The story

It was 11:30 a.m. and Brad and I were sitting on the basement couch, eating lunch and having a friendly argument about whether we should watch the Olympics or season 1 of Arrested Development (what can I say - we've been together for 6 years, we don't have real exciting stuff to fight about). Suddenly, there was a knock on our front door, which is right above the basement stairs. The door opened immediately, and a female voice shouted "hello? hello?"

My first thought was that it was my friend Katie, who lives in my neighborhood and occasionally pops in. But the "hello" was immediately followed with a frantic, "your house is on fire! You need to get out NOW!" As we'd later learn, it was a woman who'd been driving by, had noticed the flames and pulled into our driveway to investigate. Her teenage son was already on the phone with 911 by the time she knocked on our door.

Brad and I raced up the stairs and out the door. Flames were shooting up the back of our house, spreading by the millisecond. I always thought I'd be calm in the face of a REAL emergency, but I was wrong. I was utterly hysterical. Like, screaming hysterical. I ran back into the house and grabbed Danny Boy, but I couldn't find Taka in the front of the house and was too scared to go any farther back in case something exploded. I ran out, threw Dan in the car, and screamed to Brad, TAKA'S STILL IN THERE!!! He went back in and found her sleeping soundly in the computer room.

I got in the car, turned on the air and drove it across the street to get it away from the house. The cats were crying, I was hyperventilating...we were quite the crew. Gawkers were starting to come out of their houses -- I'm a champion gawker but have never been the person that was gawked AT. The fire department showed up a few minutes later and put out the flames. They blocked off our street with a police car and sent two fire engines. I have no idea how long it took to kill the fire, as I was in complete shock at that point.

The siding of the back of our house is destroyed and we need to replace our windows and shutters, but the windows were closed and the fire never actually came inside. The basement window is broken and some smoke got in, but no significant damage. Just a lot of stank. The house is safe to live in, but they told us to keep an eye on things until nighttime to make sure nothing sparked up again. I know I won't sleep a wink tonight.

We were so unbelievably lucky. The fire inspector told us if one of the two rear windows had been open even a crack (and since it was a beautiful morning, EVERY OTHER WINDOW was open in our house), quote, "you would not have a house right now." And thanks to the good samaritan who called 911 for us, the fire department showed up early and was able to contain the fire before it spread to other parts of the house.

The fire was caused by charcoal from a mini-bonfire we had in our backyard Friday. It had been burned out (we assumed) and doused with water more than 12 hours earlier. This morning we shoveled it into our trash can, certain that it was no longer burning. It was cold to the touch. The fire started in our trash can and spread to the house.

I'm trying not to focus on the "what ifs." What if our window would have been open like it normally is. What if it would have happened in the middle of the night and nobody had seen it. What if the flames hit our gas line. It's hard not to think that way. It was an extremely traumatic experience. Watching the flames spread across the back of our house, I truly thought we were going to lose everything. I felt completely helpless.

But, we're OK. The cats are OK. Our valuable possessions are OK (we lost a trash can and a blanket). Our homeowner's insurance will cover the damages. And it's going to be a long time before we have another fire in our backyard. :)

Brad and I have been hugging every 30 seconds today. We are so thankful.