This was not a drill

     This is my neighbors house back home in Illinois.  We have known them for many years.  From what I hear, the flames were raring high and smoke was coming out the second floor.  That is the garage below.

     The investigators or the insurance company thought that a power surge caused the dryer or the fuse box to ignite.  Luckily no one was home.  My brother was home that morning to witness this tragedy and to user in the fire department.  Our neighbors are our dear friends so he stayed home from school to help them collect valuables that were scattered in the yard and driveway.  They weren't allowed to go upstairs due to the floor being unstable.  

These pictures are a look inside.

     The firetruck backed up into my families pond to use the water to put out the fire.  Now I know why every house has a pond in the country.  Very good addition to homes!  When they went to leave, they got stuck, as you can see the tracks below.  A tractor came to pull it out, but got stuck as well.  Unfortunately, my brother didn't capture that on camera.  Drew, my brother, told me that an even bigger tractor came to bail them out.  He hasn't ever seen a tractor so BIG. That mission was then successful.

   It meant so much to me to hear from my mom that they had asked her for another picture of Russell and I.  The picture that they had was on their fridge and it was taken in the fire.  They told my mom that she said good morning to us every day.  I almost teared up.

  The good news is that they are going to rebuild!  They are staying with family near by and the community is helping them with some food and clothing.

   I hope they don't change anything when they rebuild because I absolutely loved their home.  In high school I always wanted to buy it when I got older.