The Inferno Outside
What time is it? I was groggy as I opened my eyes and struggled to get my senses working again. I noticed that my laptop was still open and then I remembered. I was trying to get my homework done. It was 1:00 a.m. I really should try to get more of this finished. Then I remembered that this was not the first time I had nodded off tonight. Tomorrow, ah today, would be less hectic if I didn’t have as much to accomplish. Hmm, I was pretty tired though and studying Econ while struggling to stay awake probably wasn’t the best idea. I decided it was time for much needed sleep. Everyone else in my house had been asleep for hours so I really needed to be as quiet as possible. I slowly crawled off the couch and walked as quietly as possible to the bathroom to brush my teeth. What was that noise? What could be going on outside this time of the morning?
That sounded like someone shooting a gun. I knew that as tough as I like to think that I am, I needed to wake my husband to go find out what was happening. The shades were drawn, but I had to walk by the windows to get to the bedroom. I crouched and all but crawled past them. I roused my husband twice to get him up. After telling him what I had heard, he went to the carport door to determine the reason for the noise. He opened the door and quickly shut it, telling me there was an active fire outside. He would know active since he was a retired volunteer firefighter. He opened the door a second time and excitedly told me our triplex was on fire. He told me to get out of the house and call 911. I grabbed Izzie and Linus, my precious little dogs, and ran for the front door. I ran into a solid wall of smoke when I opened the door. I couldn’t breathe. The smoke was so thick you could almost feel it lying on your skin. I heard a voice but I couldn’t make out what it was saying. It was hard to breathe and I was trying to talk to the 911 operator. I realized a police officer had grabbed my arm and was escorting me away from the building. I’m so glad he could tell where we were because I still couldn’t see anything. He repeated, “Is there anyone else in the house?” I told him my husband was supposed to be right behind me. And he was. I couldn’t see him but I heard him speak to the officer. I could hear other voices and I noticed that the smoke was starting to thin. We were heading down the driveway away from the apartments. There were my neighbors.
The officer asked if everyone was out of the apartments. I looked around and took an inventory. Unit 1, Cathy and her two grandchildren, check. Unit 2, Vicki, check. Where were Vicki’s granddaughter and her granddaughter’s boyfriend? Vicki said they got out but she didn’t know where they were. Who is that coming up the driveway, Vicki’s granddaughter? I remember thinking how strange it was that we had all just got safely out and away from the fire, and here they were coming from the opposite direction like they were coming back from somewhere. Where had they been? I began to feel a little apprehensive, but I filed that information away for future use.
That’s when I saw the fire. The red, orange, and yellow flames were dancing 10 feet into the air, and all that thick, acrid black smoke billowing above the fiery blaze. There was one fire truck by the apartment, but no water. Why weren’t they trying to put the fire out? Unit 2 was on fire. It was spreading to Unit 1. They needed to get it out before it spread to our unit. Everything we owned was in that apartment. My laptop, my books, how was I going to study for my Econ Test? How was I going to study for any class? I could feel my emotions churning in my gut, threatening to spill out. I knew any moment I would lose any control I had and become hysterical. Wait a minute, what was Vicki doing? She couldn’t stand by herself; she had to hang on to the fence for support. Where was her granddaughter? Once again, something didn’t seem right. Several questions about Vicki’s granddaughter were starting to plaque me.
Cathy’s other granddaughter arrived and tried to take control of the situation. “What the hell happened?” We all started telling our stories. Cathy’s youngest granddaughter was skyping with a friend in New York. Her friend saw the flames over her shoulder and yelled fire. She woke up her brother and grandmother and got out. I told my story of doing homework and waking up. Thank God we were awake. Then we discovered that we were the only ones to call 911. Once again the nagging feeling, Unit 2 was on fire, Vickie’s granddaughter was evidently out of the apartment before any of us. Why didn’t they call 911? All of a sudden, I wasn’t the only one questioning that something was strange. Someone was saying Vickie was drunk or high. Someone was saying that her granddaughter was acting very strangely. Someone was asking where Katie was, had she got out and run away? Katie was Cathy’s little dog. The firemen were going in and out of the apartments. We had to tell them about Katie. They promised us that they would look for her.
Finally the water was battering the flames. They should be able to put it out now. Maybe we would be lucky after all. Then of course the guilt sunk in about what our neighbors were losing. We could see inside the apartments, the ceilings were coming down to attempt to stop the flames. Unit 2 was fully engulfed, firemen lingo. Unit 1 was suffering extensive smoke and water damage. Blessedly there was a fire break between Unit 2 and our apartment. We were going to be okay. But Cathy’s nightmare was just beginning. She was going to lose everything. And still no one could find Katie. That’s when a fireman came up to me and told me they had found her, and I knew. We turned and saw an incredible young man walking toward us carrying Katie’s little lifeless body cradled to his own as if he were carrying an infant. His eyes were filled with tears and he repeatedly apologized to Cathy and her family. Everything seemed so surreal, so disjointed, so helpless, and so sad.
Daylight was approaching, and we learned a fireman had been injured. He had fallen through a hole in the floor in the Unit 2 bedroom where Vicki’s granddaughter was staying. Vicki volunteered that must have been because of the fireworks had been stored under the bed. That must have been the gunfire sound I had heard.
The sun was up, the fire was out. The investigation was in full swing. We were emotionally wasted, standing around like zombies waiting to be snapped out of our stupor. The firemen came to talk to us. The fire had started in the bedroom with the fireworks. They were classifying the fire as suspicious as they had found candles and lighters and a meth pipe in that room. They also informed us that the fire had been burning for forty minutes before it was reported. What?!? What?!? They had a fire and got out forty minutes before we knew the apartments were on fire. We notified 911, they didn’t. They didn’t come to our apartments to tell us. They didn’t know we were awake. They left us to fend for ourselves. Then the bombshell, the firemen told us that the smoke alarms were not working in our unit or unit 1. If we had been asleep we would not have known of the fire. I exploded. I ran over to this 19 year old girl and demanded to know why she left us there to die. She calmly looked at me and said “you are nothing to me, I owe you nothing”. I have never been so outraged, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t speak. I wasn’t the only one. We all stood there dumbstruck. The police and fireman quickly took them aside, probably to stop the melee that was imminent. They were told they were going to be taken to the police department to be questioned. They were going to be under investigation for arson. We still stood there in shock, realization setting in. How could any human being have so little regard for someone else’s life? We could have died. Then awareness, but we didn’t, we were blessed, we lived.
Unlike the other unfortunate renters in our triplex, we had survived the fire without losing any of our precious belongings. My beloved dogs were safe. My husband and I had endured the fury and absolute devastation of the fire that had robbed the others of their irreplaceable memories and their cherished dog. The unadulterated carelessness of a few would not be tolerated. We prayed they would be forced to answer for their recklessness and obvious inhumanity. They are still being investigated and charges have yet to be filed. But for now, we go on.