Night one

On February 17, 2012, sometime around 11:30 my husband came into the bedroom to tell me to get on my coat and go next door. Groggy and half asleep I got out of bed, headed down the hallway that was rapidly filling with an unbelieveable stench. As I asked where the fire was I passed the basement door and was slapped in the face by a head that couldn't possibly be real. Later as the skin peeled from my lips, I realized that my lips had been burned by the heat.

I managed to make it to the door, asked about the dogs, grabbed my coat and headed outside. I was heading toward the next door neighbors who had a land line while we had only cell phones. My cell phone was on the kitchen table however, and I didn't even think about it. I made it to theneighbors', the fire department was called and chaos reigned.

Before I go any further. We are a family of four, my husband and two grown sons, two dogs, two cats and a 39 year old miniature orange tree that we bought on our honeymoon. Everyone, including the orange tree, got out alive and unharmed, though one cat is missing, someplace in our big back yard. The dogs were tucked safely away in a car, one son hadn't come home for work and the other had been with the neighbors next door.

Mrs next Door Neighbor gave me her slippers. Mr Next Door gave my husband a pair of sweatpants and later a striped dress shirt for my husband had run out of the house in a pair of shorts only. We live in Maryland and while we weren't up to our whoo haaas in snow, it was cold.

So there I sat, watching the most foul smoke pour from my house. First there was white and then a black and then a sulphurous yellow. There were flames but they were mostly contained to the basement. They shot out of the basement windows, licked up the side of the house before the firemen stopped them.

Ours is a volunteer fire department and I swear that some of those guys looked to be about 10 but they all seemed to know what they were doing. Eventually we had 7 trucks plus a variety of other trucks and jeeps and police and people. I stayed at the neighbors trying to keep out of the way and equally trying to hold myself together. I refused to become a blubbering mess. I checked on the dogs in the car, stopped by the fence but went back to my vigil inside.

It seemed forever but, eventually the fire guys won. I no longer had any windows in the house, the front door had been battered down AND a door shaped hole in the side of the house right at the big bedroom. The house is a rancher. Comments were made that I was so calm. I think it was shock more than anything. When my brain kicked it, it seemed a bit lopsided. I thought of things we lost: my craft supplies, my son's professional grade saxephone, the trophy he got in Virgina Beach as outstanding soloist, my husband's hawaiian shirts, my second son's perler beads and the headphones he was selling on ebay. Not once did I wonder where was I going to live.

It was a very long night. We found ourself a fire advocate who handled everything from finding us a place to stay, they were going to find us a place where we could take the dogs but the next door neighbors invited them to stay, so we arrived at one of those suite inns at 6am stinking of smoke. Our oldest son stayed at the neighbors to soothe the dogs, other son went to a friend's house and husband and I went to bed for all of two hours sleep.

Thus ended night one.