DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THIS

i posted this to another link but thought I would share it here as well.In January 1977 on Fry Road, my house burned and I lost all my school pictures along with everything we owned. We made the front page of the Johnson County Journal that day. It was the coldest day of the year. The water, from the tanker, was freezing before it got to the end of the hose. All the firemen could do was to stand by and watch it burn. Mom and dad lived across the street and we were visiting with them when we heard the sirens. We had no idea it was our home that was on fire. I ran out of Moms and ran to our home and started to open the front door, the fireman pulled me back to the ground. My dogs were inside and I wanted to let them out. Another fireman stooped down close to the ground, opened the door - fire shot out like a bat out of _____! My dogs perished, a mother and her 3 - 4 week old puppies. After a couple of days I walked the ashes to find anything - NOTHING. The only site that was standing was the fireplace bricks. It was amazing on how many people would drive up the lane to Mom's house and honk their horn. I would go out to their car; they would be bringing clothes, money, food and toys for the kids. At this time we had our 6 kids and a foster child, a total of 7 kids. They did not leave their names or any information on who they were. I can't tell you how much this was so appreciated, the community and neighbors helping a family in need. The mayor of Greenwood came to see us to see if there was anything he could do. I think he was more afraid we were going to sue the county. We had tried to get a fire hydrant installed on Fry Road. A year later there was a fire hydrant installed. Ha. I still have the newpaper from that day. A builder had a spec home right up the street and offered the home for us to live. We moved into the home, we had only been there for a couple of days and one of my brothers came over to visit. He through his cigarette butt in the fireplace. Later on that night, after we were all in bed, the fire alarm went off in the house. An alarming sound after what we had just been through. As I jumped out of bed the house was full of smoke - Called 911 - I could not find where it was coming from. I got all the kids up, loaded them in the car and pulled the car out of the garage. I ran back inside and started throwing their clothes out the window (in the snow). The fire department arrived - the smoke was coming from the fireplace. The cigarette had ignited the debris that had been left in the ash box from all the small debris pitched in the hole from a new construction site. And the flue was closed tight. As you can imagine I'm terrified of fires. I later learned that my grandparents home had burned down the same time of year only 50 years earlier.