The area we live in is pretty rural. One time someone here asked me where I was from most recently. I told her I went to BYU out in Utah. "Oh, this must be a big city to you then!" I couldn't help but to laugh and I think she was a little offended so I quickly stopped laughing and explained that I've been in bigger cities before. (It makes me wonder what they think of Utah!)
It seems to me that smaller areas tend to make a larger fuss over some things.
For example, while I was comfortably resting in bed this morning trying to convince myself that I was still asleep and really didn't need to get up (it was still relatively early and the alarm hadn't gone off yet) I heard a loud wham-wham-wham at the front door. I closed my eyes and hoped it was the mail man just dropping off a box and he would just knock and leave the box so that I wouldn't have to get out of bed.
Loud knocking again. This meant it was probably the managers coming around to fix something and if you don't come to the door after they knock a few times they'll open it for you. (Which could be a little startling if you are still in your pj's!) There hadn't been any notices about fixing things but I didn't want to take my chances so I quickly threw on some clothes and went to the door. As I got near I could hear a smoke alarm going off next door and someone yelling something about a furnace. Suddenly all of those things you learn about fires safety flashed through my mind. Nope the doorknob wasn't hot. Good sign. When I opened the door a large waft of smoke smacked me in the face and I (so intelligently) asked the manager "so, I need to get out?" I quickly threw on some shoes and grabbed my coat and a purse and headed downstairs.
By the time everyone arrived there were 4 fire trucks and a police car, which is a lot of vehicles parked in front of an apartment complex. Our neighbors are two single girls and one of them had left candles burning all night long on a plastic surface underneath their curtains. The other roommate had seen the curtains on fire in the morning and had put the fire out and called 911. So, there's a slightly burnt plastic smell still hanging in the air in our apartment but the firemen brought in a large fan for the stairwell, so it's going away. I hope for their sake that our neighbors apartment airs out quickly too...burnt plastic is awful!
I must say, I was impressed to see all those trucks and firemen in their full gear. I felt just a little sorry for trucks 3 & 4....they didn't get to get out any of their cool equipment! Why do they send 4 trucks anyway? Oh well, I guess it's better to have them and not need them then to need them and not have them (to paraphrase a mom proverb). Someone speculated that this would make the news too...we'll see. I'm wondering if they'll put an apartment wide ban on candles now. That would be okay with me!
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6 comments:
Oh my. I'm glad that for all that smoke and all those fire engines, there wasn't too much damage. I hope it smells better soon!
Wow! That's a lot of excitement for a morning. Glad everything's ok--except for the smell.
I, too hope the smell has relented. Burned plastic is aweful! I'm glad things ended up ok in the end. Did the story really make it to the news?
(by the way it's only 10:30 where I live.)
Wow. I hope you enjoyed the excitement. I am very glad you were safe and even had time to get your purse and shoes. When we were in the earthquake, we did not even grab our keys.
I prefer your approach to replacing the inadequate curtains to your neighbors' response. More SRC points, less drama, smaller lingering smell factor, minimal fallout with the neighbors ...
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