Fire!!

Yesterday evening, just after dinner, I heard what sounded like three explosions.  I could tell it wasn't fireworks going off - the sound was different. Shortly after, the air in our neighborhood was filled with the sounds of sirens.  A few minutes later, when Charly and I left our home to start on our nightly walk, we saw black smoke rising from the north. Our next door neighbor was on his roof.  We asked him what was wrong. He told us that some apartments, about half a mile away and still under construction, were on fire.  My husband and I decided to change our usual walking route and go see what was up. When we got to where the apartments were located, this is what we saw:

It ended up being a 5-alarm fire and burned for about six hours - from about 6 p.m. until after midnight. High winds blew and scattered burning embers nearby and up to 3/4 of a miles away, starting small fires on other homes and structures. A number of homes and a large apartment complex across the street were evacuated. Quite a few people who attend our church, as well as the missionaries, who live in the apartment complex across the street, were quickly evacuated with only the clothes on their backs.  

The blessing is that this fire, which news reports are calling the biggest fire in the history of our city, resulted in only a few minor injuries to first responders.  While some secondary fires were started by blowing embers, those fires were quickly put out and no structures outside of the complex where the fire started were destroyed.

Here are some pictures of the aftermath, which I took when Charly and I went for our walk this evening:

 Complete devastation where a several 3 story apartment structure stood.

 Another view of the devastation. There were eight buildings in the complex, now only one is still standing.

 More charred and twisted rubble.

Some metal pieces melted int he flames. The building in the background is part of the Gilbert City Town Hall complex. It was not hurt in the fire.

 This is the clubhouse of the apartment complex across the street.

 The roof of this structure caught on fire when winds blew the flames across the street.

This charred palm tree is more than 1/2 mile from the original fire.  It caught fire from burning embers.

These ashes are from the burned palm tree shown in the picture above. The fire burned hot and fast and embers were carried quite a ways by the wind. There are still ashes on the ground throughout the neighborhood.

I am grateful that the fire is out and our neighborhood is safe once more, but last night was one Saturday night that people around here will not forget for a long, long time.