Fire

At 3:30 AM this morning, I was wakened by my apartment-mate, Jon with a call of, “Fire!” Primarily in a state of delirium at the time, I fell out of bed only to become painfully aware that I was wearing not a shred of clothing and that I could see an orange flicker through the blinds over my window. Donning the only appropriate garment I could manage to operate, my well worn, blue bathrobe, I spent a frantic thirty seconds locating my keys before jumping into my sandals and dashing toward the front door.

The apartment complex directly adjacent to mine was shooting flames from its top floor and roof. The brilliant orange glow suffused the surrounding area, as neighbors emerged from their homes in various states of consciousness. Jon emerged from the apartment, fully dressed, a few moments after me and we both crossed the street to watch the nightmare unfold. Firetrucks had already begun to arrive, but despite their reassuring presence, I was worried that the flames would jump ship and ignite our roof. A small pile of burning debris landed right outside my bedroom window.

At this point, I was substantially more awake than I had been in my room and I was beginning to wish I had had the wherewithal to grab some of my more expensive possessions. But it was far too late for me to even consider venturing back in even if the pile of burning rubble hadn't been so dangerously close to my window.

Two hours and much shivering later, the fire was extinguished with only smoke remaining. The nine firetrucks that had gathered were all still there, complimented by the Red Cross van that had showed up. I was still in my bathrobe, desperately trying to figure out if I could get back in my apartment, which was blessedly unharmed.

I want to say that the whole thing changed my perspective or something like that, but all I can really think about is how glad I am that it didn't happen to me. You see disasters in movies and watch how the actors respond to them and you think that if something like that happened to you, you'd be selfless and strong. But the reality is that humans are selfish bastards. Or at least I am.

I do feel bad. I had a friend who lived in the complex and most of his belongings are probably burnt or waterlogged. I can't imagine what he's going through.

For now, I'm going to try and get through the day and thank whatever beneficent forces saw fit to stop the fire two feet from my window.

Lyrinoir