Article March 5, 2012 Issue

Many mansions

By Elaine Jarvis

It was about 8:00 on a cold November night when my five-year-old son came into my bedroom to tell me his room was on fire.

My husband was still at work, but my four children and I immediately sprang into action. My five-year-old was safe and unharmed, so I sent the kids outside to the car (well away from the house) with their coats over their pajamas, and asked my oldest son to call the fire department while I tried to put out the fire. But it was spreading quickly around the bed and up the walls . . . one small bucket of water did nothing! I knew it was time to just get out.

With the fire roaring now, we huddled in the car. We watched as the heat blew out the front window and, seconds later, the skylight. As the flames reached toward the sky, we heard the sirens of the fire trucks coming down the road.