Don't get me wrong -- they have to fight hard to keep the fire under control and that does mean having to demolish some things to keep it from spreading farther.
Its just not something that I ever really thought about before so it was interesting to me how much damage was done in fighting the fire. For example ... a section of our neighbors fence and places on all three sides of our fence were torn down to allow the firemen and their equipment to get into our backyard and fight the fire. Walls in the house that had not been completely burned had their wallboard removed down to the studs to make sure there were no 'hot spots'.
Our living room the morning after:
The fire started in the back corner outside the house and quickly spread through the eaves across the whole house. Separately it leapt down into the basement window and burnt there. Part of the reason it was so devastating is that it was able to quickly spread through the whole house. It started outside so had the wood siding and deck for easy fuel. And since it went through the eaves, there were no barriers for it to have to burn through (like walls).
At one point the firemen were pumping water through the basement window to control the basement portion of the fire .... the next day there was about a foot of sooty, ash filled water in my basement. We had someone come pump out the basement, but it was several days before we could safely get down there.
Looking down the basement stairs to the flood below:
This is a view of my bedroom window where we would have been sleeping if the fire had started later that evening:
We are so grateful for our safety.
