A little while back I was standing in my housecoat one Sunday morning as I shaved in front of the bathroom mirror. Suddenly, a steady sound pierced through the door. I dashed into the apartment where Gill and her parents, visiting from Ottawa, were also getting ready for the day. It was the fire alarm, I ascertained—but not the one for our apartment; rather, it was the one for the whole building. When you’re standing around, in your housecoat, shaving cream on your face, and in all probability it’s a false alarm, one tends to feel a little resentful about responding to it. Plus, I remember reading that, statistically, if you don’t respond to it within the first 30-60 seconds, you are better off to wait where you are. Tempting. But probably the wrong thing to do.

So, what ensued wasn’t panic, but rather a sort of frenzied chaos as we all hurried to get dressed (and rinse said shaving cream off face) and get out. Gill’s parents went out first. Gill and I were rushing around to get our shoes on, keys, etc. and were half-way out the door when I said, “Wait! What about the cat?”  We hesitated, and then decided we should probably get him. Might feel guilty if he burned to death. Except that he was (understandably) hiding. When we finally found him, he was so freaked out by the noise of the alarm that he flew out of Gill’s arms in a whirl of claws and fur.

Okay. Forget the cat. We can get another one, cheap.

We rushed into the hall and could smell the faint smell of smoke. How about that. Maybe our building really was on fire! This effort may actually be worth it. We went to the nearest stairwell, and as we ran down the 20 flights of stairs we could smell the smoke getting thicker. Finally, we were outside and into the cool, winter air. Hmm. Maybe I should have grabbed a jacket? Fortunately, there's a restaurant across the street so we decided that this was a good opportunity for breakfast. We ate our meal and passed the time looking at the two firetrucks parked outside the building and many of the residents milling about outside as the firefighters went inside. At this point, a few things had crossed my mind:

Within the hour they were letting people back into the building. As it turned out, someone’s microwave on the fourth floor had malfunctioned and had a total nervous breakdown. Still, the experience was enough for me to reflect on how unprepared we were. Later, I researched proper fire alarm etiquette, and the things you should and should not do during a fire. Let’s go over them, shall we?

And think of the inevitable question, the thought that goes through your head when this type of situation arises: “What would I miss the most if I lost everything?” Most people would say their photos. Which is why I am seriously thinking about dropping the box that contains all our negatives at my dad’s place. Yup… that’s the first thing I’m gonna do… right after the next fire alarm.