Fire!

I was awakened this morning at around 5am by the noise of explosions and a roaring and cracking. I couldn’t figure it out for a moment. Fireworks display? At this time of the morning? I jumped out of bed to look in the direction of Galgorm Manor hotel, the occasional site of celebratory pyrotechnics. But the noise was much closer. The empty house next door appeared to be ablaze. I heard Hannah up too. She was calling for Bert. She thought it was gunfire.

I raced downstairs and dialled 999. Gave the address, directions, information regarding house being near derelict – then waited for the fire engines to arrive. It took them about 15-20 minutes then the most of two hours to bring the fire under control.

Then later this morning I went to take a look. The fire must have started in the garage; the exploding noises were probably paint tins and a gas tank going off. The fire did not spread to the house but it could have so easily. And how did it start?

THE AFTERMATH

It’s not the first time there has been a fire on that site. Long before I came to this part of the country there was a cottage stood on that site. It belonged to Bert’s family and Clint used to live in it when he was a little boy. That’s the reason why Clint and Bert are friends from childhood. Their two families were neighbours and the two of them used to play together as children.

Clint’s granny died in that house. Bert’s father was passing it one day when he noticed the windows were blackened. He went to investigate. He found the elderly lady perished, mostly burned away. Apparently not much besides her lower legs were left. Bert’s father said the walls were covered with sooty grease. I thought of her last night as I watched that garage burn.