On May 30 of last year, there was an enormous fire just about a mile from where we live. The home was completely destroyed, and only a few weeks later, its remains were razed.
Massive fire destroys home in Mauldin
Here are a couple of articles about the incident:
- 2 firefighters injured battling house fire in Mauldin, officials say
- Video shows firefighters battling Upstate house fire
Just yesterday, there was another fire in the same area. In fact, the locations are less than a quarter of a mile away from each other.
As with the other fire, I was unaware of it until after it occurred. I would have thought we’d hear the sirens and realize how close they were coming, but perhaps not.
Crews: Mauldin home fire tears through attic
All of this, of course, got me thinking, got me remembering. When I was in high school, a home two doors down from us caught on fire when lightning struck an air conditioner and started a fire in the second story. Dad and I were home; Mom was somewhere. She panicked when she was stopped from entering the development and heard that the fire was on our street. The officers holding back traffic told her the address of the fire and she breathed an audible sigh of relief, I’m sure. Perhaps shed a tear of relief as well as tears of sorrow for our neighbors.