Going Up In Flames

Fire is such a frightening word to me! I remember fire drills in school and several in the past years at work places and how awful I always thought it would be to lose your home in a fire. They can spread so fast and you rarely have time to escape or get beloved items out before the home is fully engulfed in flames. Of course, all material things can be replaced so as long as my family was out I would have to be thankful to God.

Last night when my husband returned from hunting, he came into the house and yelled for me to grab my coat and get outside. I knew we were going to do some shopping, so I mentioned that I wanted to change shirts and he firmly said " No, grab your coat and come on". With no idea as to what the big hurry was, I grabbed my jacket and went out. As I hurried across our back yard, I immediately seen large flames above the trees. The neighbor's house on the other side of my in-laws was on fire. I picked up my pace a little more. I was in shock as I had just left my in-laws maybe 20 minutes before and seen nothing. Now, the home was partially engulfed in flames.


Being that it was a mobile home and we live in the country, I knew it was not going to be out before it done major damage or was fully engulfed. As I stood and watched the flames engulf the home and waited for the fire departments to get here and figure out where water was going to come from, I called my daughter so that if anyone told her that a home was on fire here, she would know we were safe. Then I stood and cried and prayed! Prayed for safety for those involved, prayed for something of their lives to be saved, prayed for my family and thanked God that it was not our home. Selfish- NO! Simply grateful!!

Knowing the family well, I was well aware that they probably did not have insurance and probably were losing everything on this cool night. Sad that I was standing by and seeing their home go up in flames and could not do anything about it. Sad that it takes a fire truck close to thirty minutes to get here and then there was so much confusion about water, etc, that it was close to an hour before water hit the fire. By that time, there was no point other than to get it out because the home was destroyed. An entire lifetime of hard work and struggles brought to a pile of ashes. It hurt me to the core! He is such a hard working man and does his best to provide for his family and yet, here he is losing everything. I was praying that they were all out of the home and thankfully, found out later that they were as well as their pets. What a miracle!

They are suspecting an electrical fire. I am sure we will learn more as daylight gets here and investigators spend the day looking at the evidence. I am just heartbroken! I will do all I can to help and I will pray for them daily. I ask that you do as well. The Miller family needs all they can get. I believe that the Red Cross was here to take them to a place to live and hopefully, can help them to rebuild their lives.

Please have an escape plan for your family in the unfortunate and tragic event that your home is on fire. Also, please consider the threat that fire is. Please consider giving your money or time to the Red Cross if you possibly can. Some family might just depend on it and you might as well someday.  This is not the way I would want anyone's holiday season to begin. God Bless each of you!