Why I Did Not Knit Last Night

It’s never good when the fire alarm goes off, as it did in my condo building late yesterday afternoon shortly after I got home. The fire engines showed up.

When I opened my front door and saw smoke, I immediately bundled Lucy into her carrier and left the building. It was tricky, because the stairwell closest to my condo was too filled with smoke to use, so I ran to the end of the building and found a less smoky stairwell and got out through the garage (which is above-ground and connected to the end of the building via three walkways at different floors).

It quickly got dark. Here’s the scene outside:

There were 8 – 10 fire engines plus other assorted emergency vehicles. A condo on the 2nd floor was on fire (I live on the 10th floor) — the fire department put a ladder up to it and broke out the windows to get in. All very dramatic!

They very quickly put out the fire, but of course were here for hours, ensuring that all was safe.

They blocked off my street completely, so I couldn’t leave, so I popped Miss Lucy, in her carrier, in my car, because it was getting pretty cold outside.

All’s well that ends well. The condo was empty, so no one was injured or killed. But I wonder how the fire started in an empty condo — that’s a cause for concern, I think. The fire inspectors are supposed to come today to investigate, so we should have some answers soon.

Here’s what the burned out condo looks like this morning:

And outside, you can see where they boarded up the windows they broke out.

The building is a mess. Soot tracked over carpet and water damage, etc. All the common areas reek of smoke, but fortunately I have no smoke smell in my condo. I, of course, had not turned on the heat, so no recirculated air from within the building. I had the windows open and fans going all night and got up this morning to a nice clean smoke-free condo. Oh, and I got the temperature in here below 71 degrees!

Miss Lucy is perfectly fine. She was upset when I stuffed her in her carrier, but as soon as she figured out that she wasn’t going to the vet, she just snuggled down on her little shearling mat in the carrier and waited. When I came back in and let her out, she went into the kitchen, ate some food, and threw herself down on the floor to wash her paws. No smell of smoke in her fur at all, but I reeked of it. I guess the carrier protected her while we were going through the smoke.

Lucy sez:

“I’m fine. What’s the big deal?”

She’s a little trooper. But I stayed home from work today, partly to keep an eye on her and partly because I’m dealing with some minor smoke inhalation. But I’m perfectly fine too!