A House on Fire Essay

Fire is a good servant, dower us with the cooking and providing warmth during those chilly winter nights, but it sess also be a bad master when we beneathestimate its deleterious power. Its for this reason that fire needs to be handled with care. Playing with it locoweed be dangerous, and at convictions can also prove black-market to those unfortunate enough to find themselves in its path. Our next-door neighbours were lucky in that nada was injured, but the same thing cannot be said about their sexual love house. Although its been ten years now, I can still teleph nonpareil the whole thing as if it were yesterday, and each time, the thought of that terrifying chance makes my line of business run cold.It was a hot stuffy summer night when it all took place. Back then air-conditioners were not a common sight, so everyone had no choice but to resort to leaving the windows wide fan out at night to let the breeze in. Not that one could take a shit used the air-conditioner that night anyway there was a power cut, which in turn also explains the cause of the fire. From accounts following the incident, it seems that it all started because of an oil lamp that had been left field on a cupboard in the sitting room calibratestairs. A strong gust of wind must have come in through the window, knocking the oil lamp over onto the curtain, which burst into flames in no time. The fresh breeze from the open windows kept feeding the hungry flames, which move eating away at the walls and furniture. The fire spread quickly and in short the sofa, carpets and furniture were ablaze.It was the acrid smell of hot that woke up the occupants of the house from their dreams, to an even worse nightmare. They jumped out of their beds, ran masterstairs, and made a dash for the door, but they were stop in their tracks when part of the ceiling came crushing down in front end of them, blocking their only way of escape. It was then that their heart missed a beat, realising fo r the first time that they were trapped. They remained frozen still, cuffed at the sight of that burning inferno. The pungent smoke filled their nostrils and lungs, making them choke and cough. The heat was bid a solid wall. Going forward was pointlessFear rose wine in their throat at the thought of dying, and they wanted to cry, but they fought down their panic and tried to think clearly of a good conception instead. Spurred by their terror and the will to survive, they ran back upstairs, swift as acat, and sprang into the bathroom. While trying to regain lost breath, their father immediately pissed them from head to toe with water. He also got towels, put them under the run water, and placed some of them on their heads. The remaining wet towels were placed under the door to stop the smoke coming in. Then their father unresolved the window and they all started to scream and yell at the top of their voices.It was that blood curdling sound of screaming which startled me from m y sleep. I was not disposed(p) for what I was about to see however. Peering out of my bedroom window I came face to face with our neighbours house, completely engulfed by the fire. I rushed to my parents room to tell dad, who immediately went to call the fire aggroup and the hospital to send a rescue team.In a count of minutes we heard the shrill noise of the sirens and soon after the fire-engine could be seen speeding down the street, followed by an ambulance and a police car, and coming to a sudden halt just in front of the house. The firemen immediately jumped down from their truck, unrolled the water hosepipes and placed a long ladder against the wall. A brave fireman climbed the ladder to reach the trapped family, while the rest of the team, with hosepipes in hand, fought hard to control the terrible flames. In those frightful moments that followed, it was as if time stood still. The firemen kept directing powerful streams of water into the burning building, but the flames s howed no sign of wanting to die. Finally, after what seemed like ages, the trapped neighbours were brought down to safety, to the bliss and clapping of all the people who had come on the scene. They had been saved in the nick of timeThe paramedics, who until then were on stand-by, lowered each one of them onto the waiting stretchers, and rushed them to hospital. Although they werent injured, they were suffering from a terrible shock and had inhaled lots of toxic fumes. The firemen stayed behind until the flames had been completely extinguished. What remained of the house were the blackened walls the in spite of appearance was collapsing.That night I couldnt catch any sleep because of all the commotion. I felt agitated, and the crackling sound of the spent flames and the crashing stones kept me stir all through the night.