Detroit area posters-did you see the Highland Park fires today?

It was the big local news story-I saw it on tv, but you couldn't see anything from SB 1-75, when I was driving in.

4 houses were engulfed, and a separate fire a few blocks away engulfed and entire abandoned building. Highland Park is broke and in receivership, and at first, one fire truck showed up at each fire. They had no water pressure at the first fire. It took Hamtrammck and Detroit fire trucks a little time to get there, and it was too late to save any of the houses.

I used to live right around the corner from the first fire. I am so glad I am not in that area anymore, even though I was on the Detroit side of McNichols. We had a bad fire in an abandoned building across the street when I lived there, and it was pretty scary. There were fires a lot, compared to where I live now in Warren.

My grandfather grew up there and it was one of the most desirable places to live in Detroit. It just breaks my heart to see it now.

His mother and stepfather lived there until the mid-seventies, when people started firing into their living room. Guns, that is.

It was such a beautiful place, yes. I only saw it as it was in the process of deteriorating, but their house was lovely, and the neighborhood - you could tell - had once been equally lovely.

What a shame.