6 Days Later

I can't be the only one who watched the events unfolding over the past few days and felt as though I must have stepped into a disaster movie of some kind. Except this wasn't fiction, this was real and it was happening all around us.

I think different people reacted to what was going on in different ways. Personally I felt a combination of morbid fascination and fear that it would reach us (it got pretty close), and I gained a complete inability to read or listen to any story, upsetting or uplifting, without bursting into tears.

For us the thing that really got to us was the fire. As soon as we could smell the smoke from our neighbourhood we packed a bag and left. We're somewhat oversensitive to fire nowadays. In November the building adjacent to ours caught fire at about 10pm at night. The residents had evacuated but not called the fire brigade (it was a rehabilitation hostel and many residents were wary of the authorities) so it caught hold quickly. Luckily the couple who live above us noticed the smoke coming in to their flat, called 999 and came down to tell us and the couple on the ground floor. We all fled out in to the street in the clothes we were wearing and proceeded to stand there, in the rain, for a further five hours, watching 12 fire engines, countless firemen and one of those big cherry picker water cannon type things doing battle with the flames. That building was completely destroyed but we were incredibly lucky that the fire brigade controlled things so well that the flames didn't pass through the walls into our block. Nine months on our insurance works are finally underway (to repair extensive water damage) and we look back on that night and reflect on how very fortunate we were.

This past week, so many people have not been so lucky. In a city, and indeed country, where our emergency services were overwhelmed and stretched to breaking, there was no chance of containing the fires that broke out. When I saw the pictures on the news of firefighters bravely doing battle with the infernos whilst people watched their homes and businesses burning I wept, knowing before they did that those flames would not be kept at bay without considerably more help. 

My heart and deepest sympathies go out to everyone who has been affected by these tragedies. And for everyone else, you cannot underestimate the power and danger of fire. Check your alarms, spread the word and keep safe.