About 4am the night before last I woke up to hear someone buzzing all the apartments in the building downstairs and I thought it was some drunken wanker. Then suddenly someone was banging on my front door and I reckoned it was worth getting up to see what was going on. As soon as I got near the door I could smell THE SMOKE and went to have a look over the balcony – fire! My building was on fire! By this time Peter was also up and in less than five minutes we had got dressed, grabbed my laptop, managed to wrangle the cats into the extra large carrier and joined the crowd that had gathered outside, just as the firemen began bashing in the metal door of the bar downstairs with massive hatchets.
Smoke was billowing out of a vent at the front of the bar, fire trucks were rumbling, and the cats were howling so I thought – to hell with this – and headed for the new boutique hotel that had just opened up the street. The night receptionist looked a bit nervous when he saw us and said he didn’t have a free room, but I told him we just wanted a place to sit and wait things out. So he showed us in and then fetched us a nice chilled bottle of mineral water. Meanwhile, I noticed that one or both cats had peed inside the carrier and hoped the receptionist couldn’t smell it.
It was only after we got comfortably seated that I started to shake. I had my iPhone with me (of course!) and tweeting about it helped me calm down. This was the second time in my life that I’d woken up in the middle of the night to find my house on fire. At least this time it wasn’t my actual apartment – that time I was up and out in about 45 seconds! But I also didn’t have cats back then.
Anyhow, after a while I went to see how things were going and found the rest of my neighbours over at the sleezy “chupita” after hours bar around the corner. The owner of this place also owns the bar that caught fire. It had been closed for ages and had just reopened a couple of weeks ago. Already the neighbours were hating it because it stayed open until 3am and its patrons left the outside pavement littered with cigarette butts. Well, guess we won’t have to worry about that anymore! But the weird thing was that all day Tuesday the bar had been closed, so how could the fire have started? If they had opened would they have seen that someone had left the cooker on, or whatever?
Finally we got the okay to go back to our homes. The police had been taking down everybody’s names and were relieved to see me as they thought I might still be inside (there had been a LOT of smoke). And so we were all escorted to our apartments so that the firemen to check and make sure there were no secondary fires anywhere. It was amazing how smoky the place was – it actually hurt to breathe – so we opened all the windows and doors and then I gave the cats a sponge bath and towelling down. Of course they didn’t enjoy it, but they also knew I was helping them smell better. In fact, they were so good once we got to the hotel. Honestly, they make way more of a fuss going to the vet’s. And once I got them tidied up the both had a massive grooming session, just letting me know that they do it much better!
I was shocked to find out that my neighbour had left his two cats in the apartment. How someone could leave their pets in a burning building is beyond me. I know that Pérez has ways in and out, but the other one is a house cat. Sheesh.
So that was the adventure. Now it will take ages to clean up! The whole place has a fine film of smoke on it which for the most part isn’t too visible. But when you start to wipe down a surface it suddenly goes all smudgy. Ah well, it could’ve been much worse and I’m so very glad that it wasn’t.
Glad you made it out okay…Thanks for sharing!
God Bless 🙂
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Oh my goodness! I’m so glad that you, Nog, and the cats are okay. What an ordeal! I’m glad that your own apartment was spared the flames and water damage. (I have an uncle whose apartment building had a fire a few months ago, and while his apartment didn’t have much fire, most everything was ruined by the water. He and his two cats (who he wouldn’t think of leaving behind in a fire, either!) are still living in a temporary apartment.)
I hope the smoke damage turns out minimal. (I found myself thinking of all your books!) I’m glad that this is spring, and that you’ll be able to air out the apartment plenty. I don’t envy you dealing with the smoke smell.
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You probably know this, but a spray mister full of vinegar water is a great smoke-smell killer.
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Holy CRAP!
I am really glad that ALL of you are safe and sound!
The fire COULD have started in wiring which can happen at any time.
I have a pathological fear of building fires as a result of a fire that occurred when I was about 5. The handyman was cleaning car parts in gasoline in a a garbage can lid…. while smoking. An ash dropped and the gasoline ignited in a blast that caused 3rd degree burns on his face and arms. He was in shock and people didn’t know much about First Aid in those days. It was some time before the volunteer firefighters arrived and longer before someone finally took him to the hospital. The garage burned to the ground before the firefighters arrived.
It is a memory that I will never forget and which has made be very concerned when I smell natural gas or smoke.
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Glad you were safe. You can claim on your insurance for smoke damage.
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Claim on my what?
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Insurance, you know, you pay a modest monthly premium and when you lose everything, they replace it. Or, in this case, you end up with two of everything.
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I’m happy everyone is safe now!
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*hugs*
Glad it went well after all.
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Wow, not a nice way to be woken up! I’m glad everyone is ok.
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Glad you’re all safe.
xx
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Good grief, Charlie Brown
Me 2 on the glad it’s all OK, now!
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Scary. Glad all is well. Smoke residue is a pain but far better than what could have been!
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Phew! Glad everyone’s safe. 🙂
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That must have been pretty scary. I too can’t understand why anyone would leave a pet behind. My dog would be the first thing I grabbed, everything else can be replaced.
Glad the damage is minimal.
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I’m so glad you’re safe!
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I’m with you. I can’t understand how someone could leave pets behind in a fire. I mean, sure, at some point when the flames are approaching you have to make the tough decision and leave, but this isn’t the case. I have to assume fear got the better of your neighbor. Glad they got the fire out quickly and no one lost their home.
Baron Grim (aka Count Zero, Rob)
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We also are very glad that you’re all safe and hope that your personal clean-up operation will not reveal any unexpected problems nor be too onerous. No wonder you felt shaken by your experience. Hopefully you will get to know the exact cause of the fire very soon and there won’t be any further repercussions as far as you’re concerned. xx
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<<<>>>
Thank Bob you*re all safe and well.
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Hey you! I owe you an email but have been a bit swamped lately – let’s do a skype chat soon, okay?
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Thanks everyone! Have been a bit frazzled since that night, mostly trying to catch up on sleep and work. The house still smells of smoke (or rather, charred bar) but it looks like the apartment is relatively unscathed. For some reason the kitchen was the worst hit with noticable smoke damage, which is less of an issue because it’s mostly tiles and washable surfaces. I don’t think the fine film of soot on the walls is worth bothering about.
But the building committee is going to have to paint the stairway now, which is rather a bonus as it really needed it.
And life goes on…
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omg, Az, I totally missed this – haven’t been on the blogosphere for a while. How completely terrifying, I’m so glad you’re all safe and as for how anyone could leave their cats in a burning building, well, I’m tempted to say they don’t deserve to have cats. I was really shocked to hear that.
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