The Fieriest Day Of January

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TheConfessor · #1 Post by **TheConfessor** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:30 am

I was planning on a quiet night at home, but it turned out to be one of my wildest New Years Eves ever. It's almost 7:00 a.m. and I'm still going strong, because of all the excitement. I just had an arson investigator in my house, taking my statement about the events of the evening. Here's the version I posted on the Ken Jennings message board:

http://ken-jennings.com/messageboards/v ... php?t=3270
Ken is a hero to many, but really, how many lives does he save? Maybe one tonight. Mine. Okay, that's a stretch, but I'm trying to keep this post on-topic. I was ready to hit the sack at about 3 a.m., but then I saw Ken's Tuesday Trivia e-mail in my in-box. So I took a look, doubted one of last week's answers and started researching, then sent an e-mail to Ken with new evidence regarding last week's #4. I hit the send key, then noticed some popping and crackling noises coming from the house next door, where there had been a loud party until a few minutes earlier. I looked out my window and saw that the rear deck appeared to be on fire. I grabbed a wireless phone and went outside to verify, and banged on the front door to alert anyone inside. Apparently, everybody had left. The fire was growing rapidly and had climbed the wooden stairs and begun lapping at the back door by the time I reached 911, and was put on hold for perhaps a minute. (If you're going to have a house fire, try to schedule it sometime other than New Year's Eve.) So I finally talked to a dispatcher and convinced him of the urgency of the situation, and he said a fire truck is on the way. While I waited, I moved my own truck farther from the growing inferno. Within five minutes or so, the fire was consuming the back half of the house and there were close to ten fire engines and dozens of firefighters attacking the blaze. Glowing embers were blowing into my yard, propelled by the prevailing winds. Our houses are only about 15 feet apart. Black smoke was billowing into my yard, and my house seemed vulnerable for several minutes, before the fire was brought under control. So now the fire crew is doing the wrap-up work and I've been told that they will stay on the job for at least a few hours, and one of the captains will want to talk to me when he writes his report. I took several photos of the fire before the fire trucks arrived, which might be informative to them. I guess I won't be getting any sleep tonight.

It's sobering to think what could have happened if I had gone to bed a few minutes before the fire started. (Not literally, since I've had no alcohol in the past 24 hours, despite it being New Year's Eve.) I'm a sound sleeper, so I'm sure I would have slept until the house next door was fully consumed and the fire conceivably could have spread to my house. So I'll start my New Year by thanking Ken for writing Tuesday Trivia each week and for putting a possible error into one of the questions, which led me to stay up and correct it. Thanks, man. You probably saved my life. I owe you one!

ghostjmf · #2 Post by **ghostjmf** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:12 am

Good grief!

Everybody had left after the party? Including the owners/residents?
At, like, 3:00am?

I guess I can see why this report starts out "just had the arson investigator".

silvercamaro · #3 Post by **silvercamaro** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 8:17 am

Oh, Ed. I'm glad you're okay. The rest will work itself out. I hope you'll have a chance to catch some Zs during today's most boring bowl game. (There's bound to be one.)

Now -- and you knew you'd make it happen -- I will go take a look at #4.

lilyvonschtupp26 · #4 Post by **lilyvonschtupp26** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:05 am

Thank goodness for your attachment to trivia! Fire is one of my greatest fears. I'm so glad you're all right.

mrkelley23 · #5 Post by **mrkelley23** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 9:11 am

What a story!

Maybe you could use it to get on that Millionaire show....

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #6 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:16 am

Wow Ed! I am glad that you and your house are both ok.

T_Bone0806 · #7 Post by **T_Bone0806** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:30 am

Pretty frightening. Glad you're safe. Good thinking on taking pictures.

silverscreenselect · #8 Post by **silverscreenselect** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 10:42 am

Glad to hear that you and your house are OK. It's scary how they keep building houses closer and closer together in these subdivisions trying to maximize every square inch of land they can to cram as many in as possible. Usually, all it means is some noise annoyance but it could have been a lot worse.

It's also good that no one was passed out in the house after the party or the story could have been a lot worse. My hunch is they will find that someone, somewhere left a cigarette where it shouldn't have been.

kayrharris · #9 Post by **kayrharris** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:07 am

That is really starting the year off with a bang. Do you know your neighbors (I'm guilty in not knowing but one neighbor of the 4 surrounding houses.

).

They owe you big time. I'm glad no one was hurt and your house is OK.
Ken is a hero, but you're in that category yourself this time.

Happy New Year!
Kay

a1mamacat · #10 Post by **a1mamacat** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:22 am

okay, here's our first miracle of 2008

Glad you are alright and that the neighbours appear to have not been home.

BackInTex · #11 Post by **BackInTex** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:52 am

Wow! Glad you're O.K.

So now your love of trivia has made you wealthy AND long lived to enjoy it.

Hopefully you know have you have already experienced your worst of 2008.

hermillion · #12 Post by **hermillion** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:38 pm

Wow! Glad to hear you are OK, and that the outcome was not even more tragic next door. THINGS can be replaced!

Let's hope the rest of your year is more boring than the first day.

Bob Juch · #13 Post by **Bob Juch** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 2:54 pm

Wow, good thing you stayed up so late.

I hope the neighbors were gone and not passed out.

MarleysGh0st · #14 Post by **MarleysGh0st** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:11 pm

Yeesh!

So did the neighbors go off to continue the party elsewhere?

BTW, a lot of us can be nit-pickers about trivia questions, but researching the details of one on New Years Eve? That deserves a prize of its own!

TheConfessor · #15 Post by **TheConfessor** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 4:10 pm

MarleysGh0st wrote:BTW, a lot of us can be nit-pickers about trivia questions, but researching the details of one on New Years Eve? That deserves a prize of its own!

Hey, it was 3 a.m. The time for partying had passed and I was ready to get started on the possibilities of 2008.

I think the revelers had called it quits for the night and my neighbor had better options than sleeping in his own bed, so he wasn't there to prevent, extinguish, or report the fire. I talked to some of last night's partiers today as they surveyed the damage. Nothing official yet, but I think the best guess is that one of the partiers left a burning cigarette butt on the old dry cedar planked deck and it smoldered for a while before igniting the blaze. Some people were suggesting that perhaps a stray bottle rocket from the neighborhood landed on the deck. That would conveniently absolve the smokers from possible guilt, but there didn't seem to be much evidence to support that theory.

silverscreenselect · #16 Post by **silverscreenselect** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 5:04 pm

TheConfessor wrote: Nothing official yet, but I think the best guess is that one of the partiers left a burning cigarette butt on the old dry cedar planked deck and it smoldered for a while before igniting the blaze.

I guessed it!! Smoking and drinking don't mix. Actually, smoking and anything don't mix.

I am glad you avoided any of the mess though.

peacock2121 · #17 Post by **peacock2121** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 6:56 am

So glad you are okay.

Hope the neighbor has insurance to cover all of his/her property losses. Hope he (or she) got laid at least.

fuzzywuzzy · #18 Post by **fuzzywuzzy** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:50 pm

TheConfessor wrote:I was planning on a quiet night at home, but it turned out to be one of my wildest New Years Eves ever.

Whew...

Ed, Thank Goodness you are ok.

fuzzy

TheConfessor · #19 Post by **TheConfessor** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:45 pm

One disadvantage of having your neighbor's house burn down is that you may lose your internet connection. I have my own Time-Warner Cable internet account, but whenever it gave me trouble, I could see what Wi-Fi signals were available from other houses nearby and use those as backup. There was always a nice strong signal from an unsecured Linksys wireless router. That signal has disappeared, so now I think I know where it was coming from.

silvercamaro · #20 Post by **silvercamaro** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 1:46 pm

TheConfessor wrote:One disadvantage of having your neighbor's house burn down is that you may lose your internet connection. I have my own Time-Warner Cable internet account, but whenever it gave me trouble, I could see what Wi-Fi signals were available from other houses nearby and use those as backup. There was always a nice strong signal from an unsecured Linksys wireless router. That signal has disappeared, so now I think I know where it was coming from.

It takes a village to have a reliable wireless connection.

TheCalvinator24 · #21 Post by **TheCalvinator24** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:38 pm

silvercamaro wrote:
TheConfessor wrote:One disadvantage of having your neighbor's house burn down is that you may lose your internet connection. I have my own Time-Warner Cable internet account, but whenever it gave me trouble, I could see what Wi-Fi signals were available from other houses nearby and use those as backup. There was always a nice strong signal from an unsecured Linksys wireless router. That signal has disappeared, so now I think I know where it was coming from.
It takes a village to have a reliable wireless connection.

Apparently, I had been providing a free wireless connection to my neighbors because I didn't take the trouble to figure out how to secure it when I got an Airport Express for my iMac. I got my wife a MacBook for Christmas, and she was having connectivity issues, so she called Apple Support, an they told her how to set the password properly.

TheConfessor · #22 Post by **TheConfessor** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 1:59 pm

TheCalvinator24 wrote: Apparently, I had been providing a free wireless connection to my neighbors because I didn't take the trouble to figure out how to secure it when I got an Airport Express for my iMac. I got my wife a MacBook for Christmas, and she was having connectivity issues, so she called Apple Support, an they told her how to set the password properly.

I think it's good karma to leave your wireless router unsecured. That's what I did with mine. I don't know if anyone else has ever used it, but I figure if I occasionally use someone else's connection, I ought to let other people use mine. The thing is, so many people have Linksys wireless routers, and the default name is just "Linksys," so when you check for available wireless connections, you might not know whether you're connecting to your own Linksys or to a neighbor's Linksys. Just to keep track, I renamed mine "Regis."

mrkelley23 · #23 Post by **mrkelley23** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:12 pm

For anyone who doesn't know, leaving your wireless access point unsecured MAY be dangerous to your overall computer security. Most routers have significant firewalls, so your personal data may be safe from all but the most diligent hacker, but there are other risks.

Some people have file sharing enabled, just because "sharing" sounds like such a lovely word. What that means is that for a sufficiently motivated intruder, your entire hard drive is available for them to download, if they wish.

In addition, many IP addresses trace to an access point, rather than an individual computer. If someone using a laptop "borrows" your network to, oh, say, make a drug deal, the search warrant and resulting hassle will be served at your house. And while you may eventually be able to show that the user who did the dirty deed was not on your approved list, you won't like the intervening hassle.

kayrharris · #24 Post by **kayrharris** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:15 pm

I have DSL which requires a network key. I guess that means I'm OK.

When I search for wireless networks, I do usually get 2 or 3 that must be the neighbors. I've never used those connections though.

TheConfessor · #25 Post by **TheConfessor** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 2:27 pm

mrkelley23 wrote:For anyone who doesn't know, leaving your wireless access point unsecured MAY be dangerous to your overall computer security. Most routers have significant firewalls, so your personal data may be safe from all but the most diligent hacker, but there are other risks.

Some people have file sharing enabled, just because "sharing" sounds like such a lovely word. What that means is that for a sufficiently motivated intruder, your entire hard drive is available for them to download, if they wish.

In addition, many IP addresses trace to an access point, rather than an individual computer. If someone using a laptop "borrows" your network to, oh, say, make a drug deal, the search warrant and resulting hassle will be served at your house. And while you may eventually be able to show that the user who did the dirty deed was not on your approved list, you won't like the intervening hassle.

Yes, but...

Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.
Anne Frank

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The Fieriest Day Of January

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