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<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\nSo, all the way down the hill, I’d been stomping and cussing. But when I saw the flames reaching up out of the roof of the building, smack in the middle of the building, I stopped short.\u00a0 I stood there dumb for a minute, and then I called my friend.\u00a0 “The question of what’s to be done with the Majestic is moot now,” I told her.\u00a0 “It’s burning down.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0 As I stood watching, the reinforcements began to arrive.\u00a0 Firefighters from various other local departments bailed out of flashing red trucks and unpacked their equipment as their leaders were apprised of the plan.\u00a0 I saw three firemen carrying hose up the hill to unroll behind the flaming hotel.\u00a0 I felt reassured that they were mindful of the danger of fire running up the hillside atop which my house and others sit.\u00a0 I went home. Half an hour later, I stepped out my kitchen door to see what I could see.\u00a0 Since the trees are pretty bare this time of year, it is possible to see a little of the hotel from my yard, so rather than heading back down the hill, I just rounded the corner of the house.\u00a0 Here’s that view, accompanied by\u00a0a version overlaid with a daylight shot for perspective reference.\u00a0 Notice that they don’t match exactly; the overlay (daylight) pic is taken from a slightly different angle.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yeah, now I’m FREAKING OUT.\u00a0 “They don’t have it,” I thought.\u00a0 “They’ve lost containment, and that fire is spreading.”\u00a0 I should’ve known better. Those firefighters were so on top of that blaze–I cannot tell you how grateful I am to all those emergency workers who responded so quickly, worked so tirelessly, and stayed so vigilant over the following thirty-six hours or so.\u00a0 The smoke was pretty bad, the power was out, and there was some ash floating our way, but our house and all of those in our neighborhood were generally unharmed (as far as I know) by what could have been an utter catastrophe.<\/p>\n Over the course of the next few hours, I walked down the hill several times.\u00a0 Partly, I need repeated reassurance that the fire was still contained to the structure.\u00a0 Partly, too, it was so hard to believe, and sad.\u00a0 Even though I knew that much of the old girl was already beyond repair, and that this disaster created new possibilities for the property and, ultimately, the area, the timing was a shock.\u00a0 And the sheer destructive energy of a fire engulfing a building–even a small one, let alone one that spreads over such a large area–is simply overwhelming.\u00a0 It’s upsetting.\u00a0 It’s devastation, in full view.<\/p>\n For\u00a0a couple of weeks now, conversation around my town–and around the lunch table where I work, which isn’t in my town–has often turned to the plight of the Majestic Hotel, which had been recently boarded-up after the owner was issued … Continue reading <\/a>
\n<\/a><\/p>\nThis is the last photo I took that night: There are already lots of theories about who, and why, and under what conditions.\u00a0 There are a variety of attitudes toward this loss, and whether it even is a loss.\u00a0 I think it is.\u00a0 I think of all the people–famous and completely unknown to all but a precious few–who stayed at the Majestic over the century-plus of her life.\u00a0 I think of all the happy and not-so-happy events that took place inside those walls.\u00a0 I can’t help but think some of that history will linger there, on the block, near the corner I have walked so many times with the Gaul, and will again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"