It’s absolutely true that some mistakes aren’t mistakes when they’re made; they’re a label given to decisions with the benefit of that hindsight. It is tragic that we lose firefighters in empty houses, or after the family said everyone’s out. But let’s not say the mistake was going in to make sure.

This old, dilapidated, 12x10' railroad outbuilding was our early-morning fire at my part-time department.

IT. WAS NOT. VACANT.

We can make educated guesses about whether a home is vacant or not. But just because a house looks vacant doesn't mean someone's not down on their luck, living inside, wishing they lived someplace better.