On Monday, Charlotte had to work, while Matt had the day off. Although his dad was here, I was still primarily in charge of taking care of Colt, since Matt had to do some work outside, and wanted to wash his car. Around 9, he started burning some stuff. The recently bought a new oven, so there was a huge cardboard box that needed to be taken care of, along with a few other things.
At 10:45, Charlotte called and asked him to meet her for lunch, so he put the fire out, and left.
About 20 minutes later, I got up to get Colt (who was trying to play with the Xbox), and noticed that there was a lot of smoke outside. Upon closer inspection, I realized that a patch of the grass, in the back of the yard, was on fire.
So, I sat Colt down, called Charlotte, and ran outside to try to put the flames out.
At that point, the burning patch was probably about 3x5 feet, easily maintainable. I talked to Charlotte and Matt, and they said that if the hose wouldn't reach, there was a bucket in the garage, and that there was also sand in the back of the yard that would work. Matt said that he was on his way, which would take about 25 minutes.
As I was getting off of the phone, I felt a huge gust of wind, and I turned around just in time to see the fire spread, and the fence start to burn. I yelled that I had to go, and began the process of fighting the flames, all while Colt was at the door crying.
Within minutes, I realized that it was out of control. As soon as I got the fence out, the wind would blow and feed the fire. Before I knew it, the whole back yard was in flames.
Just then, the phone rang, and Charlotte asked for an update. I looked through the fence, and saw the flames creeping towards the neighbor's house.
Matt was about 10 minutes away, having sped the whole way home, and I knew he wouldn't make it in time to contain the fire. So, I told Charlotte she needed to call 911.
I gave up my fight, and ran to warn the neighbors. I banged on their door, but the only response I got was a couple of barks from the dogs, so I went to the next house over, and Joe, Matt's friend, came out to help. He got his hose out, and prevented the fire from spreading to his yard, and kept the flames away from the middle neighbors house.
Just as I heard sirens, I turned around and saw the neighbor's shed bursting into dark, black flames.
Before I knew it, there were four fire trucks out front, with mass chaos everywhere.
Matt showed up a couple of minutes later, and we all stood in awe of the giant flames.
Eventually, the firefighters got everything under control. Joe got a hold of the homeowners, and Colt and I went back into our house, both of us a little shaken.
At the end of it all, the neighbors ended up with a destroyed shed, Matt ended up with a citation, and I ended up with some pretty nasty blisters and bruises.
It was definitely one of the most stressful experiences of my life. And, obviously I hope it never happens again.
That night, Charlotte and I had a good laugh, watched the Sweet Brown Youtube video, and went to bed grateful that everything turned out okay.
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