Yesterday started out as a normal day... I got up and got ready for work. Pat was there to pick me up. Got to work early so I had everything ready to go. And now that I'm not smoking I don't need as much time and don't feel as rushed. Then I did my worst call evaluation ever... of a senior agent. Didn't really start the work day off well. Then it was off to a team meeting.... that ended up being a war. Somehow it took me until 5:00 to present that ACE. I really didn't have time to help other teams today. But hey... we met our mandate :o) Took calls... and then went home after work. It was a little more stressful then other days but it had still been pretty routine. I got home and flipped on the TV. Was watching TV and playing on the Net. I was actually planning to go to bed around 1:00... In hindsight it's a good thing I didn't go to bed.
At 3:30 in the morning the fire alarm went off. Now that happened a few times at Times Square and was always a false alarm. I always went outside since I lived on the second floor. Here, it was actually a bigger decision. I figured it was just a false alarm with someone pulling the switch... or burning toast or something. So at first I was just wandering aimlessly and debating whether or not to go outside. I even realized that I could hide in my room and wouldn't hear the alarm. Hence the reason I said it was a good thing I hadn't gone to bed. I stepped out on the balcony to see if I could see anything. And as soon as I looked to the left I saw the rising smoke and it only looked like it was a floor, maybe two beneath me. Then I heard someone yell that there really was a fire. So I grabbed my cell phone, keys, PDA and MacBook since they were all in the path to the door and headed out. I didn't even lock the door since I knew I would be fighting with the door. By the time I reached the third floor I was inhaling smoke so I was trying to breathe as little as possible the rest of the way. I get outside joining other people milling around. Then we all headed across the street, away from the burning building.
One of the first things I thought about was the fact that I don't have insurance. Recently I had been thinking about getting apartment insurance but I don't currently have the $30/month I would need to insure it. My second thought was that Azrael was still in the building. I'm a control freak so not knowing anything really didn't help me. Someone said they thought it was the garbage cans out back... or from the garbage chute. That made me feel a little better... but I'm not sure that explained why at the far side of the building, away from the garbage area I was inhaling smoke 3 floors up...
Someone was calling the fire department right after I got out the door and they were already on their way. Next thing I know there are 3 fire trucks, a couple of ambulances and a number of police cars arriving on the scene. It actually got up to 3 fire trucks, 4 ambulances and 6 police cars.... not including whatever was at the front of the building. The paramedics were handing out th emergency blankets to people that were cold. Fortunately I was out there in a sweatshirt and track pants so I wasn't too bad. Could've used a jacket though since it was lightly raining.
I felt pretty alone and isolated standing on the other side of the street watching the paramedics treating people for smoke inhalation, and the fire department trying to put out the fire. Most people had family out there with them... or their pets.... or friends. I had no one... and Azrael was stuck in the building. Mind you a complete stranger offered me a place to sleep since we were not getting back in the building any time soon. It really is amazing how some people really pull together when something happens. I turned them down since I wanted to make sure Azrael was okay.
I remember looking up at the windows at one point and saw a child's face looking out the window. My heart actually sank at that point. I didn't know if there was a need to be concerned but didn't like the possibility of someone being trapped in the building, especially a child.
Now an hour later I was starting to think I should've taken them up on the offer. I had taken my sleeping pills at 2 am so I just wanted to crawl into bed. I kept thinking that if it was just the garbage then we shouldn't be out there all that long. At 4:30 I was being a smartass and thinking that in the movies the fire department always puts out a fire a lot faster. At about the same time I heard that it was going to be a lot longer before we could go back into the building. A lot of people knew people in one of the other buildings so it cleared out quite a bit. There were only a few people waiting around at the back of the building.
I ended up calling Steve and asked him to pick me up. I didn't want to... but I also didn't want to end up being outside for a few more hours waiting. At this point I have no idea how extensive the damage is. They were trying to clear the smoke out of the building. I walked down to Macs and Steve picked me up there. I was able to get a few hours of shuteye. Steve went by the apartment first thing in the morning and made sure it was locked. The super had gone by and locked all the apartments.
When I came back here it was immediately clear that it was worse then I originally thought. People were saying the fire was out back. I came up to the front door and into the lobby. There was pretty extensive smoke damage. They were working on the floors. The walls were all black. The panel with the buttons for the elevator had been removed. I got off the elevator on the 5th floor and they had blowers in the hallway to get rid of the smoke. You could still smell it in the building. Azrael was a little pissed with me for leaving him. Fortunately, I was high enough that my apartment wasn't affected. But I am still trying to relax now and that is a bit of a challenge.
I was talking to mom earlier today. She asked me if I had grabbed my wallet and my jacket on the way out the door. I was pretty much ready for bed when the alarm went off. It took me about 5 minutes or so to even realize there really was a fire. So, at that point, the last thing I was thinking of was that I should grab money and a jacket to stay dry. I just wanted to get the hell out of the building. I don't even think I followed half the safety rules before I left the building. Well I did check the door handle... but didn't look out the peephole to see if there was any smoke in the hallway. Then I just ran down the stairs to the first floor. Everything turned out okay but I am not sure that I am really going to be relaxed and enjoying my time off work.
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