Last night just before midnight my teenage son and daughter were on the roof of the barn (a perfectly normal place for teens to be on a summer night). All of a sudden they saw a huge burst of fire. They used the cell phone to call my wife, Colleen. Colleen called the fire department. The first of a half-dozen fire trucks were on the scene in just a few minutes.
The teens then ran to the house and helped us get all eight children in the van in less than five minutes. Colleen had the van out of the property onto the road in less than five minutes. I walked down to the blaze, which was about five houses north of us (about one-half mile). Thank God there was no wind. There is almost always at least a breeze, but last night it was completely still.
By the time I started snapping pictures, the blaze was already under control. The photos are in the order I took them.
The ground here is incredibly dry. Last year when we moved here at this time of year, the weeds and grasses were waist high. This year you can walk anywhere with flipflops or sandals, and not worry about getting grass burrs stuck on your feet.
Our good friend who owns the alpacas lives across the road from where the fire was burning. She told us the house has been vacant for two weeks. She strongly suspects that the house was a meth house. There were large numbers of cars coming and going at all hours of the night, when people lived there. That is pretty unusual for such a remote, rural area, wouldn't you think?
The structure that burned was adjacent, but not connected to the house. The house was saved by the firemen. God bless them.
UPDATE! It was an entire house that burned, not a separate structure. Today I drove by the scene, and this is what I saw.
The kids and Colleen walked down to the site. The kids got to board the fire truck. An investigator was there to determine the cause. He was waiting for a court order, before entering the premises.
