Casey Schorr

Last night at 2 AM I wake up to a police man banging like hell on my front door. I have no idea the neighbor's house is engulfed in flames 30 feet high until I walk up the stairs from my basement bedroom. The living room is bright as day with a nasty cast of orange. Out the windows I can see flames rising 10-20 feet above my neighbor's roof and only mere feet from the side of our house. It reeks like smoke. I never actually thought I'd be in a situation where I'm quickly trying to decide what to grab before I run out of the house. I already had my cell phone and wallet in my pants pockets and I grabbed my laptop bag on the way out which had my camera, computer, and car keys. We make our way across the street and stand in the freezing cold for about an hour and a half watching the entire event unfold.

When we first walked outside the fire department hadn't even arrived, it was just a few police cars. Shortly thereafter the Louisville Fire Department arrived. It was strage to see them douse the house with water for 15-20 minutes before the first fire-fighter went inside. After watching so many movies I thought they would just run inside right away busting down the door with their Axe!

After talking with the neighbors I come to find out the old man who was our neighbor died two weeks ago (he was very old). His son was in town attending to his father's estate. The son was the only person in the house and sadly made it within a few feet of the front door but couldn't get out. He died in the fire. You can read more about the fire here or watch my videos below. What a crazy experience. Prayers go out to the Ryan family. Makes you realize you're only here for a short time and when your ticket is up, it's up.

On a more positive note, this is a great example of citizen journalism. I tweeted about the event 45 minutes after I left the house and was still hours ahead of the first news report. Furthermore, compare my videos to the video on the Boulder Daily Camera's website. I rest my case. In the coming years I expect regular old folks to break the news well before mainstream media more often and with continuing higher quality rich media as cameras and wireless/ cell phone internet becomes ubiquitous.