Excitement on Second Street

We live on a very quiet street. Our little community is only about three blocks long, and you can stand in the road all day and maybe only three cars will drive by. Most of our neighborhood consists of young families in their first homes, and older couples who have been there since the neighborhood was developed in the 1950's. On our side of the street all the houses have private backyards that are bordered by a little creek, with a city park and frisbee golf course on the other side of the creek.

Last night Aidan and I were working in the yard enjoying the quiet evening, which was only enhanced by the nearby smell of a campfire. Aidan was sure the neighbors were roasting marshmallows, while I was annoyed, assuming they were burning trash because of the frequent, loud popping sounds the fire was making. We were still debating when all of the sudden a huge explosion ripped through our little valley, shaking the ground and causing even the park to fall silent. A few minutes later there were lots of sirens, but we just figured "those boys are in trouble," and kept working. We went back and forth from the front flowerbeds to the back flowerbeds a few times, and we saw an ambulance come and go (with sirens, both times) a few squad cars, (and a few guys being hauled away in them) but we pretty much minded our business until it was time for Aidan to go in for a bath. I thought it was odd that at 8:30 there were still police cars parked out in front of the neighbors, and when James came home at 10:30 he noted the squad cars were accompanied by a SWAT team, and the whole place had been marked with crime scene tape. At this point, I was a little more curious, but I just assumed maybe we had some suburban meth heads, and I was glad they were caught. Then around 11:00 a whole bunch of fire trucks came to the street, along with more policemen, more detectives; there was a whole crew squeezed onto our little block. Aidan thought it was pretty cool and James headed outside to get the scoop. We noticed some of our neighbors leaving their homes, and at that point we ended up with a guest for the evening too. Little by little the story came out.... apparently the young punks were having a bonfire, complete with gasoline, fireworks and some chemicals of unknown origin. (One of the guys who lives in that house is a chemistry student at the U) Whatever the chemical was, it was so volatile that it literally blew off his hand while he was mixing it up. The police found lots of dangerous chemicals in the house, so they were investigating to make sure they boys weren't terrorists. They had to shut down our street, evacuate some folks, and bring in all the fire trucks because they chemical is so unstable they didn't know what was going to happen. After they had found it all they actually detonated it in the night, rather than transport it. Our little widower stayed with us until about 4:30, (because he had some meds to take) and at that point we were woken up by a police officer knocking on our bedroom door. Isn't that funny? I know they are safe and good, but it just felt weird they were walking around our house in the night, came downstairs to our room, and we never heard a thing!!!!

So that was our excitement! I am curious to see if any of the local news channels picked up the story, and if they did I will update this post with the link!

The best part is, Aidan now knows that fire, gasoline, fireworks and chemicals can blow your hand off.... maybe this little experience will come to mind when he is 13 and his little friends think it would be fun to play with fire! I am always glad when he can learn life lessons, (at someone else's expense!)