Exciting Start to the Weekend

It’s 2:45 AM and the firemen left my apartment about 30 minutes ago. I was sound asleep when the building alarm went off, but I quickly grabbed my shoes, coat and purse. I paused at the door to slip my shoes on and heard my neighbor’s door open and slam closed. I opened my door to leave and quickly slammed it shut as the hallway was filled with white smoke. I left my door unlocked and went out on to the balcony to call the fire department.
I called 911 and told them there was a fire in my building and I couldn’t get out. The dispatcher transferred me to the fire department. When I repeated that there appeared to be a fire in my building and my hallway was filled with smoke she asked if I was the same person who had just called. I assured her that I was not and gave her my apartment number and she told me to stay where I was and hung up.

Meanwhile, the 2AM drunk crowd had begun to merge with the crowd of my evacuated neighbors down below. The late night party people just getting home from the bars mingled with those who had thrown on coats over their PJs. They were all looking up at the building and a few started pointing to me. I yelled down to some them that the hallway was full of smoke and I couldn’t get out. They told me to lie down on the ground. As the smoke had only entered my apartment from the brief time I had the door cracked open and I was standing in the cold clear air on the balcony, this didn’t make much sense to me, but I sat down anyway. When the fire trucks started arriving some of the crowd cheered – I’m not sure if it was the drunks happy for another distraction, or my neighbors happy that the fire department was here.

I watched from my balcony, shivering as the firemen got suited up and headed out of my line of sight. More firemen rolled out large hoses from one of the smaller trucks and attached them to the valve on the side of the building. I was more than a little anxious, but they had obviously seen me up on the balcony and didn’t seem to be overly concerned. I started to wonder, “Are they going to have to get the ladder out to rescue me? What about the rest of the people on my floor? Why the hell didn’t I buy rental insurance? When will they turn off the alarm?”

A group of three firemen came through my apartment door – axes and hoses over the shoulder and everything. They asked if there was a fire in the apartment and when I told them no, they said to stay out on the balcony, they hadn’t found anything yet. They left and I opened the living room windows and closed the bedroom door trying to vent the smoke that had come into the apartment. The firemen came back once to check on me and said I wasn’t in any danger. The next time they came back they said it appeared to have been arson. I thought they meant that someone had lit a fire in the hallway, but quickly realized that some idiot had set off the huge industrial fire extinguisher in the hallway. What I thought was smoke was just the dry-chemical fire extinguisher, but it was everywhere. Since the firemen had opened my door several times to look for a problem and then check on me, there was already dry-chemical residue in my apartment so they decided to go ahead and vent the rest of it out through my living room. They had me stay out on the balcony and opened my apartment door to the hallway to vent everything out through my livingroom windows.

The firemen checked to make sure my breathing was fine and told me the chemical was an irritant, but wouldn’t make me sick. They stayed and chatted with me for a few minutes. Apparently my balcony is also an ideal place to be in the event of a real fire where I can’t get out - good to know, but I hope I don’t need to use it. They told me to call the apartment management and get them to send someone in to clean my apartment as EVERYTHING is now coated in a fine white dry-chem film. They then apologized and said they hoped they hadn’t ruined my night. I thought that was kind of funny and told them I was just happy we weren’t on fire and thanked them for their help!

The residue is not too bad in the bedroom as I had the door closed, but the livingroom/kitchen/bath are covered in dust and I can feel in on my skin, hair and clothes – blah. I will have an interesting weekend trying to clean it all up as I am not too sure my apartment management will be of any help.