Last year me and my family were involved in a record size fire.
To prefix my family home that I’ve lived in my whole life has a back garden that connects to a local county park. There’s been a history of small fires and one larger one a few years before. But this. This was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was like hell come real. It started about when my sister was plating up dinner. It was just me her my brother in law my niece and my dad. It started as small white smoke in the distance about where the park entrance was. It was about 3 mins before a single fire engine came. Surrounding the entrance are huge blackberry bushes. These caught and when blackberries burn they burst and spread the fire further. It sourrounded us in less than a minute and was from 100 yards away to my feet in seconds. It took 48 firemen three hours to put it out completely. It broke three fire lines and was a meter or less from my fence. Me and my family called 999 12 times total across that time period. I was in my pyjamas and that’s it. I had nothing on my feet so when me and my sister were running buckets of water back and forth from our house to the field my feet and ankles were getting singed by the embers. I smashed a bunch of glass bottles accidentally as the buckets I used were full of drinks from my nieces 3rd birthday a week prior. And I ran through that glass aswell. I originally started out with a damn tea towel around my mouth but I lost it and I had to breathe it in. I was coughing up black soot and bloody mucus for ages after. My lungs and sinuses were inflamed and my dad who was out there till he was pulled back by police officers had his eyelashes singed off. I had to run to open the door that had slammed shut in the wind whilst my sister and dad were at the gate with hoses. I opened it and police men ran past me and asked if anyone was in the building. And I didn’t know what was happening for a good long minute as they forced me out the home without my dad or sister and I didn’t know what had happened to them. I found out from my sister later that the wind had picked up and blew thick black clouds into their faces and my dad pushed he into the garden and slammed the gate shut. If he hadn’t done that they would have both passed out in the fire because they couldn’t breathe. I ran into my culdesac shouting for my brother in law through raspy breath and he and my niece were in a neighbours home taking shelter. Me my sister and my dad were covered head to toe in ash. I was still barefoot at this point. My neighbours on the opposite side of the culdesac had enough time to pack up thankfully as within minutes our entire block was encircled and their garden burnt down completely. All my family had in that moment was eachother, the clothes on our backs and my sister and brother in laws phones. We were forced down the street to the community centre and past the garden that had burned. The flames were just about licking the tops of their 20ft tree. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more puny and terrified. They eventually got most of the fire out and were clearing the smoldering ash. Me and my sister were in the community centre play area with my sister whilst we were waiting to go back and see the damage. We got back and the park as far as you could see went from dry grass to smoldering black sour ash. I vividly remember the whole thing and especially us returning home. I remember standing in the middle of the black field and feeling nothing. I just felt numb. About two hours later after coming home we sat down for dinner but none of us ate. We just sat in silence for a good 40 minutes. The food tasted like smoke. We all migrated to the sofa and started talking about it like I am rn. And I remember going upstairs long after everyone else had gone to sleep and swing the stuffed animals on my bed and my room just as it was before and feeling horribly sad and guilty that I almost lost it all. So much so I couldn’t bear to sleep in my bed for a good two days after. I went downstairs and layed there for an hour without sleeping not thinking of anything just laying there staring at the floor in the darkness. Then I couldn’t sleep so I stayed up till about 4 am watching the bobs burgers movie because I love it and it’s a great comfort to me. And when I woke up in the morning I still felt that horrible numbness. Now whenever I think of it it makes my throat clench and my stomach feel sick. I smell smoke when there’s nothing. I constantly check for smoke or fire when I know there isn’t any every 30-45 mins or so. I’m constantly dreading it happening again. I’ve done this everyday without fail since. I’ve not had a day where it hasn’t been in my head at least once. From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep and even in my dreams it still there. Even if I’m not actively thinking of it the dread is still there. My home was on the news. 8 hectares of land was burnt to a crisp and I think 5 homes destroyed. last month I had this weird premonition when I was in bed watching a movie that I needed to check the field. So I checked it and I saw clouds of either smoke or mist. More likely mist as there was no smell or burn patches the next morning but it being there terrified me so bad I ran to wake up my sister. My whole body was shaking so bad that my legs wouldn’t stay still and my teeth chattered so badly I bit a small slice of my tongue off. The pure adrenaline from that was horrible. I can’t seem to understand why I still feel like this even though I try to tell myself I’m just being anxious and paranoid. On average I check for smoke or fire about 5 times a day often more. I don’t want to continue living like this. I want to enjoy my warmer months instead of living in fear. And if something were to happen like this again I don’t want to have a full on breakdown. I wanted to see if anyone could offer some advice on methods to mitigate this. Though I feel better now that I’ve gotten this off my chest and into words.
Thanks for your time.
-white
To prefix my family home that I’ve lived in my whole life has a back garden that connects to a local county park. There’s been a history of small fires and one larger one a few years before. But this. This was like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It was like hell come real. It started about when my sister was plating up dinner. It was just me her my brother in law my niece and my dad. It started as small white smoke in the distance about where the park entrance was. It was about 3 mins before a single fire engine came. Surrounding the entrance are huge blackberry bushes. These caught and when blackberries burn they burst and spread the fire further. It sourrounded us in less than a minute and was from 100 yards away to my feet in seconds. It took 48 firemen three hours to put it out completely. It broke three fire lines and was a meter or less from my fence. Me and my family called 999 12 times total across that time period. I was in my pyjamas and that’s it. I had nothing on my feet so when me and my sister were running buckets of water back and forth from our house to the field my feet and ankles were getting singed by the embers. I smashed a bunch of glass bottles accidentally as the buckets I used were full of drinks from my nieces 3rd birthday a week prior. And I ran through that glass aswell. I originally started out with a damn tea towel around my mouth but I lost it and I had to breathe it in. I was coughing up black soot and bloody mucus for ages after. My lungs and sinuses were inflamed and my dad who was out there till he was pulled back by police officers had his eyelashes singed off. I had to run to open the door that had slammed shut in the wind whilst my sister and dad were at the gate with hoses. I opened it and police men ran past me and asked if anyone was in the building. And I didn’t know what was happening for a good long minute as they forced me out the home without my dad or sister and I didn’t know what had happened to them. I found out from my sister later that the wind had picked up and blew thick black clouds into their faces and my dad pushed he into the garden and slammed the gate shut. If he hadn’t done that they would have both passed out in the fire because they couldn’t breathe. I ran into my culdesac shouting for my brother in law through raspy breath and he and my niece were in a neighbours home taking shelter. Me my sister and my dad were covered head to toe in ash. I was still barefoot at this point. My neighbours on the opposite side of the culdesac had enough time to pack up thankfully as within minutes our entire block was encircled and their garden burnt down completely. All my family had in that moment was eachother, the clothes on our backs and my sister and brother in laws phones. We were forced down the street to the community centre and past the garden that had burned. The flames were just about licking the tops of their 20ft tree. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more puny and terrified. They eventually got most of the fire out and were clearing the smoldering ash. Me and my sister were in the community centre play area with my sister whilst we were waiting to go back and see the damage. We got back and the park as far as you could see went from dry grass to smoldering black sour ash. I vividly remember the whole thing and especially us returning home. I remember standing in the middle of the black field and feeling nothing. I just felt numb. About two hours later after coming home we sat down for dinner but none of us ate. We just sat in silence for a good 40 minutes. The food tasted like smoke. We all migrated to the sofa and started talking about it like I am rn. And I remember going upstairs long after everyone else had gone to sleep and swing the stuffed animals on my bed and my room just as it was before and feeling horribly sad and guilty that I almost lost it all. So much so I couldn’t bear to sleep in my bed for a good two days after. I went downstairs and layed there for an hour without sleeping not thinking of anything just laying there staring at the floor in the darkness. Then I couldn’t sleep so I stayed up till about 4 am watching the bobs burgers movie because I love it and it’s a great comfort to me. And when I woke up in the morning I still felt that horrible numbness. Now whenever I think of it it makes my throat clench and my stomach feel sick. I smell smoke when there’s nothing. I constantly check for smoke or fire when I know there isn’t any every 30-45 mins or so. I’m constantly dreading it happening again. I’ve done this everyday without fail since. I’ve not had a day where it hasn’t been in my head at least once. From the moment I wake up to the moment I fall asleep and even in my dreams it still there. Even if I’m not actively thinking of it the dread is still there. My home was on the news. 8 hectares of land was burnt to a crisp and I think 5 homes destroyed. last month I had this weird premonition when I was in bed watching a movie that I needed to check the field. So I checked it and I saw clouds of either smoke or mist. More likely mist as there was no smell or burn patches the next morning but it being there terrified me so bad I ran to wake up my sister. My whole body was shaking so bad that my legs wouldn’t stay still and my teeth chattered so badly I bit a small slice of my tongue off. The pure adrenaline from that was horrible. I can’t seem to understand why I still feel like this even though I try to tell myself I’m just being anxious and paranoid. On average I check for smoke or fire about 5 times a day often more. I don’t want to continue living like this. I want to enjoy my warmer months instead of living in fear. And if something were to happen like this again I don’t want to have a full on breakdown. I wanted to see if anyone could offer some advice on methods to mitigate this. Though I feel better now that I’ve gotten this off my chest and into words.
Thanks for your time.
-white
