Goodbye to the rustbucket.

by jean at 03:06 AM on July 01, 2002

Fire is an odd thing. I've never seen a fire before, the kind that brings big red (or chartreuse, if your city is so unlucky) engines screaming down the block and screeching to a halt inches away from the car you just parked on the street (Watch it! I just paid that off!). Today my father's van caught on fire while it was sitting in the family garage. The neighbors across the street were the first ones to start yelling: "Fire! Fire! There's a fire in your garage!" And now that it's all over, I'm appreciating our relationship to such a potentially destructive force. Today fire was no longer just a pet, a friendly blue flame on the stove or the fireplace, but an orange stranger dancing inside the darkness of your garage-- an intruder, flaunting its presence before your eyes. When firemen had put the fire out and pulled my father's van (which was a rustbucket anyways) out of the garage, fire seemed like an animal, a gluttonous beast who'd come and eaten the insides of the van, eaten away seat covers, carpeting, and foam. When we were waiting for the engines to arrive, fire seemed like the hand of Fate itself, spreading slowly and pitilessly as we watched. How big would it get? How much would it damage? Would it cause the gas tank to explode? It was like being stuck in the path of a hurtling semi-- knowing a terrible fate was coming and not being able to avert it. And, oddly enough, fire seemed to be a unifier, bringing together neighbors that were well-known and not-so-well-known, along with some that had never been seen before. Up and down our short block, families stood on their front lawns, and the braver ones came over to ask questions or offer sympathy. The neighborhood lost some of its anonymity. I renewed my appreciation for the civic services to which we have access. An immigrant neighbor remarked, "That's one of the advantages of America. Emergency services work quickly."

Of course this is a tiny incident in a month where monster fires are making headlines night after night on the evening news. But today I have definitely learned something new.