Project365: Day 29 - Apartment Fire

Day 29 - Apartment Fire (7), originally uploaded by Tim Bungert.

I was planning to head downtown late tonight to take advantage of the clear skies and (slightly) warmer weather to get my Day 29 photo, but the events of the afternoon brought a change in plans.

Between 3:30 and 4:00 this afternoon, one of the buildings in my apartment complex caught fire. I'm quite thankful it was not my building. The thick plume of smoke rising from the building was visible from my balcony a few blocks away, and I'm sure people much farther away than me saw it as well.

Thinking that this might be one of those "be at the right place at the right time" kind of events, I grabbed my camera and walked over to the site of the fire. When I arrived, the fire crews were already on scene with multiple ladder trucks and were soaking the large fire from lots of angles. The West Des Moines Fire Marshal addressed a few members of the press and said that everyone was able to evacuate safely and there were no major injuries, but that they were still working to get the fire under control.

The building is badly damaged. I feel for all of the residents who lost their homes this evening. I pray that they are able to land on their feet and move forward with the help of our apartment complex and the Red Cross.

More photos of today's fire are posted on my Flickr Photostream.

Here is a direct link to the photo set.