Please Keep My Neighbors in Your Thoughts and Prayers...

There will be no outfit of the day for me today. I will post the outfit I wore yesterday, but I had no energy this morning to put towards making an outfit. (The one I am wearing is fine, but I just didn't have the heart to photograph and make a polyvore for it.)

Last night, after getting home from yoga at 8:15 pm, I decided to start dinner for myself. I went into the sunroom to talk with Jim and Rex, and I saw a firetruck coming down the cul-de-sac. To me, this is not really anything special. We live two houses from a nursing home and they ALWAYS (unfortunately) get visits from our local firehouse. Assuming that the truck was there for them, I started to move back to the kitchen. That is when I saw it, the bright orange flames. Freaking out, I ran out of the house down in the direction of the fire. I wanted desperately to know the people in the house were okay (must be because I am a mom). I was the third on-looker. This house was located five houses from us.

The other two people outside assured me that the family had moved out and were remodeling the home. The firemen needed to be sure so they (VERY BRAVELY) jumped through the flames and started busting windows open. There were fireworks going off, flames jumping through the air, plumes of smoke, and here they were, risking their lives to make sure everyone was okay.

Once the firemen determined the fire was too out of control (happened really fast--like 2 minutes after I showed up on the scene), they moved to put out what had become a towering inferno. This fire had grown so large that the houses on either side were in danger of become casualties themselves. The trees were started to burn and the gas line had exploded (that was awful to see). We live on a VERY forested area (my backyard, as well as the burning house and others, back onto protected parkland), so this means with the right conditions a fire can spread rapidly.

By 11 pm the fire was out (mostly), but even this morning, the house's foundations and foliage were still smoldering.

The family was not in the house, but they obviously still own and love their property. Please, if you could, pray or keep in your thoughts this family who lost so much last night.

Here is what the Washington Post had to say about this fire:

Fierce brush fires raged across sections of Prince George's and Fairfax counties yesterday, threatening houses and prompting vigorous efforts to protect property.
A woman living near the Fairfax fire, which was in the Baileys Crossroads area, said the blaze there appeared to have engulfed a house in the ***** block of ***** Lane.
It's "such a huge fire," said the woman. She said the neighborhood, off Seminary Road, is known as Dowden Terrace and is heavily wooded.
By last night when the Fairfax fire was reported, the day's strong winds had apparently abated.
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The rest of the article mentions (ANOTHER) fire from PG County:
But fire officials in Prince George's said the wind helped spread a brush fire in the 9200 block of Allentown Road.
About 3 p.m., the swiftly moving fire was heading toward back yards of homes on a cul-de-sac in the 3400 block of Wayneswood Road, said Mark Brady, a spokesman for the county's fire and emergency medical services department.
Brady said the fire consumed sheds, patio furniture and other yard items.
It was a few feet from homes when firefighters arrived and stopped the advance, he said.