Went to the Family Christmas at my sister’s house last night, came home with my other sister’s old (1 year old) computer as a gift.
This morning I’m sleeping in and awake at 9:46am to the sound of the VERY LOUD fire alarms going off in our building.
I throw on clothing and set out in the hall. No smoke, no panicky neighbors. I step inside and look out the windows. No one in the parking lot, no visible smoke.
So I take a very quick shower, at the end of which I hear some of my neighbors evacuating the building. OH SHIT. I look outside and there are still no emergency vehicles (at this end of the building), BUT several of my neighbors are now standing in the parking lot. There is now a small amount of smoke in our hall.
I dig out my cat carrier and throw my cat into into it, throw on my coat and go out to see what is going on.
ohshitohshitohshit. I don’t want to be homeless on Christmas day. I don’t want to lose everything I have in a fire because some stupid motherfucker started their apartment on fire on Christmas day. I’ve lost enough recently, this would just be the topper of all.
On the floor below me, I find the fire department coming out of one of the apartments which would be just on the other side of the stairs that my apartment is next to. They had a grease fire in their kitchen. It is out now and the fire department is preparing to vent the halls.
My Security training kicks in. I walk the third floor halls (where I live) and check around. Since they’re only venting the second floor, so I go to the far end where the laundry room is, prop open the door and open the exterior window. I go down and inform the fire department, which comes up and blows out our hall too. When they open the doors blowing in, the smoke blows down toward the laundry room like a solid cloud bank…and is gone.
All done, I go do some laundry to calm down.
