The unit one level below mine and one unit over caught fire last night (there are four condos that share any entryway). No one was hurt. I only have some smoke damage in my unit - my neightbors across the hall are in much worse shape, and of course the condo where the fire started is bad. It started in the living room and was not electical; the fire chief said the couch and chair were on fire - we think it was the owner’s boyfriend’s cigar, as he always seems to be smoking them.
I took my dog with me, but had to leave the cats inside as I had no idea where they were. Shitty alarm system, that’s for sure - the only reason I even woke up is that my dog was barking because he heard the common hallway alarm and/or the buzzer, and he barked and woke me up.
I’m still pretty shaky.
Ugh, that happened to me over two years ago - the apartment immediately next to ours caught on fire. Thank goodness for concrete firewalls; ours was completely unscathed. What woke us up wasn’t the alarm but the hysterical screaming of a woman outside. She wasn’t from the apartment in question but the one on the other side of us, so she was just being panicky for no good reason.
We pulled on pants and coats, grabbed keys, wallets, and cell phones, and moved our ferrets’ cage out as a precaution. It was freaky but the firemen were there quickly, and took care of the situation.
What disturbed me the most, probably, was the behavior of two people who were apparently staying with/visiting the couple who lived in that apartment - they were laughing like it was some kind of joke, while the residents just looked stunned. I believe it was a smoking materials incident; my husband thought that the two laughers might be on drugs. (I don’t care how good of a friend they are; any friend of mine laughing while my apartment burns is going to get beat up.)
Fires are very scary. In my old 'hood a decrepit house that was home to a family of troublemakers burned down. Though no one was hurt and we were thrilled that the psychos left the area, I still felt sad to watch this huge old house go up in flames.
How scary, porc.
I’m glad you’re ok. One of my biggest fears is a fire while I’m sleeping.
It’s one of mine now, too. I’m a horrible insomniac as it is, and now I think it will be worse.
I’m hoping the insurance assessor can come out today. Everything here is covered with a thin layer of soot, and I want everything made of fabric in the living room and dining room (where the smoke came in) to be professionally cleaned. The front part of my condo still reeks of smoke.
This sucks, but it could be much worse.
How odd, after just hearing the story of the apartment building fire experience by Misery’s Company!
Glad nothing too terrible happened to you.
Go buy more smoke alarms; it’s peace of mind!
So sorry to hear that, porcupine! We recently had a fire in our apartment building too. (See Screw you, mystery pyromaniac!)
Our fire happened at 1:30 in the morning on April 21 and it knocked out all the power in our building. As of today, we are STILL living in a hotel. (Although they tell us the power is back up today so we might get to go back in the next day or so, as long as they replace our front door which the firemen broke in after I so nicely left it unlocked!)
It’s pretty scary, and the first week or so I kept waking up in the night being afraid of a fire. I couldn’t get the smell out of my nose for a while but it’s better now. Funny thing is that our fire alarm didn’t go off either. In fact, nobody’s fire alarm went off until later, when everyone was already out of the building and the firemen were already there.
The worst part of our fire is that is was not accidental. It has been confirmed as arson. That keeps me up at nights still…thinking, what did this guy have against us? Why did he pick our building, our street? What did we ever do? The police & fire chief won’t tell us anything, so we have no idea if they’ve caught him or if they came up with any kind of a motive…it’s hard not knowing.
Anyway, glad you & your loved ones are ok.
How scary! Your pup deserves an extra milk-bone from now on.
I’m glad you’re okay- wanna come vacation in Austin til your place is fixed up? 
Ugh.
The fire cleanup/restoration people were here yesterday. The cleanup will be much more extensive than I thought - every single thing in my condo needs to be cleaned, and the living room and dining room need to be repainted. This would normally take about 6 to 8 business days. However, before they can start the cleanup, they have to do demolition in the unit that had the fire to remove all the burned drywall and other crap, and clean the hallway. If they clean it now, anytime the door to the hallway is opened, soot and debris will get in. So I may be out of here for a month or so. I’ll be staying at a hotel the next few days, then they are setting me up in a furnished corporate apartment until I can move back in.
The upside is that when I move back in, this place will be cleaner than it ever has been.
That totally sucks. I know it was weeks, and a new apartment before I slept through the night after our fire last fall. Good thing you had insurance though! And they are right, if they start before the “damage” is cleaned out, your stuff will always smell like fire. Good luck! I know it’s hard. And the puppy should definately get extra treats… My cat woke me up - and she still gets Whiskas flavor pouches every day.
Well the first thing I did when I went home after reading this last night was check out the smoke detector in my apartment, I found it did not have a battery in it, so I remedied that pronto.
The important thing is that you and Giz and the cats are ok…and it gives you an excuse to stay at someone elses house for a while…I wonder if anyone will volunteer for that (someone closer then Saph that is) :D.
Take care, and hope things aren’t going too bad.
Keith
Well, with lots of help from UncleBeer, I got the cats to my parents’ house, the dog crate and other stuff to the hotel (the dog is currently here at the condo with me), and now I’m going to schedule pre-payment for all of my bills for the next several weeks. Then I’m going to sort through clothes so they can clean the stuff I’ll need over the next month first.
Fun way to spend the holiday.
Just a quick update while I borrow my friends’ computer.
I should be moving into a temporary apartment (2 BR, garage, internet connection, allows pets) very soon. I’m going to check the place out and with any luck, it will be satisfactory, and I’ll be able to move in over the weekend or Monday at the latest. So next week I should have some degree of normalcy in my life.
There’s a giant dumpster in the driveway at the condo, so I’m taking this as a positive sign that demolition on the unit where the fire was will begin soon.