late night inferno

At 2:30 am on a Thursday 2 or 3 weeks ago, I awoke to an explosion. I laid still for a few seconds, then decided to roll over and go back to sleep - Our neighborhood is constantly producing gunshots, explosions, screaming and car-accidents in the middle of the night, and I assumed this was just another one of those run-of-the-mill disasters. But then I heard another, louder explosion, accompanied with some frantic screaming. It was then that I decided to get up and take a peek out of our bedroom blinds. What I saw was incredible. Across the street and 2 houses down, there was an inferno....and no fire engines, no ambulances...just one lonley police car, and people running for their lives out of that house. Phil hopped out of bed and scurried around, gathering our important documents, and telling me to get dressed. These old houses are very close to one another, and without the fire department there to keep the flames tamed, who knows how quickly things could spread. Well, in a matter of 3 minutes (I counted) the fire department arrived...actually 3 fire departments arrived, and were completely unable to save the old house. In a matter of about 5 minutes, our neighbor's home was destroyed. As it turns out, no one was hurt, thanks to one police officer who just "happened" to be driving by the house when he saw the porch on fire. I laid awake the rest of that night, listening to the emergency personnel (and the entire neighborhood) putting things right again. Needless to say, Phil and I are grateful for our old house. The next day, we got new batteries for our smoke detectors, and gathered our important documents to one convenient location...right next to the baby's bed.