Fire! Fire! Fire!

If it's not a guy falling down 16 floors to his death, it's a fire breaking out in my building! Yup, just when I thought things were settling back to almost normal, I received another shocker! :(

It was around 7.45pm and I was vacuuming in my bedroom. I was already exhausted from cleaning the whole afternoon and the bedroom was the last place left to clean. B was not back from work yet and I was rushing to finish vacuuming before he arrived home. I switched off the vacuum cleaner to take a short break and was wiping the sweat that was trickling furiously down my forehead when I heard some loud voices outside my front door. I could also hear people running outside and as I ventured nearer to open the door, I heard the words "Fire! Fire! Get out of the building"!

Panicking, I frantically searched for my HP to call B and let him know what was going on. In my panic, I dialled the wrong number and was about to start all over again when my phone rang and it was B on the other end! Apparently, my neighbour DD had tried calling me on my HP but the noisy sound of my vacuum cleaner drowned out her call! So she called B and he told her that he was outside but I'm stuck at home. Being the wonderful caring friend that she is, DD told B not to worry and she would get me out of my unit!

My thoughts immediately turned to my 3 kitty cats, whatever will I do with them? Do I bring them out with me? I have three cats and Benji isn't exactly light in weight. Could I manage on my own? I instantly remembered confidently telling LJ when she faced a similar incident that if a fire ever breaks out in my building, I'd be able to easily save my cats by throwing them down the balcony since we're on the first floor. That was NOT going to happen of course, there was simply no time and besides, who was going to catch them from down below? DD was already banging on my door so I rushed to open it. I could see smoke wafting through the hallway and DD was with her maid and baby Ali. She told me to hurry and get out, there's a fire ON MY FLOOR!! Now that was new info but it did nothing to assuage my fears!

I asked DD about her cats and she said they were all in her unit. I had no time to waste so I grabbed Phoebe who was the only one on the loose (Benji and Chubbs were already inside their "condo") and quickly pushed her inside to be with her brothers. I switched off the nearest lights and electrical appliances, then rushed out the door with DD! We ran back up to her floor, which is directly above mine, trying to look for her hubby Helmy who by then, had gone MIA. We heard more commotion going on downstairs so we decided to head out ourselves. We ran down two flights of stairs, out the emergency door and into the pool garden, where many people had already gathered. Everyone was in panic, waiting for the firemen to arrive and I could see people asking one another what had happened.

Apparently the fire broke out in a unit facing one that belongs to a mutual friend of DD and me. So she was also downstairs and her husband was MIA too. We figured both DD's hubby and hers were still upstairs, helping control the fire before help arrived. A lady had her kitty cat in a carrier and that reminded me of my 3 cats inside my home. Were they afraid? Did they know what was going on? Will the fire spread to my unit? All sorts of crazy thoughts were running through my mind and I was also so very thirsty from the vacuuming and the burning heat outside. In my hurry to leave my unit, I even forgot to grab my handbag, which had my wallet inside, so I could not even buy a drink! :(

There was really nothing much we could do but wait around downstairs, watching the smoke coming out from the first floor balcony of the unfortunate unit. The only thing I had with me was my HP which I used to take some pictures of the fire. Unfortunately it was dark outside and the pictures turned out terrible. This is the only one I could salvage and it came from DD's phone.


From mingling with strangers and neighbours, who in a moment of emergency, had come together to offer support by talking and sharing information, we found out that the family whose unit was on fire, had just moved in several weeks back. They even had an interior decorator come over to decorate their new home, only to have this happened!

B had arrived by then and according to him, when he first saw me in the crowd, I was happily smiling and taking pictures! LOL! It's not that I was happily taking pictures, I was merely capturing the moment, which I'm sure he would appreciate later when he looks back at the pictures after the smoke clears up, pun intended! ;)

The firemen arrived almost 15 minutes after the fire broke out and Helmy found us a few minutes later. Poor Ali was already sleeping in his mommy's arms, unperturbed at the chaos surrounding us. We were right about Helmy's whereabouts; he was one of the men helping to control the fire before the firemen arrived. He told us the unit was totally drenched and smoky and apparently the fire started from a leaky gas tank or hose connected to the gas stove. Mr. Fireman later confirmed this for us. Apparently, one of the house occupants was cooking when the fire broke out and she immediately ran out for help. The fire must have spread quite fast too since smoke could be seen and smelled throughout my entire floor.

By the time the firemen had things under control, it was almost 10pm. B and I went back upstairs to our unit once it was safe to go back inside. We stopped over the now burnt unit to check out the damage and were horrified to see the living room all black and wet. There was still a little bit of smoke in the corridor, which was also wet and dirty with debris. We slowly made our way back to our unit, a little shaken but glad that nobody was harmed in this incident. My kitties were safe and sound as well and I immediately let them out from their "condo" and comforted them with fresh food and water.

I'm just glad the fire didn't spread elsewhere and no fatality occurred. I'd also like to take this post to thank DD and Helmy for being such great friends and neighbours to B and me! Thank you for always looking out for us, yours truly especially. You guys always have us in mind in good times and in bad times. Even though she didn't have to, DD went out of her way to come and get me since she knew I was home alone. If it weren't for her, I'd still be panicking inside my unit not knowing what to do! So thank you dear, we love you guys! :)

Well, that was another "exciting" episode from the diary of Mariuca. Although I am currently swamped with work, I've decided to put off everything for tonight. All we want to do right now is forget all the bad incidents that have somehow managed to creep their way into our much sheltered life for the past few weeks and just sit back, relax and spend some time with each other. Thank you for reading peeps and good night!