Meanwhile, Denise had also woken up. She had heard something too. She looked out the windows in her bedroom which face the front of our house and saw a car sitting in the driveway, with people out of the car talking. She couldn't figure out what was going on. Did they need help? She went to the sliding glass door to look out toward the chicken house because sometimes cars will drive back there too. This is what she saw:
Oh my gosh!! The neighbor's building/barn was on fire. And not just a little fire, but fully engulfed in flames. She yelled at me to come downstairs because Chupp's/Schwartz's barn was on fire!! We quickly figured out that the people in the driveway must have been driving by and seen the fire, and pulled into our driveway to either wake us up or call 911. We tried to decide if we should call 911 but within a minute we heard sirens. We decided we had to go outside and investigate.
We also speculated that what woke us up was an explosion. As you can see in the picture (maybe) the roof is completely gone. I think a spark ignited a propane tank (or something else explosive) and blew the whole roof off.
Soon there were many fire trucks, ambulances, and first-responder vehicles in the driveway, on the road, and in the chicken house lane (right beside our house). They fought the fire for about 45 minutes and it finally started going out and smoking a lot. 
All but one corner of the walls collapsed. 
We saw fire trucks and tankers from at least five different fire departments: Benton, Clinton, Elkhart Township (Goshen), Topeka, and Middlebury. While we were standing and watching we saw at least four tanker trucks come and go as they used more and more water fighting the fire. 
This is what is left of the building the next morning. The building in the back is their horse/animal barn, and the edge of the house is peeking out behind the pine tree on the right. This farm is the Amish neighbors who live just north of me. At the beginning of the month, the parents (Schwartz's) had moved out and switched houses with their daughter and her family (husband and four kids ages 3-13), moving up the road about 1.5 miles. Schwartz's had wanted to turn over the chicken house to their son-in-law and have more chores for the kids to do. Now, three weeks later, their building burns! :( This building was what I call their "church" building. It is basically an additional storage building/tool shed/whatever they put in there (I haven't actually been in one) that can be cleared out when it is their turn to host Amish church. Then they don't have to clean out their house to hold church in the house. Many Amish families around here have these buildings. I heard from an Amishman who was watching the fire with us that Chupp's (the new family who had just moved) were storing some propane tanks in there, but I don't know if it was true or not.
Thankfully, the chicken house (most of their livelihood), their horse barn, and the house did not also catch fire, even though the house and horse barn sit fairly close to the building that burned. I heard that the siding on the back of the house had melted. I am sure they will also have extensive smoke damage or at least smoke odor because all the smoke from the fire went directly over the house.
I have not gone over yet to see if they need any help, but will try to do that this week. This would be the type of instance where they would probably not accept our help anyway - as Englishers (non-Amish). Their church district/community will rally behind them and soon rebuild the building and help them with whatever else they need. When Denise woke up at 5:30 this morning (Monday) they had some large temporary lights lighting up the remains and they were already at work. No work yesterday of course since it was Sunday.
To top it all off, Denise and I woke up to no electricity this morning. After I had found some water to wash my face (can't use the well without electricity), lit a candle to get dressed by, and tried to decide if I should go into work to take a shower, the power finally came back on a little after 7am. I saw in the paper tonight that a semi had hit a pole that knocked out power to all of southern Goshen. We decided it was a bizarre end to an interesting weekend!
Thankfully, the chicken house (most of their livelihood), their horse barn, and the house did not also catch fire, even though the house and horse barn sit fairly close to the building that burned. I heard that the siding on the back of the house had melted. I am sure they will also have extensive smoke damage or at least smoke odor because all the smoke from the fire went directly over the house.
I have not gone over yet to see if they need any help, but will try to do that this week. This would be the type of instance where they would probably not accept our help anyway - as Englishers (non-Amish). Their church district/community will rally behind them and soon rebuild the building and help them with whatever else they need. When Denise woke up at 5:30 this morning (Monday) they had some large temporary lights lighting up the remains and they were already at work. No work yesterday of course since it was Sunday.
To top it all off, Denise and I woke up to no electricity this morning. After I had found some water to wash my face (can't use the well without electricity), lit a candle to get dressed by, and tried to decide if I should go into work to take a shower, the power finally came back on a little after 7am. I saw in the paper tonight that a semi had hit a pole that knocked out power to all of southern Goshen. We decided it was a bizarre end to an interesting weekend!
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