Saturday Night

It had been a long day, and we had just gone to bed. I turned on the tv and thought I could hear a beeping noise. It just so happend I was synchronizing the mute button with the fired detectors beeping at the very moment it was between beeps. It only took a few more seconds before we realized that someone's fire alarm was going off in the building. Jokingly I told A.M. to take the fire extinguisher with him (our own 2pounder). As soon as he opened the door to the apartment, he could see fire through the crack at the top of the doorway of the apartment across the hall from us. Everything happened in slow motion, but this lasted only minutes.

Apartment door being opened, flames seemingly everywhere (in the end it was contained to the sofabed), calling 911, woman being pulled out, running from floor to floor trying to evacuate other tenants, police arriving, somehow finding the same woman on the 1st floor, trying to get her to talk, police questions, fire department running up the stairs with hoses, not being able to find A.M. or getting tenants to leave their apartments, in my mind it was a little chaotic. Spending 45 min outside in the cold, fire trucks, police, ambulances everywhere. Street closed off. Picture taking.

In the time it took me to run through the building 3 times to get everyone out, AM had extinguished the fire, with 2 extinguishers (injuring his hand when he smashed through the plexiglass), carried her out of the apartment into the hall, and then down two flights of stairs to the first floor.

Summary, don't drink and do drugs while smoking while you're coming in and out of consciousness with candles lit.

Things that freaked me out about the night:
1. We weren't supposed to be home at that time, and no one else on our floor was home either
2. We could have come home to absolutely nothing.
3. This is the third time, we've come to the same woman's assistance. (First time, she was passed out and locked inside while her dog was panic barking. Second time, she was passed out while her entire apartment filled with smoke from a burnt out pot. And this last time, she set her mother's apartment on fire). Its just getting worse and worse. What's next?

This is how I remember the 911 call I made:
911: 911, fire, ambulance or police
me: FIRE FIRE, THERE IS A FIRE AT ----------
911: Is it in your apartment?
me: (how does she know its an apartment?) NO
911: Which apartment is it?
me: ACROSS THE HALL!
911: Which apartment NUMBER is it?
me: I don't know (why don't I know this?) IT'S THE TOP FLOOR BACK APARTMENT TO THE RIGHT.
911: Is there anyone in there?
me: YES...NO, he got her out and she's laying in the hallway.
All the while putting on my coat, grabbing any valuables I could see and dumping them into my purse.

AM must be this lady's guardian angel!