Yesterday evening I was out with Speck around 6 p.m. and could hear sirens seemingly coming from all directions. I stood outside for a minute thinking . . our police and fire department are located right next to each other and are less than a mile from our house so we hear them often but I can usually tell what direction they’re heading but last night, the entire area seemed surrounded in sirens. Had Chad not been at work, I would have been tracking him down to make sure he was ok. He gets aggravated with me for calling him when he’s in town and I hear several sirens. I’m betting I’m not the only mom who does that . . or thinks about doing it!
Speck and I went back inside but about 7:30 when I went out to put up the chickens, I could still hear sirens and I it was so smokey . . such a horrible stinking smoke . . just hung over the area. I could hardly see the chicken coop from the back of our house because of the smoke. I knew it was something big so after another hour or so when the smoke had hardly lifted, I checked our newspaper online and yep, our local NAPA Auto Parts store was on fire. It’s almost exactly 1 mile to our house by the roads so it’s even closer the way the smoke was blowing and the wind was carrying all that smoke our way. It was so bad that just having been outside for a few minutes, I took a shower and washed my hair because I couldn’t get rid of the smokey smell.
Neighboring fire trucks came from east, west and south of us and that’s why the sirens were coming from every direction.
I was worried about the chickens breathing all that smoke because their windows were open but I was happy I had closed them a bit because it was going to be a cold night. They seem fine today . . no complaints of difficulty breathing or a scratchy throat! : )
Our local newspaper says “Inferno . . engulfs town in toxic haze” and the newspaper has a couple of scary photos of the fire. This morning we had to go to the feed store and passed near where the fire was so I took a few photos.
You can see the top of our beautiful courthouse in the background of this photo. Thankfully, no one was injured but it’s sad for the employees and owners of this business.
Pat says
Oh, WOW…….that is scary……..TOXIC haze engulfing the town. I’m glad to hear nobody was hurt (or worse).
Karen says
a couple years ago the hardware store in the little bitty town nearest to us (3 miles) burnt to the ground – the smoke & sirens reached us to the point that our curiosity got the better of us and we drove around to see what was on fire. Then when we found it we joined the crowd parked all over town watching it go up in flames – such an old building the fire crews could only keep it under control away from the other historic buildings.
Karen
http://karensquilting.com/blog/
Glen in louisiana says
And here I had envisioned Cheech and Chong!! That would have bee “toxic” smoke too!
glen
Cynthia H., El Cerrito, CA says
Thank you for the link to your local newspaper story, a very well-written one, too. A sudden fire, no doubt! The owner still on his way home after closing up shop. What a nasty shock for everyone: employees, owner, neighbors, town.
Rhonda says
Oh dear…. fires always frighten me and yes, I would have been called to see where my loved loves were, too!!!
Ava Crotinger says
Oh, that’s sad. My husband is fond of NAPA. He has sent me to that store for parts on a couple of occasions. My husband shops by phone. He sends me to the store. I call him and say, this is what they’ve got. Then he checks online and does some thinking and deciding; then gives me the “go ahead” or the “no let’s keep looking.”
Thanks for the news, Judy.
Tracy says
About one and a half years ago we had a major barn fire(almost 100% sure it was arson due to the burn pattern). It was full of nice feed hay and it burned to the ground. It was 3:30 AM when we were awakened by fire trucks racing by our house(the barn was at another farm). We had that sinking feeling you get when you know something is wrong and about that time the phone rings-a neighbor with the bad news. We are thankful that no one was hurt but the loss of all that hay was quite devastating.
So I can empathize with the owners of the store.
Melanie says
I call mine, too, Judy. And I live not even a block from the fire dept. and the ambulance had to pass my house to get to the hospital. My youngest flipped her car and totaled it this December. No one was hurt, but I am now very conscious of where they are.
Diane S. says
Sad story. Hope your chickies are OK. They can’t tell us if they’re feeling bad, poor little guys.