Mark The Homer Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Some of you might remember the last one: http://www.extremeskins.com/showthread.php?189741-My-Neighbor-s-House-Just-Burned-Down Sooo.... I wake up in the middle of the night - Sunday night - and I can hear a diesel engine idling outside. I live in historic Brookeville on state route 97, which cuts right through the middle of town, so an occasional vehicle isn't unusual. But an idling truck in the middle of the night is. I check the time, but - there is no time. My electric clock is black. The power is out. "Anne...", I whispered. "Yeah", she says. She woke up too. "Hear that?" "Yeah." She gets up and checks the front window which is on her side of the bed. "There's a firetruck out there.", she said. "Wait. It's moving. It's leaving. No. No - It's stopped." She paused for a moment. "Oh my God, Les's house is on fire!", Anne shouted. "What???", I yelled. I jumped out of bed, threw my clothes and a sweater on and ran outside. It wasn't Les's house. It was Deeds' house. It was the same house that had burned four years ago and had been standing abandoned and debilitated ever since. Somehow it had ignited overnight. I had grabbed my wife's camera and ran outside. It was cold - 20 degrees. I ran two houses up the road to the front of the burning house. But it wasn't one house. It was two houses. The fire in the first house was so intense, it had spread to the house next door to the west of it as well. Already, both houses were completely engulfed in flames. It was almost like a big fireball. The houses themselves were almost invisible - the fireball was so huge. Although I was standing across the street, the heat on my face was alarming. Popping and cracking and the whoosh of air that fed the flames was loud and constant, while the air filled with the smell of cinders, smoke and ash. This was the biggest fire I had ever seen. There were three Montgomery County firetrucks from Laytonsville with multiple hoses spraying the flames. Overhead, the black sky was filled with bright orange embers. They blew across the street and floated down on top of me and the two houses behind me. They were like a snow storm of burning embers falling all around me. Most of the firehoses were aimed at the burning houses, but one alternately sprayed the two houses behind me to keep them from being ignited by the burning ash. My good friends and neighbors directly across the street from me were ordered out of their house because there's was next in line to go up in flames. The fireball shooting out of the attic window on the west side of the second flaming house and adjacent to my friends house was impossibly huge, and firefighters shot their hoses at it, desperately trying to keep the flames from spreading to my friend's house. They soaked the roof of the house in white foam to help keep it from igniting. Everything around the two houses burned: trees, shrubs, telephone poles, electrical lines, and utility wires. ... Within about an hour, the fire finally calmed down and came under loose control. We took our neighbors inside our house and had a cup of hot tea while they waited for permission to return to their home. At about 3:30 am, more than two hours after the fire started, they were allowed back into their house. Anne and I went back to bed, and woke up the next morning. At 7 am, two fire hoses were still being directed at the second house on west side with full force, and the fire continued to smoke. A helicopter hovered overhead recording the scene. The first house was gone. All that was left was the foundation and the brick chimney which towered awkwardly above the mess, seemingly unscathed. The second house - the shell of the west half of it still stood. The east half of the house, the half closest to the first house, had collapsed. The good news is, both houses were vacant when the fire started. About 10 AM, a front loader was brought in to knock the chimney down. It fell with a big crash, sending bricks tumbling all over the road. The firetrucks finally left at 10:45 am, and the utility crews started work. Rt 97 remained closed to traffic. Power was restored about 1:30 Monday afternoon. But not the other utilities. At 2 PM, the firetrucks were called back. The fire in the west house had re-ignited. They spent another hour spraying. Then they climbed into the house to be sure the source was extinguished. At 8 AM Tuesday morning, the firetrucks were called back again. A tree was smoldering at roof level just to the right of my friend's house. Pepco returned at 9 AM Tuesday to replace the utility poles. We still have no utilities other than power. Our Verizon utilities were finally restored THURSDAY at 6 PM. Here's a pic showing both houses. The road is sharply curved here, so the houses are almost perpendicular to each other. You can see the side of the right hand house and the front of the left hand house. Check out the huge fireball in the upper left corner blowing out of the attic window. That fireball was licking at my friend's chimney and threatening to burn his house down too. Note the blue flames coming from the center of the right house... After an hour or so, the fire finally calmed down... The house on the left is the one next in line to catch fire and was saved by the fire crews... Here's both houses. The one on the right is gone. The one on the left - half of it collapsed.... The firecrews worked most of the morning.... Rt. 97, a state road that connects Wash DC with Gettysburg, remained closed all day and well into the evening... News article: http://www.gazette.net/stories/03302011/olnenew201104_32535.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boysetsfire Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Wow Mark that's intense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0ublestr0ker0ll Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 Man! Were the walls of that house made of paper? The same house down the street here burned down within the span of 2 years. They made it real nice when they first had to rebuild it, added a few extensions - it went up in flames a few months later. Must be an Indian graveyard underneath. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark The Homer Posted March 31, 2011 Author Share Posted March 31, 2011 Weird. These old houses don't have fireblocks between the walls - so the flames just shoot right up from cellar to attic within minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark The Homer Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 More pics uploaded... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boysetsfire Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 I bet the traffic on Rt. 108 and New Hampshire was ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 it sure is surreal seeing that happen around you. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to see the camp ground I was staying at had caught fire. The main building was completely up in flames, you could see water sprouting out of where the bathrooms had once been. There was a downed electricity line sitting in a puddle of water flashing bright-white and cracking loudly. it was really sad seeing the Husband/Wife owners watch helplessly as their place went up in flames. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d0ublestr0ker0ll Posted April 1, 2011 Share Posted April 1, 2011 Pardon me for quoting a pic, and not to make light of the situation, but I think they can take that for sale sign down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark The Homer Posted April 1, 2011 Author Share Posted April 1, 2011 Not really. The place, the lot, is still for sale. It still has to be sold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Not really. The place, the lot, is still for sale. It still has to be sold.That's interesting. Was this property foreclosed? Wouldn't surprise me if someone burned it for insurance.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 That's interesting. Was this property foreclosed? Wouldn't surprise me if someone burned it for insurance.... From what I gathered, the house where the fire started was already destroyed by a previous fire and this one destroyed it even more "It wasn't Les's house. It was Deeds' house. It was the same house that had burned four years ago and had been standing abandoned and debilitated ever since. Somehow it had ignited overnight." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DButz65 Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 I saw that on the news Mark and said to myself...."Damn Mark lives right there, or close to it, hope it wasn't him" :whew: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyLeeGhostHunter Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Simply amazing. Awesome pics of the action, Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HighPlainsDrifter Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 That is incredible. Glad that no one was hurt. The one picture wit the balloons in it is a little strange. Seeing the power lines burn like that is surreal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark The Homer Posted April 2, 2011 Author Share Posted April 2, 2011 Yeah - re the balloons, the family across the street had a birthday party for their young son on Sunday... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibarramedia Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Glad you and your family are safe Mark. From what I've rea in your post, my guess would be arson, though I have no proof of course. The blue flame emitting from the middle is indicative of gas. Shutting down Georgia ave sure caused a severe bottleneck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macs-a-skins-fan Posted April 6, 2011 Share Posted April 6, 2011 Mark, I remember you posting about that fire...holy crap. But i'm sure it didn't just 'catch' on fire if its been abandoned, just saying. That comes from my 20 plus years as a fireman. But anyway, glad no-one got hurt. And, just think, YOU thought it was hot? You oughta be in that gear we wear up close and personal!!! wooooo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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