The Night Fire Hit Out Neighborhood

My daughter called as I was getting into my car after work. Panic in her voice. Fire behind the house.

I drove straight home without thinking — only later did I realize I should've just left the car at the office. Halfway there, stuck in traffic, I started to feel it. That nervous, tight feeling in your chest. I parked the car on the side of the road and flagged down a Gojek who happened to be carrying a cake and couldn't get through to our area anyway. He took me as far as he could. I walked the
rest.

Some guy was horning from the wrong side of the road the whole time. I didn't stop.

The closer I got, the bigger the smoke. Black and thick. That's when I kept saying Inna Lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un — not out of panic, but out of surrender. Whatever happens, happens. But I wasn't frozen. All five senses were sharp. I could think clearly. I'd made peace with the idea that the house could be gone — but I couldn't make peace with anything happening to my family.

The road to my house was blocked. Electrical lines down everywhere, someone shouting for me to turn back. I didn't. I found a gap, climbed through some gates, and got in.

My family was safe. Alhamdulillah.

I grew up comfortable around fire — played with it as a kid, understood it. I wanted to help. My wife stopped me. She wasn't wrong. I stayed back.

Firefighters got it under control between 8 and 9 PM. The family moved to a relative's place. My brother-in-law and I stayed at the house through the night just in case.

The one thing I'm grateful for

We had a bag ready. Before any of this happened, my wife and I had put together an emergency bag — important documents, the things you can't
replace. We'd talked about it as a "just in case for fire or earthquake" measure. That night, we didn't scramble. We just grabbed the bag.

Here's what was in it:

- KTP and family KK (photocopies too)
- Passports
- Birth certificates
- Marriage certificate
- Insurance documents
- A small amount of cash
- External hard drive with digital backups of everything above

If you don't have this ready, do it this weekend. It takes one hour. You won't regret it and you'll probably never need it — but if you do, you'll be glad you did.