3 a.m.

I got the text around 3 a.m.  Apartment fire.  Minutes later I was on my way through the empty streets.  The firefighters had already knocked down the blaze when I arrived but there was a gas leak that was still fueling some flames.  Fortunately, everyone got out safely, largely due to a man that was driving by and saw flames coming through the roof.  He went door to door waking people up while he called 911.

That afternoon Sean and I headed back to see if we could catch some of the residents salvaging what they could.  I met Jeremy, a recent Calvary Baptist Academy graduate, as he was going through his water damaged bedroom and we talked for a bit about the 1st New York, his Revolutionary War reenacting group.  He lost a lot of his history books from water damage, but he was still thankful that he had stuff to salvage unlike many of the building's residents.