This Time, It's A Fire

[la_samtyr]

Yes, that's right. A house fire, to be exact. It's literally a block from where I live and I've been watching it from my porch with my cats and little dog. I heard the fire whistle go off about 7:30pm so I decided to look outside and see what was happening. With such high winds, an easy 30 mph if not more, a fire is even more dangerous (jmho) because the wind can carry sparks and set off another one. It seems to be somewhat under control but it really did blaze up high at first. One of the neighbors tried to see if the owner was home (I think it was might be same guy who called it in) but the heat & smoke drove him back. So it's hard to know for sure. I hope not. The owner, Bill O'Donnell, was very odd and eccentric (think of a hermit) but basically a nice man. His wife died a couple of years back but I never heard that he was seeing anyone. One of his sons lives in Omaha, I think. But as far as I know he never visited people very much. I am very much afraid that he was trying to heat with kerosene or maybe overloaded circuits with space heaters but I can't be certain. He had *lots* of extension cords running all over the place, and the house was extremely dilapidated. So what I *think* is that he was home and got cold and, well... :~( He also had two large dogs (and cats); possibly one of them knocked something over. I called Ruth, one of my cousins who lives in Hastings, to call my aunt and let her know that I'm ok and the fire wasn't one of my places. If it hits the local news, which it might (fires always being a major news story), I know she'd worry about me. I've already talked to her and when I did try and call her, her line was busy. FWIW I'll probably update tomorrow when I know something.