More excitement than we wanted
As I was driving to work this morning Colleen called to say that the top floor of our neighbors' house was on fire. She'd spotted it just as she was leaving to go shopping, and called 911. Not exactly what one wants to hear while stuck in a traffic jam half an hour from home.
Since there didn't seem to be much I could do at home, I decided to stay at work; I am now home because there were some errands that Colleen wasn't going to be able to get to. The Starport is untouched, fortunately, and it looks like the damage next door is largely confined to the attic and top floor.
Nobody was home at the time, and we have no contact info; fortunately Belen (I think that's the correct spelling) turned up about an hour ago, having come back to fetch something she had forgotten. So things are being taken care of. Their pets, sadly, did not survive.
Colleen was told by the firefighters to stay outside on the porch, so she had a ringside seat.
Still more excitement than we needed for the day. Or the year.
We'll be swapping emergency contact information with our neighbors.