The 4th of July party went pretty well with lots of folks and burgers and some shimmery fountain fireworks and sparklers. Folks were gone by midnight. I cleaned up some and headed to bed.
Suddenly it’s 6:30 a.m. and there’s someone pounding on my front door. It’s my neighbor and she’s yelling that my back deck is on fire. I ran through the kitchen to look … and sure enough the deck was on fire. I freaked out and grabbed the water hose and started dousing the fire. After it was out, I called the fire department and they sent someone and the police came as well. Information was taken for official reports and I have to pick them up today as well as getting up with my insurance agent.
It is suspected that a spark from a sparkler landed under the deck and smoldered until it finally caught fire. I won’t ever really know for sure what started it. Thank God my neighbors were up early for their yard sale and saw the smoke.
It goes without saying that there will be no sparklers on the deck from now on.
So sorry your deck got burnt!
that deck has seen soooo many parties – we need to organize a deck “raising” party! I’ll bring a hand saw, hammer and beer!
thank goodness it didn’t get any closer to the house! i’m in on the deck “raising” party!
On the other hand, that might be the perfect spot for a hot tub now, or maybe a fire pit? Oh wait, you already had a fire pit there; let’s not repeat that experience. Glad to hear you’re OK and sorry about your deck!
At least it wasn’t a propane tank……….like we tried to set on fire one year at the Party Palace!! Glad the damage wasn’t any worse than it was. Sounds like everyone wants to chip in on building you a new deck………..good for them!!
I am so glad to hear that you are safe and the house is okay, Chaz. A lot of “What ifs” would be going on in my mind and keeping me awake at night. If I were you, I’d have a deck raising party next weekend. No smoking allowed! Cheers! Jak
DAMN….I’m so glad it wasn’t any worse than that. I am definitely on board for the deck building party….
Oh my! That sucks! You are so lucky the neighbors saw it and alerted you to the fire. I’m glad it didn’t burn your house!
Holy smokes… literally.
Ugh. Don’t you have some pesky neighbor kids to blame this on?
I hope it’s covered under your home owners insurance! 🙁
Yowza! Glad you (and most everything else) are OK. A deck-building party is a great idea! We should hike this weekend to get your mind on other things, right?
Here in Northern California — where gas is $4.65 a gallon — a law recently went into effect, where you cannot use a BBQ on your wooden apartment deck for this very reason. We’ve also been banned from buying fireworks since the 80s. Luckily there are free firework displays put on all over the area… Anyway, happy deck re-building, glad you’re not house re-building! 🙂