Yesterday we left the house for a couple of hours to have lunch at Jason and Mittu’s. When I got back, I noticed a couple of sections of a neighbor’s fence were down and thought that was odd since they had just had part of it repaired a few months ago, but I was in a hurry to get in because it was about time for my mother-in-law’s caregiver to leave.

When Jim got home an hour or two later, he noticed the fence as well as a big black patch on the grass which somehow I had missed. Evidently there was a fire during the time we were gone.It had to have been starting when I left, but the garage is on the other side of our house, and I didn’t look that way, so I didn’t see anything.

We found out later that a neighbor across the street had seen it, called 911, and hosed off what she could while waiting. Somehow we missed all of that. Jim’s mom’s caregiver didn’t hear anything.

The yard the fire was in is next door to the house directly behind ours. The fire started in her yard and spread to ours and the neighbor behind us. Jason took this picture from the vantage point of the neighbor’s yard – I am not sure how well it will show up since I think it’s a panoramic shot. (I tried to crop out any identifying features from the houses around us).

It’s amazing to me that it went around our fence on the left. It did cause that section of our new (to us) fence that my husband worked so hard on to warp.

He said some of the edging will need to be replaced as well.

He was outside when the neighbor from the house where the fire started came out and talked to her. Evidently she was burning leaves last week and thought she had put the fire out, but it must have been smoldering down where she couldn’t see it. It has been unusually dry here. She had been out of town until yesterday, and when she came back she was trying to find her dog, went out into the back yard, and saw the evidence of the fire (you’d think the firemen would have put a notice on her door. “Hi, we were here!” I guess they figured she’d figure that out).

We’re thankful that:

• It wasn’t as bad as it could have been.
• It wasn’t so bad that Jim’s mom needed to be evacuated or needed to be aware of it at all.
• The row of 52 dead trees that we had taken out a few months ago was gone. If one of those had caught fire – that would have been a disaster and a half.
• We’ve been planning to put mulch along the fence and create a planting area, but hadn’t yet. Those chips might have been susceptible to catching fire.
• No one was hurt.

I was a bit shaken that something like that could happen in the short time I was away. But I am extremely thankful for God’s protection.

And a public service plea: please make double and triple sure that any fire is thoroughly put out.