At 2am tonight, the loud humming of diesel engines punctuated by glass breaking woke me up from my deep sleep on the couch (the usual routine when Glen is on call at the hospital). I initially thought that the recycling was getting picked up unusually early in the morning. However, when the noises continued for more than a minute, I decided to investigate.
As I threw off my blankets and hopped off the couch, I noticed that I was very hot and sweaty. Had I accidently set the heater at 85 degrees? Was I coming down with the flu? As I stumbled around in the dark searching for my glasses, I heard the sound of a door being kicked in and people running down the stairs outside my apartment. Was the garbage man breaking into the apartment next door?
When I finally peeked out my kitchen window, the scene before me was so unreal that it didn't register immediately. In utter disbelief, I scanned from the flashing red lights of multiple fire engines to the billowing black smoke and orange flames coming from the apartment two doors down from mine to the fireman on my fire escape who was yelling at me to get out. Ironically my mother-in-law had just been asking during her Christmas visit if I thought I would ever need to use my third-story fire escape. I honestly never thought I would.
I quickly ran out of the kitchen to grab my cell phone, wallet, and a pair of shoes, flicking off the gas heater as I passed by the thermostat. I silently said a quick goodbye to the rest of my belongings.
The fire escape ladder only went down one floor so I had to climb over the railing onto a ladder that the firemen had propped up. A fireman stood behind me on the ladder coaching me to keep going down and assuring me that he would catch me if I slipped on a wet rung. When I hopped off the last rung to the safety of the sidewalk, I looked up to see my neighbor, shivering and completely coated in black soot. She stared blankly at the swarm of firemen aiming their water hoses at her living room. I asked her if she was okay, and all she could manage was a slight nod.
Fortunately all seven tenants got out of the building uninjured. The only good that came out of this is that I learned the names of all my neighbors. I had recently been thinking that after living in our apartment for 2.5 years, it was past the time for introductions. We were forever just going to exchange polite nods and hellos. I also met a woman who lives in the house behind our building. She kindly made me a cup of hot tea to warm my hands which were starting to freeze up after nearly two hours of standing in the cold.
It's 4:30am now. The six fire engines that responded to the call have left. My throat is scratchy, and I have a headache from the smoke I inhaled when I was on the fire escape. I can't completely wash the black soot off my hands. However, my body has finally stopped shaking from the shock of it all. I'm back on my couch wrapped up in my blanket with the heater set at 68 degrees. Thank the Lord that no one was injured and that no other apartments in the building were damaged--only the apartment below the burned one suffered minor water damage.
A lesson to us all: don't burn candles at home.
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