Burn, baby, burn

Back on the 11th, there was a fire next door. As I left for work that day, I noticed a lot of smoke near our place. It's not unusual. People burn garbage, and sometimes the hills across the river catch fire, so I didn't think much about it. My boyfriend called me at work about 6 or so to tell me the abandoned flea market beside us was on fire and the fire department was working on it. I got home around midnight, and there were still bits burning lightly. We went out with a bucket and some jugs of water to douse the more active spots, so we didn't worry about it flaring up at night.

This lot has been abandoned since before we moved in. The flea market there failed, and several folks just left their stuff in the stalls/buildings to rot. One of the buildings burned down years ago, but most of it's just rotting away. We don't know how the fire started. Someone apparently saw a red car leave the lot a short time before the fire started. It could've been started by a carelessly tossed cigarette, or by someone destroying something. I see cars in there at night sometimes, and figure some folks use it for selling drugs. Or it could've been some kids just having fun burning crap that got out of control.

Regardless, it burned around the back and side of the lot very badly. The heat was so intense, and it got so close to our place, that the vinyl siding on the side of our building warped. That's too close for comfort.

I took some pictures and uploaded a gallery on Picasa.