Where there's smoke...

So the Winter Concert concluded, we drove home and then 30 minutes later I caught a glimpse of this outside the girls' bedroom window. Nothing like seeing your street blocked off by multiple firetrucks, people gathering on the sidewalk below to gawk and take pictures, and a ladder extending six stories high right outside your window to make your heart pound a little faster. I quickly ran out the door to see what the heck was going on. The firemen on the roof were able to tell me that there was a large plume of smoke coming out of the trash chute (they originally mentioned the boiler in error) and someone had phoned it in. Then for the next 30-40 minutes there was a lot of waiting and wondering if things were under control or we should start packing up to vacate. Fortunately, I'm not an anxious person because I still had girls to get in bed and dinner to make. So I did. And in the meanwhile, I also took a few photos because, well, that's what I do.

Later, my doorbell rang and it was my corner neighbor letting me know that water was now pouring through the hallway ceiling and wondering if I was affected (I wasn't, thank goodness). But again, seeing it rain in the building and hearing the firemen coming back down from above made me think things could be getting a whole lot worse. But in fact, everything was under control. The water had been used to hose down the trash chute since the compactor was where a small fire originated. We found out today that someone had tossed a cigarette butt in the chute which started the whole thing. Fucking smokers. Ugh. As if I needed another reason to be mad at them. When the girls saw all the water, they were actually a little freaked out, but I assured them that the fire was out and it was REALLY time for bed. And by the time we called lights out, the ladder had rescinded and the trucks were gone.  If I hadn't been so close, I would have thought the lights on this December evening were actually quite festive. But hopefully we won't see them again any time soon.