I awoke this morning to a strange combination of sirens and dog barks. From the upstairs window, I could see firetrucks, paramedics, and the police in the street adjacent to where I live. One house over and two houses down (like a Knight moves in Chess), a home had caught fire somehow, and emergency personnel had responded.
Things calmed down for me fairly quickly. Once the dogs were out of their kennels, they were fine and just sat on a mound of dirt and rocks while they took it in. Neighbors looked on from balconies (the streets were all blocked off by police), and the firemen got to work, even though smoke was still billowing from the home when I left for work two hours later.
I go by this house all the time. The people moved in a few months ago when they bought it as a foreclosure, and they seemed nice albeit quiet and withdrawn. If it had been one of their adjacent neighbors, I might have been more excited because one of them worked for my parents on their house and the other is an elderly retired policeman with whom I have frequent interactions as he and I cycle the same route at nearly the same time among other things.
I was impressed with the response. True, I live in a relatively quiet part of town, but we did have a really bad T-bone collission a few weeks back at a bad corner and a murder a few blocks away last week, so the emergency personnel were probably bored, but they were there and they were about their business calmly and promptly. Glad as I was that it was not a fire where I lived, I felt good to know that so many people might respond that quickly.
My experiences with emergency personnel have not exactly been glowing. The fire station where I worked the polls in 2006 was full of condescending men with attitudes. I've never actually met a cop I liked. Last time I needed emergency medical care, the British paramedics didn't notice I had a dislocated jaw that healed improperly. However, when you need help, it's nice to have someone there.
I hope those people are ok.
Things calmed down for me fairly quickly. Once the dogs were out of their kennels, they were fine and just sat on a mound of dirt and rocks while they took it in. Neighbors looked on from balconies (the streets were all blocked off by police), and the firemen got to work, even though smoke was still billowing from the home when I left for work two hours later.
I go by this house all the time. The people moved in a few months ago when they bought it as a foreclosure, and they seemed nice albeit quiet and withdrawn. If it had been one of their adjacent neighbors, I might have been more excited because one of them worked for my parents on their house and the other is an elderly retired policeman with whom I have frequent interactions as he and I cycle the same route at nearly the same time among other things.
I was impressed with the response. True, I live in a relatively quiet part of town, but we did have a really bad T-bone collission a few weeks back at a bad corner and a murder a few blocks away last week, so the emergency personnel were probably bored, but they were there and they were about their business calmly and promptly. Glad as I was that it was not a fire where I lived, I felt good to know that so many people might respond that quickly.
My experiences with emergency personnel have not exactly been glowing. The fire station where I worked the polls in 2006 was full of condescending men with attitudes. I've never actually met a cop I liked. Last time I needed emergency medical care, the British paramedics didn't notice I had a dislocated jaw that healed improperly. However, when you need help, it's nice to have someone there.
I hope those people are ok.
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