Fire This Morning.

Although potentially extremely dangerous and somewhat perilous to the properties around the area close to my apartment I have to say that the event I witnessed this morning has been quite hysterical to watch from my balcony whilst at the same time making me a little concerned about what could happen if a big fire broke out amongst the tightly packed properties.
A pile of rubbish containing all sorts of stuff, paint tins, tyres etc was deliberately set on fire with the aid of some petrol in a large back yard just below my apartment in an effort by the property owner to tidy the place up.
The result was certainly successful in terms of ignition but the perpetrator had grossly underestimated the consequences of using the accelerant and within minutes the whole yard was on fire, as were neighbouring trees and both perimeter fences. In imminent danger of becoming a major incident people ran to help with a variety of buckets and totally inefficient domestic extinguishers. The neighbours soon joined the fray and contributed to the melee by trying to lynch whoever was responsible whilst at the same time trying to avoid being incinerated. The owner of the property became less concerned with the fire and more concerned about escaping alive before being torn limb from limb.
I am ashamed to say that what followed was the best entertainment I have had for a long time.
As it was obvious no lives were at risk, at least for a while, I was able to sit and witness the whole thing unfold which just went from bad to worse and was reminiscent of a Keystone Cops movie or Captain Mainwrings Home Guard. From chickens running around with their bums on fire to people colliding with each other and dropping whatever retardants they were carrying then loudly chastising each other.
Fortunately the breeze was taking the copious amounts of toxic black smoke in the other direction rapidly forcing the various occupants of the local coffee shops etc into the street coughing and spluttering. Hostilities now broke out on two fronts, fire on one and arguments on the other rapidly compounded by the gathering crowd of residents and passing motorcyclists blocking the road and filming with their phones.
Meanwhile the frantic but uncoordinated group tackling the fire were slowly loosing ground and being forced to retreat and wait for reinforcements.
Eventually, after 10 minutes or so 3 fire trucks fought their way through the spectators and at a rather leisurely pace set about deploying hoses whist avoiding imminent drowning from a very large plastic water tank on the roof of a shed melting and sending a tidal wave of Tsunami proportions in the wrong direction flooding the yard of the property next door much to the annoyance of the occupants who stood helplessly watching their carefully nurtured garden contents floating off into the distance.
I have long been baffled how HCM is still standing, what with cables everywhere, gas rings and smoking hot fat in tiny properties, the way most houses are constructed etc etc and now I am even more in awe of the city's survival. I was most certainly not reassured by the actions of the fire brigade and their rather ancient equipment either. They are certainly a brave group of people to risk their lives without modern appliances and I take nothing away from them and have great respect for the job that they do . . . ..  Couldn't help but near wet myself watching it all though even if I feel vaguely ashamed at finding it all so amusing.
Yes yes I know these things should never be funny but jeez . .. it was friggin hysterical.