So perhaps I was being a bit paranoid. Or maybe I was just in need of seeing some pretty faces. I jumped the gun a little bit tonight and called up the FDNY, when it wasn’t entirely necessary.
I was sitting in my bedroom on the computer, trying to fix the internet problems I’ve been having. My room is entirely closed up because the AC is on. On one side of the bedroom is the door to the living room (aka the only fire escape route- the main stairway, roof, and fire escape exits are ALL through that door), and on the opposite side of the bedroom is the bathroom. There’s a window in the bathroom, but it just leads to a small, diamond shaped space between my building and the one next door- 8ft away. Since my bedroom is in the back of the apartment, I’m always terrified that I’m going to not hear all of the commotion of the firemen out front, and get trapped in the back of my apartment as it burns to the ground. There’s really no way out through the bathroom window.
So anyway, I’m sitting there and I heard this really strange noise— an alarm of some sort. It sounded electronic, almost like an alarm clock, so I ignored it. About five minutes later I noticed it was still going off, so I opened the door to the bathroom and instantly smelled smoke. I stuck my head out the window to get a better whiff, and sure enough, a stronger smell of smoke and a much louder alarm. After freaking out for a brief minute, I grabbed my phone and keys, and ran down the stairs to the main floor. A couple of neighbors came out too and asked if everything was okay. They heard the alarm and smelled smoke as well. We got out in front of the building where I proceeded to call 911, while simultaneously trying to hold back the nerve-vomit that I felt was about to exit my stomach. After placing the call, I hung up and started talking to the neighbor sitting on his stoop in the next building over. I asked him if he smelled smoke, and he said “yeah that was us. Trying to cook sausage and failed. I didn’t feel like dealing with that alarm so I came outside.”
I don’t know who should’ve felt more stupid; me for calling the fire department over a sausage fire, or this jerk for leaving a smoldering kitchen and noisy alarm to go sit on the porch and read a magazine. He kind of looked at me like I was a retard though when I told him I called the fire department…
So then I hear sirens blaring, as they come barreling down 2nd avenue, and crowds gather on the streets. As soon as they jumped out, I accidentally (of course), approached the three best looking guys and started telling them everything was okay. Then they directed me to their chief, who seemed less than enthused. Half of the crew went inside to check things out, while the other guys went to question the dude on the porch. He looked at me and shook his head at me again like I was retarded.
So maybe I acted a little prematurely, but when a smoke alarm is going off for five minutes and you smell smoke, your first thought is that there’s a fire in someone’s apartment, and they’re not home. I didn’t want people to die!
So sorry E95th street, for causing another fire scare. Maybe I should move…
