.

Thanks for listening to me....just had to let that out.

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OMGosh, that was waaaay too close for comfort. Im glad they got it in time and that everyone is okay.

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Rachel
Proud Mother of 2 Boys and a Girl
Isaac David - February 2004
Carson Eli - January 2006
Kianna Rachelle - May 2008





***Just Add Baby ACD***

***Host of Baby Dust Grads***

Wow - how scary!!!

So glad that your home (and your neighbours homes) is ok.

Claire xxx

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iPregnant
Due with baby #5 on January 27th

Thanks, ladies. We were incredibly lucky.

It was surreal walking through the house thinking "I only have time to grab a couple of things." I couldn't remember where the photo albums were. DH had just backed up our computer on an external hard drive, so I grabbed it. It had all of our digital pictures on it.

Here are some pictures I took with my phone....sorry for the quality.

Our back yard. You can't really tell because of the shadow, but the back part is completely black and you can see how it started coming up the sides, too.


Our side yard.


Another side yard view. It came right up to the driveway.


Our neighbor's yard. It burned their trampoline and went right up to their house....even warped their siding.

I am so glad everyone is ok. It sounds like you are great under pressure and your MIL is also. I don't know if I could be so calm. Again I am sooooo glad you are all ok and that there was huge damage. Did you find out how the fire started?

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(29)
Scott (35)
Married 10/05/2002
Furkitties
Willow and Xander




My Guys Oct 2007

OMG how scary. I would have so been in panic mode and just fumbling trying to think what to take. So glad everyone is safe and the houses are still standing.

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First off, I am so thankful that everyone is okay. That is so incredibly scary. What a blessing that there was only minimal damage (neighbors trampoline). I am just so glad to hear that you and your family are safe.

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I am glad everyone is OK. I can't believe how calm you were. I think I would have just stood there dumbfounded.

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I'm so glad everything is ok and you didn't have any more damage than that.


I'm shocked my MIL didn't call me to tell me about the fire!

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Cyndi
Mommy to

Zach 5/20/03


Gabe 4/26/05


Mikki 1/22/07

WOW. I am so glad you and your fam (and DOGS) are all okay. You made me realize how panicked I'd be. You are definitely good under pressure....bringing the hard drive. SMART GIRL. I am going to have DH read this as a cautionary tale.

What caused the fire? Did I miss that? Going back up to read.

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Believe me, I definitely wasn't calm! I just didn't reach panic mode until everyone was safely across the street. THEN I freaked out until we knew everything was safe. I was looking at my phone today and I placed the call to 911 at 12:57 and I called DH to tell him what had happened (and that everything was okay) at 1:58. What a crazy hour that was!!

Cyndi, the local ABC affiliate was there. I'll post a link to their online video on the private board. They did a story about how some local gas company workers saw it while driving by and just went into people's backyards and hooked up garden hoses. There were several fires in the area yesterday.

Lisa, we posted at the same time...

We're not 100% sure. It definitely started in that barn. They said sometimes hay can combust if it is stacked while wet (who knew??) or that there was an extension cord running to the barn. Perhaps they had a light on...or some of the firefighters said it could have been a heat lamp for baby chickens. Poor things...

oh wow! im so haapy to hear that everyone is doing well!!!! im glad there wasnt any major damage!

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Michelle (25) and Brad (28)

HOST OF TTC 2+ YEARS
HOST OF Alternative/Herbal/Non-Traditional

OMG how scary! Glad u r all ok.

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