Fire! Fire Where?? Fire There!!

So Q had to go to work this morning, and I'm laying on the couch watching Cruising. This has got to be one of Al Pacino's finest movies - ever. It's about 9:30 am and I hear our wine cooler making an odd sound and then I smell smoke. So I'm thinking "great. motor's burnt out. where the hell is the Home Depot receipt, how the hell am I going to return it, etc etc."

I pull it a way from the wall, but don't see anything and the smell of smoke isn't any stronger. The cooler is by the door, and on a hunch I open it. Smoke is everywhere, the hallway is filled . I'm only wearing my bathrobe, so I hastily grab the phone, dial 911 and try to get dressed at the same time,

911: Hello 911. Do you need fire, ambulance or police?
ME: FIRE!!
911: Hold on, I'll put you through. Don't hang up.
I get passed on to someone else
911: What seems to be the problem?
ME: Well, I am on the second floor and my hallway is filled with smoke!
911: OK, well we have someone on the way. Please go out and pull the fire alarm.
ME: I'm not going back out there! It's filled with smoke!
911: OK then, well someone is on the way.

Gee thanks a lot. So then my mind starts going over what to do in case of a fire:

Towel at base of door - check.
Keep all windows and doors shut - check.

My apt is still filling up with smoke and the alarm starts going off. I start on Mission: Find and catch the freaked out cats. I also call Q and let him know that the building is burning down. He stays calm and tells me to get the cats and if worse comes to worse I can climb down the balcony. Of course I know this already, but what the hell else is he going to tell me when he's an hour a way???

Eventually I catch both traumatized cats and shove them in their kennel, get my coat, shoes, cell phone, keys, ipod and camera (funny what becomes important), take a deep breath to hold while running down the hall and open the door -

Most of the smoke is gone, the door to the old man's apt across the hall is open and firemen and police are there talking to him. Turns out he set his kitchen on fire, but everything's ok now and I can go back inside.

And to answer everyone's first question: I don't know if the firemen were hot. They were all dressed up in layers of clothes, most had their backs turned to me and the one I did speak to was quite dismissive. I was also a little freaked out too. I wish I knew.

So I let the kitties out, opened all the windows and went outside for a walk. Called Bruce, let him know everything was OK, went to Tim Horton's, got my green tea and sat and listened to my ipod for a while until I had calmed down.

So much for a restful, relaxing Saturday morning.