Don't worry...it wasn't us.

I returned home tonight around 8:30, and as I wove my way through the complex, I saw increasingly odd sights. The clubhouse was alit and filled with people ("Okay, not so unusual for someone to rent it out for a party on a weeknight"), then I passed a big ol' Consumers Energy truck sitting alongside the road, doing absolutely nothing ("That's weird, everyone seems to have electricity..."), then I came around the bend...all manner of emergency vehicles in full glory. The building just beyond ours was illuminated with red and white strobes, and a fire truck crane was hovering over the building. A Fox 17 mobile broadcast truck was there, too, satellite dish engaged. I couldn't quite see what was going on (fire? C02 leak? Meth lab?). I went inside, could find nothing on the news, so came back outside with my mom on the phone...still can't tell and don't want to get so close as to be barked at by police officer or similar. Went back inside because it was too cold for other gawkers, who would've been my only source of good information. Finally got the story on the 10:00 news (because at 11, it's history!) Courtesy of WXMI Fox 17 (the only news outlet who cared enough to come all da way out here):

Fire At Gaines Township Apartment Building

January 24, 2008

GAINES TOWNSHIP — About two dozen tentants evacuated a Gaines Township apartment complex Thursday night after a fire broke out in one of the apartments.

The fire started around 7 p.m. at The Crossings apartment complex near the South Beltline and Eastern Avenue.

Firefighters saw flames shooting from the roof when they arrived on scene. They dispatched an aerial truck and knocked down the fire before it could spread.

The fire damaged two apartments, one with smoke and the other from fire damage.

No one was injured, but some residents disregarded the fire alarms that rang through the complex.

"Fire alarms outside activated, some people failed to realize those alarms mean time to get out," said Dutton Fire Chief Russ Jansen.

Fire investigators think the fire may have started on a second floor balcony. It remains under investigation.

Copyright © 2008, WXMI

Thank you, Lord, for yet more affirmation that it is indeed good to be overinsured. Amen.