Another Boring Saturday Night

Sep 12, 2004
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So the wife and I are just sitting around, staring at the idiot box and winding down with a beverage or two on a regular boring Staurday in Surburbia. Then we hear this strange noise...like a beeping sound. Looking at my wife I ask, "What is that!?"She says, "I don't know. I've been hearing weird sounds all day." That being pretty unhelpful in the way of illuminating commentary and potentially paranoid to boot, we decide to investigate. We both walk outside and the smoke is so thick you can barely see. Immediately we think either our house or the one directly behind us is on fire. We run around the side yard and the neighbor's house across the street is billowing smoke. Just at that time the emergency vehicles begin to show up.

The firetrucks are pouring in, sirens blaring. One is unreeling hose down the street and around the corner. No water is coming yet though. A guy comes running down the street, breathless, saying a firefighter is down. While unreeling the hose a woman fireman got wrapped up in the hose at the hydrant. I run down to the hydrant and a female fighfighter is down on her back and in pain. Me and another guy grab the hose and give it a yank and create some slack so a couple others can get the fireman (firewoman?) untangled. I think her leg was broken. Other firemen arrive at that time to take care of her.

I run back down to my house and go grab the camera. The fire is now coming through the roof of the neighbors house and the entire roof is burning (I know what you're singing right now. Stop it.). Embers from the fire are pouring on my roof. Neighbors are congregating in my side yard to watch the commotion. After snapping a few pictures, for insurance purposes, I go back into the house then grab a new beverage before going back outside to ogle like some closet arsonist like the rest of the neigbors. Just as I walk out the front door, two cops are tasering some dude in my front yard not five yards away from me and yelling "SETTLE DOWN. STOP STRUGGLING!" The dude is spasming and screaming but still struggling with the man. Standing there with a fresh beer in my hand, and my jaw around my ankles, I'm trying to determine whether or not I should go back inside. They tasered the guy four times before he went down. Some girl is yelling "STOP IT! STOP!!!" I go back inside.

It was like being in some surreal, live episode of cops.

Turns out the guy being tasered was the brother of the guy whose house was burning down. He came ot help his brother, left his car in the middle of the street further down the block, left the car still running with the door open, and went hoofing it towards his brother's house. The cops immediately chased him and he wouldn't stop. He told them he was the brother of the guy whose house was on fire. They tased him anyway.

The cops have some 'splainin' to do.

The family and pets made it out of the house safely. The house is a wreck though. The roof is gone. It's a shame too. It was a beautiful 2-story house on the lakefront.

I need another beer.
 

jlee

Lifer
Sep 12, 2001
48,518
223
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That's rough...I'd hate to be them.

he dude is spasming and screaming but still struggling with the man.
...
The cops immediately chased him and he wouldn't stop.
The cops have some 'splainin' to do.
Not really -- in a sense, taking him down was protecting him..he may have been trying to run inside the burning house to see if anyone was inside..

Edit: :camera:'s?
 

paulney

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2003
6,909
1
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Man, that is one big @ss fire... I hope no other houses in vicinity got damaged. As for the cops - they may have saved the guy's life. Who knows what he'd be up to in a state of shock. Even if he did not run inside the house, he could ver well inhale enough of crap to kick the bucket. There's a reason firemen wear respirators.
 

Beowulf

Golden Member
Jan 27, 2001
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0
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The cops just wanted to test the taser out even though 4 times is more than enough heh,sucks to be the brother during that period.
 

paulney

Diamond Member
Sep 24, 2003
6,909
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I once saved my neighbor's house from fire. Or actually, the house I lived in, too. It was on a Sunday afternoon that I came back from friends' place. Suburbian street was totally desrted: everyone's either watching tv or just having an afternoon nap.

I pull up to the house I rented room in, and I see a huge flame rising from the corner of my neighbor's house (next to the yard gate), up to his roof. My neighbor was a carpenter, so my first thought was: he's doing some controlled burning or whatever. But the second thought was: no fvcking way - the flame is too high, it's his house. I kick open the gate into the yard - and it's burning from the other side as well. I ran through the fire and started banging on his glass door - no response. Great. Run back and tell the lady in my house to call 911.

Her daughter was in the shower. She hears 'fire' and '911' and jumps out of the shower naked :p. Too bad I did not see that - I ran back and started looking for some water source desperately. I just came to California, and had no idea, virtually every house has a garden hose attached in front... So, I'm standing there dumbfounded, and finally my neighbor comes outside. Turns out, his wife heard me yelling and banging on the door, and told him to check it out.

He grabbed the hose and started watering the corner. By this time, three fire engines pulled up and extinguished the flame in minutes...
Turned out, he left an oily rag and a bunch of wood shearings under the sun - and they caught fire.

 
Sep 12, 2004
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Originally posted by: mobobuff
Wow, that's large. We'll need some follow-up on how it started.
I talked to the guy that owns the house, He said it started in the chimney. At this point it's not clear how though because he said there was no fire going in the fireplace.

 

tami

Lifer
Nov 14, 2004
11,588
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you know, that song wasn't in my head until you mentioned that we could be singing something.

goshdarnit.

uh... what started the fire?
 

silverpig

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
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Okay, I'm not big on laughing at injured firemen, but isn't hooking up a hose without owning yourself one of the first things they teach you in fireman school?
 

OulOat

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2002
5,769
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Originally posted by: CadetLee

Not really -- in a sense, taking him down was protecting him..he may have been trying to run inside the burning house to see if anyone was inside..

:thumbsup:
 
Dec 4, 2002
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Originally posted by: CadetLee
That's rough...I'd hate to be them.

he dude is spasming and screaming but still struggling with the man.
...
The cops immediately chased him and he wouldn't stop.
The cops have some 'splainin' to do.
Not really -- in a sense, taking him down was protecting him..he may have been trying to run inside the burning house to see if anyone was inside..

Edit: :camera:'s?

4 times? My guess is that didn't want anymore paperwork... :roll:
 

OulOat

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2002
5,769
0
0
Originally posted by: CheapArse
Originally posted by: CadetLee
That's rough...I'd hate to be them.

he dude is spasming and screaming but still struggling with the man.
...
The cops immediately chased him and he wouldn't stop.
The cops have some 'splainin' to do.
Not really -- in a sense, taking him down was protecting him..he may have been trying to run inside the burning house to see if anyone was inside..

Edit: :camera:'s?

4 times? My guess is that didn't want anymore paperwork... :roll:

The guy kept resisting.