Brian forgot to put out his cigarette.

Before (front): After (front):
Before (back):
After (back):

The dead giveaway that this isn't our place is the placement of the back porch. Notice on the burned house the steps are on the left? On ours the steps are on the right. The only difference.

So what to make of this? The story, as told by the nieghbors is that a frantic mother had to drop her children from the burning home onto the porch... with on of the children bouncing off the railing of the porch. If so, that is truly sad, but joyous at the same time because nobody was seriously hurt. Some bumps and bruises and a few burns.

The fire was believed to have started with a loud BANG in the garage and quickly spread up. In the garage before it was boarded up you could see two or three ATVs that were completely destroyed. what a tragedy.

Since this happened just last night, Kristin and I have become nervous and are drafting up our familys escape plans that involve rope ladders and dropping children in well padded laundry baskets... With the final draft still yet to be decided on. :)

Thank goodness no one lost their life. The Elders Quorm is over there helping the neighbors move out. What a great opportunity for the generous neighbors to band together.

Early this morning the firetrucks returned to attend to some hot spots and to put a hole in their roof (a roof that was only 80% finished because our complex is getting new roofs this month!). Check out the picture below from our back porch to view the action from today. And also to show how close this whole things was.