My husband (43M) and I (41F) bought our current home about 15 months ago. Our house is a split-level, so our back porch is attatched to the second story. There are mature trees on the property line that divide us from the neighbors, but now that the leaves have fallen, we can see directly into their backyard from our porch. I am a smoker, so I spend a lot of time out there.

Our neighbors got chickens this past spring. Since the leaves were already back on the trees when they arrived, we couldn't actually see the chickens until a few weeks ago. Instead of a traditional, permanent coop, they have what looks like a pull-behind trailer on wheels with a truck cap/shell as the roof. The coop is up off the ground and has ramps. The chickens have some straw as bedding, and a heatlamp for the cold nights. The neighbors have been turning the lamp on recently, and my husband and I have been having endless fun with it. Before the leaves fell completely, the red glow of the lamp looked like a portal to hell had opened in the neighbor's yard. Now that we have a full view of the coop, we can see when the lamp is on before the coop doors are closed for the night. Because of the shape of the coop and the straw bedding, it looks like a nativity scene of chickens when they all huddle up in there. When we saw a single chicken alone and illuminated under the light, we were quipping about Animal Farm monologues at open-mike night, and doing bad voice-overs as if the chicken were a comedian saying things like, "...and she said I was a pecker!" Needless to say, we like the chickens.

My FU happened this evening after I decided to take a nap after eating Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner. I woke up at nearly eight pm, and it was dark outside. After I got out of bed, I gathered my coat and cigarettes to go out on the porch. I groggily waved at my husband who was on the computer. I stepped outside, and glanced around before I opened whatever bullshit I was gonna look at on Reddit. Not only was the chicken coop glowing red from the heatlamp, but it was ON FIRE! I was so dazed from just waking up that I didn't trust myself. I threw open the door, and shouted to my husband, "Hey! Are the chickens on fire!? There's a fire! Are the neighbor's chickens on fire!?" He jumped up and ran towards me and the door, looked outside, and said, "Yeah! The chickens are on fire!" We ran back into the house where I was expecting my husband to grab his phone and call the husband that lives next door because I don't have their numbers. Instead, my husband just ran away from me, and down into the first level of the house without saying a word. I had been vertical for all of 90 seconds and my brain said, "Okay! I guess I'm going to the neighbor's house!".

I ran down the stairs and out my front door, and sprinted to the neighbor's front door. Their backyard is fully fenced and 6ft tall, and while I know where the gate is, I didn't think it was okay to just go through it, despite there being, you know, A FIRE! I knocked loudly and repeadedly to indicate the urgency of the situation.

Their dog was going crazy, and then their 13 year-old son cracked the door. Our exchange went like this:

Me: "Hey, (his name)! Are your chickens on fire!?"

13: "What?"

Me: "ARE YOUR CHICKENS ON FIRE!? There's a fire in your backyard!"

13: "What!?"

Thankfully, 13's dad, the next-door husband that I thought my husband was going to call, shows up at the door and wants to know what is happening. The dog is still going off, and the door has been fully opened to illuminate me in the dark, and all my disheveled, puffy-faced ass can say is, "Are your chickens on fire!?" There's a fire in your backyard! ARE YOUR CHICKENS ON FIRE!?"

Next door husband is so calm and kind. He politely informs me that yes, there is a fire in the backyard. His wife is out there with the gas firepit, so no, the chickens are not on fire.

I apologized for so rudely bursting in on their evening, and they assured me that everything is fine. I turned to go home and allow my heart rate to return to normal, when I saw my husband standing in the neighbor's driveway. He was holding the fire extinguisher from our laundry room. He had already gone through the gate and spoken to the next-door wife, knew everything was fine, and was just waiting for me. As we walked back, my husband made sure to ask me, "Hey, are your chickens on fire?"

TL;DR I thought my neighbor's chicken coop was on fire. It was their fire pit.