Not funny but true

Sunday afternoon, around 5:00, I picked up a large sweet tea at McDonalds and parked in one of the downtown lots, not far from where I work.
As I sat there, I noticed something odd: There was smoke coming out of one of the buildings. It wasn't much at first-- in fact, at first I thought it was just steam from a vent or something.
But then it started billowing.
It seemed like no one else was noticing, so I called 911.
The lady informed me that someone else had already called, and that help was on the way.
I sat in the parking lot (at a safe distance) and watched in horror as the fire progressed rapidly. It engulfed the entire building.
Part of the reason for my horror was that the business my mother owns was nearby-- and all those buildings are joined together.
The part where the fire started was a restaurant. It was closed at the time, so no one was trapped inside. (Whew.)
The place burned, the roof collapsed, flames shot out.
6-8 different fire departments had to come help.
They closed off the street and pumped water from the river to help put out the fire. (Apparently the hydrants weren't enough).
The local radio station sent someone to cover the story.
The Salvation Army was there, distributing free beverages to the firefighters.
At 7:30, it was still burning.
It didn't stop smoldering til about 9:30.
They brought in a backhoe to start breaking down the rear walls of the building and scoop stuff into a pile.
They brought in a bulldozer to scrape up the debris from the street.
I'm glad to report that the fire didn't reach mom's place, but I feel really bad for the businesses that were ruined. This really was an awful fire.

Amazingly, it's already up on YouTube, here and especially here.
And there are already two websites with news stories about it, here and here.
(Not sure why that second one says it happened on the 19th... it happened on Sunday the 22nd. I know. I was there.)
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