Posted 9:11 AM by Bonnie

Fire again! Yesterday Keith and I smelled smoke. He turned on his police scanner and heard something about a fire in Willow Run Apartments. That's the complex where we live. I was on the phone with my mother so stepped outside and the apartments across the parking lot from us were ablaze! This was the second time in two years we had seen this. When the heat is so hot from the fire you can feel it across the parking lot you know it's time to go. About that time a fireman came around telling everyone to evacuate. The fire was out of control due to high winds.

We grabbed as many cats as we could, but a few were hiding so we had to leave them. We were lucky the fire didn't spread and they were eventually able to get it under control. But in the meantime eight families are without homes and many lost everything they had. Pictures and news article to follow.

I heard my husband telling someone he was surprised I hadn't grabbed my camera and taken pictures, but at that point my thoughts were not on that but on trying to rescue my cats and hope for the best. We moved our cars and watched from a distance. Our biggest concern was a handicapped man who lived in one of the first floor aparments, but the rescue crew were able to get him out much to everyone's relief. No one was injured, but once again someone being careless has caused a lot of grief for others.

I am hoping the article I scanned comes out good enough to read. We were lucky this time. But it sure brings things home quickly. I am going back to keeping a suitcase packed for each of us in case it ever happens to us. We have to find a better way of rounding up cats, but in an emergency if it were our building I would just open the door and hope the cats would leave and we could find them again later. It was pretty scary to watch and I can only imagine how the poor people who lost their homes and belongings are feeling today. Some probably got no sleep.

I will give credit to the fire department because they did respond swiftly this time and were polite and considerate of the others in the complex. Unlike the fire in 2002 where we were rudely forced back into our apartments and told to stay inside and not allowed to evacuate even though that fire was also out of control. Either this was a different team (I know the fire cheif was a different man this time) or they have learned a lot since then. Also kudos for the quick rescue of all the tenants and also for trying to save as many of their belongings as possible. Over the police scanner I heard them talking about getting the computer and tv out of the handicapped man's apartment. Yes, the upstairs apartments were totally lost and everything in it, but battling the winds we had and lack of fire hydrants they did a great job keeping it from spreading even further.


This is not even the worst the flames got. Hopefully this will not happen again.