In Our Spare Time We Fight Fires

Yesterday the Husband and I spent a glorious day relaxing together. It was a generally stress free day out in the sun. In the evening we kicked up our heels and watched a movie on TV, our dog splayed out between us. The Husband went to the kitchen sink to rinse out his glass.

"Hey Babe. It looks like the neighbors are having a bonfire," he said. After a moment we both thought that was strange. The neighbors are usually in bed early. And they have no fire pit. The Husband turned off the kitchen light for a better view. "It looks awfully close to the garage," he said, before going outside to investigate.

He was quickly back at the door. "Go wake them up! I'm going to douse it." I rang the doorbell and pounded on their door while the husband poured water on the small fire that was burning by the wall of the garage. The neighbors groggily stumbled out of their house and pulled out the hose for us. They watched as the husband and I sprayed down the embers.

She opened the garage door and smoke poured out. The glass from the window had broken and lay shattered on the concrete floor. Small wisps of smoke continued to trickle out of the wall of the garage. We decided it would be best to call the fire department to make sure there was no more burning inside the wall of the garage that we couldn't see or douse.

The fire department arrived with sirens blaring, despite the fact that the neighbor told them the fire was out. They tore down pieces of the wall and found smoldering embers a foot or two higher than what we had been able to hose down.

The immediate suspected cause by the fire department - arson. Actual cause - neighbor burning weeds at the side of the garage with a weed torch and assuming stucco can't burn. She even came out a couple of times after torching to make sure nothing was burning. Amazing how an ember can smoulder. We found the fire almost 4 hrs after the fact.