TheBanyanTree: Nothing brings out the neighbors like a good car fire

[Monique Colver]

Andrew said he was taking lunch. He does that in the afternoon. I said, as
he headed downstairs, "Can you go check the mail?" It's down at the end of
the block, three houses down, not far away at all. "It's too early," he
said. "No, I saw the mail truck go by and turn around," I replied. What can
I say? Our office windows face the street and we're here all day, especially
me, so I do see things now and then.

I heard the front door close as he walked out. I glanced outside a minute
later and saw him standing in front of a house across the street, almost two
over. He was looking at the white station wagon in the driveway with his
hand up to his ear. I thought this was rather peculiar since getting the
mail doesn't usually involve calling anyone on his phone (I was fairly
certain that's why his hand was up at his ear.) Upon further examination, I
noticed smoke coming out of the car. Wispy smoke at first, and then it
billowed out into more smoke, great big piles of smoke swirling upward, but
not enough smoke that I couldn't see the flames underneath the car.

Being quick to catch on, I realized Andrew was calling the fire department.
He'd tried knocking on the door of the house, with no response, while
calling 911. Smoke continued to billow. Neighbors started to stop on their
way by. It's pretty quiet around here during the day. This street is a dead
end, so there's no through traffic. A car stopped. A guy got out of the car
and tried to use a house from the house next door to us to put on the fire.
The fire was having none of that. This was a FIRE, and it was not to be
easily dissuaded. After several minutes, more or less, who can tell, fire
trucks pulled up. Two! Perhaps the Vancouver Fire Department was bored
today. I kept looking out my window, which offered a perfect vantage point.
Other neighbors, upon hearing the fire trucks, started coming out of their
houses. I assume they were mostly hearing them and not seeing them,
since only the upstairs rooms look out on the street, for the most part. Two
fire trucks and many neighbors later, the fire was put out, and the car
dismantled. The hood was removed, the doors opened, and smoke billowed out
of the car.

Neighbors offered their opinions on where the owners of the car could be.
Two of them, the mother and daughter, were seen leaving earlier, while the
man of the house was supposed to be home -- he works nights -- but since no
one answered the door or came outside to see what all the commotion was
about, no one really knows. No, he wasn't in the car, though the car did try
to start itself.

Andrew says so. He was right there when the car tried to start and then
burst into flames. The fire chief told him if they'd gotten here five
minutes later the house itself would have been involved. I'm assuming by
"involved" he meant, "on fire," and not in a relationship, unless it was a
relationship with fire. If someone hadn't been passing by right then, it
might have taken a bit longer for anyone to notice. Oh sure, if I looked out
my window and looked to the left I might have noticed there was a car on
fire, but usually I look straight ahead because that's where my monitor is.
(My other monitor is to the right, so I'm either looking straight ahead or
to the right.)

While standing around with the neighbors, Andrew formulated a plan for
collecting emergency phone numbers for neighbors along the street so next
time someone's car decides to burst into flames (perhaps it was suicidal, or
maybe it was a protest burning -- the car's not talking, so there's no way
to tell), someone will have some idea who to perhaps call, though, of
course, calling the fire department when something's on fire is always a
good thing.

After the fire trucks pulled away the car continued to receive mourners. The
car is toast, the engine block is just a block, the inside is melted
plastic. Can you imagine coming home to that? "Damn! I just went to pick up
some pickles and beer, what happend!"  Andrew had to call in sick the rest
of the day because he's had too much smoke inhalation. For that matter, I've
had too much smoke inhalation. My chronic cough has gotten worse.

During the commotion, my boss called me. No, she didn't know about the car
fire. She's several hundred miles away. She called me because she missed me,
of course, so while I was looking out the window and telling her about the
car fire, neighbors I do not know who were standing with my husband down in
the street were waving at me. This is far more people contact than I have in
an entire week. No wonder I'm exhausted now.

The car still sits, a burned out hulk of a once reliable form of
transportation. At least it's only the car, and not the house too.

m