Crime in Our Neighborhood

Last year I posted several times about arson in our neighborhood.

Do you remember this post about a fire next door to us last August?

Or how about this post?

Finally, we learned it was all over...

...until yesterday.

I felt nervous Sunday night at bedtime. Mike was out of town for the night but usually that doesn't bother me. Sam was going to be home soon and I was a bit disappointed in myself for feeling tense. I got up and checked the locks. I turned lights on in several rooms and decided to leave them on for the night. Then, I kept listening for sounds. It felt so silly! I decided to leave the television on so that I would relax a bit. That probably wasn't my best idea but I fell asleep and didn't awaken for several hours.

Early Monday morning I went to work out with my friend, Donna. I didn't notice anything different. When she dropped me back off at home, though, I noticed a patrol car parked across the street from our house.

Well, soon there were more police, as well as firefighters, fire trucks and the big incident command van.








I didn't even have to leave my living room to take these photos.

I went out to get the scoop from one of the firefighters. He told me that they were inspecting a burned area in the grass. He also told me a camper a block down our street had burned during the night. Apparently I had slept through all that!

I woke Sam up and he told me he'd run outside about midnight after hearing screams. He said he thought someone was being murdered. I was proud and horrified all at once, learning he'd gone running to the rescue. That had to do with the camper fire. Sam said there were lots of patrol cars there before him and he never did know who had screamed.

The camper was parked in someone's driveway and I'm sure they were worried about their home burning. I saw a damaged car being hauled away Monday morning but don't know the story there. I also heard two women speaking of something being stolen. Again, I wasn't informed beyond what I overheard out front.

So, when I spoke with the firefighter he told me that if I had children in our home, we should go over a plan of escape. Everyone should, really, but hearing it from him made me feel nervous.

Much of the day different inspectors kept showing up to take photos of that burned spot in the grass. It just didn't look like much, pieces of fat yellow candles and unidentified pieces of stuff. One officer referred to it as an incendiary device but they weren't sure what was in it. Apparently it hadn't gone where it was meant to go or it had fizzled too soon or something.

Hopefully, all those investigators will be able to piece it all together. I don't know if this is the work of the juvenile girl from last summer's drama or if it is something new and different. Either way, it is rather bizarre that our quiet little residential street keeps having so much criminal activity. I don't like it.