As Thanksgiving approaches at breakneck speed, I am emerging from my writer’s hibernation to launch a 30-day feature on being thankful. For the month of November, the matter at hand (and at heart) is thankfulness.
I am starting a day late, but the reason involves the very reason for my thankfulness as this month kicks off.
I was awakened about 5:30 yesterday morning by the voice of my husband (my hero), yelling, “Rachael! Fire!”
What followed in the next 90 seconds was a mad scramble out the front door to see the upper left unit of our fourplex completely engulfed in flames that were pouring out from the front porch, then an even madder scramble to gather a single armload of items as smoke rapidly filled our apartment. Coughing and with eyes and throat burning, I followed the bare minimum of our emergency plan, scooping up certain items and running out the door as David called 9-1-1 and grabbed the garden hose to try to prevent the flames from jumping to nearby trees. When I ran out of our apartment for the last time as its resident, I was carrying my purse, David’s wallet, my laptop, David’s keys, a pre-packed emergency bag containing a change of clothes, and a recyclable Wal-mart bag filled with the contents of our safe.
As David ran back inside to get the dog and a couple of other items, I dumped everything into the trunk of the car and moved the car to the street. All the residents were now outside, some yelling instructions to each other, others walking around in the horrific fog that results from being ripped from your sleep to find your home burning and that it’s too late to do anything about it.
We wrapped the neighbor’s two-year-old son in a sweater from the trunk of my car and put him in the front seat of David’s truck, where he promptly fell back asleep. David moved his truck to the street as I loaded our dog and the neighbor’s dog into my car to keep them out of harm’s way.
By now EMS, a few police cars and the first firefighters were on the scene, and we were being instructed to move the cars (and ourselves) further down the street while they attacked the flames in the trees and then started on the dwelling.
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I will post more details on this event in the coming days. Click here to view the link to the brief article in the Austin American Statesman.
For now, here is what I am thankful for on Day 1:
I am thankful that every resident got out alive, with only one person having minor injuries.
