Fire

I woke up at 6:30 this morning, looked at the clock, and wondered why I was up. I smelled something that was reminiscent of wax melting, but I didn't know what it was. I padded into the bathroom since I was up anyway. Walking back into the bedroom and laying down, I realized I could still smell the wax or whatever it was. So I got back up and started walking around, trying to figure out what it was. I could smell it in the bedroom and bathroom but not in the living room. I started to think maybe I was going crazy, but I decided to be safe and wake up Matthew. He said he smelled it to and jumped out of bed to investigate. (Matthew never jumps out of bed for anything.) After a briefly walking around the condo, Matthew threw clothes on to investigate the stairwell. I started to get a little frightened at that point and pulled on my own clothes and shoes, and stuffed my phone and wallet into my pockets. When Matthew came back in from the stairwell, he seemed convinced that the smell was coming from outside, out the back, not the front stairwell. Our back porch is being rebuilt, and our back door is boarded up, but we can still open our inside door to see out the back door a bit. As soon as Matthew opened the door, he yelped, "there's a fire out there" and grabbed his cell phone to call 911. I could see the sparks and could see that the fire didn't seem to be moving too quickly, so I ran to get the cat's crates, which haven't been out in a year or more. Matthew went outside to meet the firemen, and I could already hear the sirens in the distance. I guess our condo insurance company knew what they were doing when they gave us a discount for being within a mile of the fire department. I opened the crates and put them on the floor, but all of my calling "Treats! Okay, time for treats," was in vain. The kitties were firmly planted under the bed and would not budge. By this point I could hear movement outside and could see that the sparks were dying down. Matthew called to tell me that they had it under control and not to worry about waking the neighbors. I did try to call the condo board president, but no one answered at his unit. When Matthew got back upstairs, I was crying. It seemed unreal that Matthew would have to deal with fire twice in five years. Everything we had experienced then came rushing back at me. The thought of losing our kitties the way Matthew lost his was just overwhelmingly sad. I guess I've always known that in a fire the chances of saving the kitties would be slim, but I had hoped that training them to come for food and treats might help in this kind of situation. I don't know if they could smell it too, or if they were just freaked out by us freaking out and stomping around the condo.

Everyone and everything is okay, as far as I can tell. The fire never made it up close to our unit, and there was never any major smoke for anyone to inhale. I'd like to think that even if I had dismissed my concern and gone back to sleep that someone would have noticed before we were totally at risk, but I don't know that for sure. I'm just glad I thought to check it out and that Matthew didn't think I was being silly when I woke him.

UPDATE: Apparently, it was a work light that was left plugged in and hanging from a metal fence with plastic slats woven into it.  The rain must have cause the light to short out and spark, melting the plastic and catching fire to the vines on the fence. The wood post of the fence was blackened, but I don't think it was ever actually on fire. If the fire had gone untended, the flames may have reached the porch. Our neighbor called 911 right after we did, so the fire probably would have been put out in time even if the melting plastic hadn't woken me up. Thank makes me feel somewhat better. The contractors will be replacing the melted plastic slats and anything else that was affected.