Giant Ginkgo

Last night wasn't a very good night for getting a good night's sleep. To begin things off, a strong frontal line thunderstorm came through around midnight, illuminating the night sky with blinding flashes of lightning. As the storm wound down, and I was finally falling asleep I heard what sounded like a couple of gun shots. A minute later it was followed up by what sounded like the small fireworks the neighbors like to set off during holidays. In my sleepy state, I wondered why anybody would be setting off fireworks in the middle of the rain - they couldn't be too impressive with the moisture curbing the sparklers high up in the air. The thought crossed my mind that maybe somebody's garage had caught on fire, and that was setting them off. That didn't seem to work logically either, since they were being set off every 10 seconds or so. (There is a famous security camera video of a fireworks shop that accidentally got set of fire, and in about 5 seconds the explosions enveloped the building.)

A few minutes passed, and sirens start approaching and a huge truck drove under my bedroom window. I finally opened the window a crack, and I could smell wood burning... So I dragged myself out of bed and checked out the view from my back porch. Towards the end of the street was a firetruck busily blinking and making a racket. I went down with my camera and figured I could join the solitary gauker below. He told me that a few minutes before there had been flames shooting at least 20 feet into the air, which definitely explains the 'fireworks' from earlier.

The firetrucks and equipment made a truly stellar noise. There were beeps, bells ringing, machines going 'ping' in the night. Apparently it was good for some of the equipment to be beeping (if it stopped there would be major problems), and bad if other equipment starts ringing (the bells were related to the firefighters in the house), at least that was what I was told.

Fortunately the family and pets made it out safe, hopefully the damages will be covered by insurance. The building didn't burn down, but there is definitely a lot of major damage to the house. The vinyl siding melted away, and the roof was covered in holes which the firefighters cut open with their axes. It is pretty amazing to see them up there in the heavy equipment and clothes, dealing with the smoke and flames while punching through the roof.

It definitely was a reminder of how easy it is to lose everything to a catastrophe like a fire...