MM,
Summer is now upon us – more for some than others apparently.
I woke up today around noon to the fire alarm blaring and someone yelling from outside, “If anyone has a cell phone, call 911. Your building’s on fire.” I quickly got dressed, went out on the balcony and looked up to see smoke rising from the top. A huge cloud of dark grey smoke. Wondering what to do I came back inside and looked around for my three cats. In the distance, the sound of the sirens from fire trucks came closer. I went back outside again to see a fire marshal checking the building and heard her yell, “You got flame.” Lucky for me, she saw me watching her and waved at me to get out of the building. So I darted back inside and grabbed one cat (Dove), put him in the carrier, grabbed another one (the littlest female, Pixie), put her in the carrier with her dad, and tried to get the last one, Poupon. Of course she was non-cooperative. I chased her out from under the bed, but she jumped on the window sill and then onto my desk shelves. By this time, I could already smell the smoke from the fire 6 floors above. Not sure how long it would take to get her to cooperate and not quite sure how fast the fire might spread, I had to leave her and after closing the balcony door, quickly left the apartment with the other two cats in the carrier.
I took the stairway down of course. Only two flights, lucky me being on the third floor. I was about to head out the back door, but noticed charred pieces of whatever lying on the ground outside and no firepeople there. I quickly turned and went the other way out the front door. Walked over to the sidewalk to rest a bit and get my bearings. Then one of the firemen came over and asked that I move to the other side. I quickly mentioned I had one more cat in my apartment.
Once across the street to a safe spot, I put the carrier down and checked on the two cats inside. They weren’t happy but they were safe. Feeling bad about leaving my other cat inside still, I looked at the building carefully. It looked like the fire hadn’t spread very far (it was on the top floor and as everyone knows fire tends to rise), so chances are with the firepeople here so fast it wouldn’t get to the third floor where my poor Poupon was likely cowering under the bed telling herself to find a “happy place”. Still, I felt bad about leaving her behind.
(Incidentally, one girl was standing on her 7th floor balcony still. She didn’t look panicked, but apparently she needed help getting out as she appeared a few minutes later escorted by two firemen who quickly got her on a stretcher and into a standing ambulance. Aside from coughing and probably being in a mental shock, she appeared to be fine.)
Next, I called Nathan at his work. I figured he probably would want to know what was going on. By this time, it looked as if the fire was being contained. The dark grey smoke dissipated and it looked as if a few firepeople came back down already. I told Nathan what was happening and that it looked like everything was fine, but I was feeling a bit nervous. Being the sweetheart that he is, he decided to come back and comfort me.
I told him that I left Poupon upstairs and was feeling bad about it. Of course he being rational said she’s probably okay. The fire didn’t spread down. Granted I knew this, but still it felt better to hear it from someone else. Eventually, some of the fire trucks started to head out. So, about an hour after leaving my apartment people started heading back into the building. Nathan and I followed suit. On the way in, just in front of the main doors was charred remains of what was once a stove and oven. Speculating has it that someone left the stove on with something on the burner. That someone is not going to have a nice time coming home later. What a mess! One would hope most of the damage was smoke damage and none of their personal stuff got barbecued.
Once Nathan and I got upstairs, I sent him to check on Poupon who was of course still under the bed and I let the other two cats out of the carrier. Dove decided he wanted to check out the place to make sure things were okay. I don’t think he quite realizes that there was a fire 6 floors up. Pixie however is a bit traumatized. She decided jumping up on the kitchen cabinets into the top corner would be safe for her. As I type, I believe she is still there. Not only was there this awful noise earlier, but I had to pick her up and shuffle her into the carrier and take her outside. Still feeling bad about not being able to get Poupon out, but at least I know now she’s okay.
There are some remarkable “coincidences” (btw, I don’t really believe in coincidences) surrounding this event today. One, summer solstice was on Tuesday and I lit some candles that night since I could not make it out to Sabbat in the park. Two, we are celebrating the Sabbat tonight with my study group. Three, Nathan was just writing on his blog about Chinese mythology of foxes and fire maybe an hour before the fire started . Seems that maybe there’s just too much energy going on about Sun and fire today.
Maybe it’s time for some water energy, at least enough to balance the fire energy.
Brigid, goddess of healing springs and well, I petition you today for some cooling healing water energy!
BB,
Cassandrah
Your local webmistress
http://www.brigidsflame.com/
P.S. Life lesson for today: pet owners, especially cat owners, should definitely have a plan to save your precious four-footed friends!
