In hindsight, I suppose I should have been more alarmed by the word "fire" but what I actually worried about was the kids' school Easter egg hunt that I thought had been scheduled for 4:00. The teacher may have thought it odd that I asked not about the safety of the children or the school, but whether or not the kids had had a chance to find the eggs. She assured me that the kids had already finished their Easter egg hunt that morning (turns out I'm still reading the newsletter from Alice's old classroom, not her current one).
When I arrived at school and saw the parking lot blocked off and a fire engine, it was then that I finally thought, "Oh, this could have been dangerous!" I suppose part of the reason I under-reacted is because that's what I tend to do, but also because earlier this week I had had to pick the kids up early because of some power-line-related electrical fire in the same neighborhood as the school that had resulted in the school losing power. A month or two ago a building at Alice's daycare's previous location (now vacant) had a fire, so maybe by this point it just didn't seem that surprising that things were catching fire.
When I picked the kids up, they were happily playing in the large field adjacent to the property. As we passed the fire engine in the parking lot on our way out, Alice asked, "Why do all my schools keep burning?" All I could say in response was, "Good question."
Simon is in red climbing up the hill; Alice is running in a purple plaid shirt in the far back.
