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Bit tired today as last night, after a heavy day of Christmas shopping, having retired to bed realtively early, we were woken by our neighbours because our backgarden fence was on fire.
No really.
Our lovely neighbour got it under control, the fire brigade came and investigated. They had to get through the roses too. One of the firemen accused my garden of trying to rip his clothes off. M'kay?
Turns out they thought it was malicious - given that it was the back of the fence that went up and in the current cold weather some form of accellerant had to have been used. So the gardai came too.
The cat nearly went ballistic - combination of "I want to go out and investigate" and "OMG there are many large men with waterhoses in my garden"
But seriously - how freaky was that. We back on to overgrown woodland, preserved woodland - oaks and beeches, chestnuts and all sorts of other indigenous trees. It doesn't bear thinking about what might have happened if it had gone up. There are ten or so houses on our side of the road alone, a very old church on the far side of the woods, another estate to the south and several other houses beyond that - all of which back on to the woods. Not to mention wildlife.
And the massive oak tree over the fence - it that had gone up and fallen towards us, it would definitely take out our house and our other neighbours' too.
Fire brigade call out charges are steep but most of it should be reclaimable from our insurance company. I'd still rather see them than not. The other scary thought is we were in bed. I was asleep. We heard nothing at all until the doorbell started ringing.
Thank heavens for good neighbours.
No really.
Our lovely neighbour got it under control, the fire brigade came and investigated. They had to get through the roses too. One of the firemen accused my garden of trying to rip his clothes off. M'kay?
Turns out they thought it was malicious - given that it was the back of the fence that went up and in the current cold weather some form of accellerant had to have been used. So the gardai came too.
The cat nearly went ballistic - combination of "I want to go out and investigate" and "OMG there are many large men with waterhoses in my garden"
But seriously - how freaky was that. We back on to overgrown woodland, preserved woodland - oaks and beeches, chestnuts and all sorts of other indigenous trees. It doesn't bear thinking about what might have happened if it had gone up. There are ten or so houses on our side of the road alone, a very old church on the far side of the woods, another estate to the south and several other houses beyond that - all of which back on to the woods. Not to mention wildlife.
And the massive oak tree over the fence - it that had gone up and fallen towards us, it would definitely take out our house and our other neighbours' too.
Fire brigade call out charges are steep but most of it should be reclaimable from our insurance company. I'd still rather see them than not. The other scary thought is we were in bed. I was asleep. We heard nothing at all until the doorbell started ringing.
Thank heavens for good neighbours.
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And generally WTF - you poor thing - hugs and much sympathy - was the fireman good looking? Maybe the roses wanted to see him clothesless.
Never considered needing a fire alarm in the garden.
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All are fine. The kids didn't even wake up. I dare not tell the boy - he'll be disappointed he missed it! :)
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There's something about this time of year that does crazy things to some people's brains. Over here, it's been on the news as well. There were a couple of deliberate fires set, in most cases all ended well.
A couple of years ago, someone set fire to our back neighbour's hedge. Because houses are built so close to each other, we were really scared the fire would jump over to our side too. Good thing the fire brigade arrived on time. But that is so scary. Glad you have alert neighbours.
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I'm going to echo the idea of having to pay for the Fire Dept. What is up with that? Secondly that someone would be deliberate in setting fire to your fence is beyond creepy. Thankfully the damage was able to be contained.
Do you have smoke detectors in your house? How about ones for carbon monoxide???
Thankfully it all ended well, and I sincerely hope that that fella was only joking about the roses. Sheesh...
Glad you, your family, and landscape is okay.
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"One of the firemen accused my garden of trying to rip his clothes off."
You haven't been composting old manuscripts on the roses, have you? ;)
Joking aside, my sympathies. When I was 16 someone set fire to my grandparents' conservatory, the door to which was about 6' from the bedroom I was staying in. At least I had the satisfaction of seeing the culprit dragged out of an alley by one arm, by a huge Alsation. Although my grandmother learned some things about my vocabulary I'm sure she'd rather not have known. :D
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Man, the things people come up with! I wonder what they were thinking? I'm so glad you're all all right.
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And if you have a pic of that fireman, please share. ;)
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Anyway, glad you're alright and that all that lovely woodland is preserved.
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And yes, spurious reasons. Like setting the roses on them.