# My neighboors house just caught on fire.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighboors-house-just-caught-on-fire/323196>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 24, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighboors-house-just-caught-on-fire/323196 "2005-09-24T10:17:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighboors-house-just-caught-on-fire/323196/1 "2005-09-24T10:17:34Z")

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4:00AM, I’m about two minutes away from being asleep. Outside my window, I hear “BOOM!” and am startled awake. I bolt up, thinking “My god what was that!” Then, I’m treated to yet another “Boom!” and decided I’d better go check outside. I notice a plume of what looks like smoke coming from my neighboor three doors down. “Surely this is a hypnogogic illusion,” my rational mind says and I bolt to the kitchen to check again. Sure enough, I see a plume of smoke.

“Mom!” I cry, for I’m a loser and still live with my mother, “I think the neighboors’ house is on fire! Call 911!” She does, and as it turns out several other neighboors had noticed the gunshot-like booms going off and informed the authorities more promptly.

Nobody was harmed, not even their dog. The fire appears to have started in their garage, and quickly spread to the attic and roof. Thankfully the fire dept. is only five minutes down the road. Now all that’s left is to decide whether I should try to go back to sleep or just forget about sleeping tonight.

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**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighboors-house-just-caught-on-fire/323196/2 "2005-09-24T10:34:33Z")

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Losing your house to fire is bad. What caused the booms? Who is giving your neighbours shelter?

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**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\
**Post date:** [September 24, 2005, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-neighboors-house-just-caught-on-fire/323196/3 "2005-09-24T10:50:19Z")

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> [@ExtraKun](#):
>
> Losing your house to fire is bad. What caused the booms? Who is giving your neighbours shelter?

No clue what caused the booms. It’s probably still too soon to tell. I smelled sulfur when I walked back to my house, so it was probably fireworks. More than likely one of the other neighboors is giving them shelter. If the house was mine, I’d have offered them shelter, but it’s not, and I don’t think the thought crossed my mom’s mind.

Losing your house to anything is bad; I can’t imagine having to go through it.