FIRE!

Fire is a horrible thing. I don't need to tell anyone who's been through one, I know. But everytime one happens around here I'm amazed at how quickly they go, how quickly people lose just about all of their possesions.
There was a fire at a downtown business over the weekend. By the time the firefighters got to the scene, it was too hot and involved to go in the building, and all they could do was dump water on it from the outside. Which they did, for about the next 36 hours.
The folks over at the Fischer Theatre graciously opened their doors and cranked up the air. The firefighters came in, fueled up with Gatorade(tm) and cold water and donated food, and then went back out again.
The mayor was on the scene for two days, doing everything from co-ordinating command and control to picking up garbage.
The amount of donated items was impressive. Over a dozen local business donated everything from ice to chicken to giro's to oatmeal bars. At one point there was more food than I thought could possible be eaten, but it went. We went through cases of pop and buckets of ice and countless bottled waters.
In my travels, people occasionally like to tell me how much better of we'd be if I just moved to a bigger community - say an Indianapolis, or Peoria, or a Chicago suburb. Weekends like the last one reaffirm my belief in and my optimism about my hometown. When times get tough, people band together and get things done.