Life As We Know It: Covered in ash...

That's the best way to describe my family when they got to my house yesterday afternoon. Yesterday started out like any normal Sunday... Curtis was at work and I was cleaning house... until I got a text from my younger sister. She wanted to come over (as usual) and when I told her she had to wait til I was done cleaning, her reply was "Well ok but our house is on fire" WHHHAAATTTT????!!

I began frantically trying to call my parents, who of course weren't answering because they are trying to put their house out. I finally got a hold of them and my dad confirmed that, yes, the house had caught on fire and my mom was bringing my 2 younger sisters, my little brother, and their dog to my house for the time being.

Apparently, the fire was caused by the grill falling over. We think when it fell over, the coals smoldered under the deck until they just couldn't take it anymore and went up in flames (they were still hot from grilling on the 4th). Yesterday afternoon my family was all sitting at home when they heard a loud bang that sounded like breaking glass. My dad went to check on my youngest brother and see if one of the other kids had knocked a picture of the wall. As he made his way back down the hallway, the hall smoke alarm went off. My dad opened his bedroom door and was smoke just came pouring out. He shut the door and ran around back while yelling at my mom that there was a fire. Dad started trying to put the fire out while mom got the kids out of the house and called 911. The breaking glass sound he heard was his bedroom window busting out from the fire. The fire department came and were able to put the fire out and kept it pretty well under control, but the fire was already making its way to the attic, which means in another 5 minutes, their house would've burned down. It did, however, burn all the electrical wires to the outside wall (the fire started right by the electrical box) so their gas and electric have been shut off until they get an electrician assess the damage and most likely rewire the house to prevent any accidents.

Because of the electrical stuff, the house is not liveable so they are staying with me for now. Well, everyone except my sisters and the dog, who are with other family.... my one bedroom apartment just is not big enough for the 6 of them AND their dog! lol. I love my family and I am very thankful everyone is ok. The scary reality is that had the fire happened an hour earlier or an hour later, I could've lost my parents yesterday. Everyone is ok... just a little shaken up. Hayden (the youngest) is probably the most freaked out... he keeps asking if the fire is out and was afraid my apartment was going to catch on fire last night.

Here are a few pictures of the damage... I could only take pics outside because I couldn't see inside since there was no power and it was almost dark outside.