July 3 – “Our dentist office is burning down”

Yesterday we were headed into Texas to celebrate Micah’s birthday at his house in LaMarque when an alert went off on my phone.  I took a quick peek.  It was a fire call, and I noted that the address seemed vaguely familiar.  We were already across the causeway, though, so I put the phone down and returned to my prior focus, preparing myself for a ten-year-old’s birthday party.  That address kept nagging at me, though.  In fact, more calls came in for the same fire, and it was becoming evident that this was one I wish I could have been on site for.  As I pondered the location, a different alert sounded on my phone.  This one was a text from Nathan, so I opened it quickly and read, “Our dentist office is burning down.”  That was it.  That was the reason the address seemed so familiar.  It’s because I have to look it up every single time I go there.  The building was built back in the 1800’s, and had been renovated inside to house the offices.  The exterior was fixed up to match the period, so it was one of Galveston’s architectural treasures in that sense.  It is also located right next door to the Elks Lodge.  In fact in that district all the buildings are pretty close together, so the danger of it spreading was pretty high.

Nathan sent me a picture that one of the guys sent him.  Lots of smoke, intense heat inside, and extremely hot conditions outside (not to mention the gases they use in the practice), turned this one into a call for every active fire fighter to be on the scene.  The thing is, each guy can only actively fight the fire for so long in all his bunker gear before he has to have a break to rest and rehydrate and cool down some.  With a fire that intense, more crews were needed.  Jamaica Beach Volunteer Department stepped up and covered calls from 61^st Street to the West End of the Island, and incredibly huge area of responsibility.  Nice job, JBVFD.  Fortunately, they only had one call during that time.  Engines from some of our partners on the Mainland came over as well to help with coverage.  Once again Galveston Fire Department took care of business professionally and expertly.  I saw a picture of the structure after the fire, and the exterior didn’t look nearly as bad as I would have expected.  Perhaps they will be able to rehabilitate after all, rather than just tear it down.

Back to the initial call … when I told Chris about what was happening (she was driving, of course), her only comment was, “But I have an appointment on Monday.”  I was conflicted.  Do I mourn the passing of her appointment or rejoice at her good favor? 

Romans 12:16 says, “Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.”

Father, thank you that no one was in that building when the fire started.  Thank you as well for protecting the fire fighters that were called to fight it and to watch over the rest of the city.  Amen.