I got up to investigate. I went out on my patio ... no smell. I came back in and smelled it again, a little stronger. I went out my front door into the hallway. No smell. I came back in, still could smell it. I was getting concerned that the building may have been on fire, even though I could not hear my neigbors moving around or any smoke detectors going off. I went back in and found my shoes, searched around and found my cell phone, found Helen the Cat. She was sitting in my open bedroom window (at the front of the apartment.) I went over and looked out that window and that's when I saw that there was a FIRE in the dumpster in front of the building.
I was honestly not sure what to do. Is a dumpster fire serious enough to dial 911? Plus, my (brand new) Jeep was parked in the first spot next to the dumpster.
I called the apartment management emergency line and left a message, ending with "I guess I will call the police." I was thinking that maybe I should call the police non-emergency line, but I knew it would take me awhile to track that number down. I grabbed my keys and went out and moved my car down to the other end of the lot, then as I walked back over, I dialed 911. Fuck it, let them yell at me. Better to get yelled at ... plus there are trees all around the dumpster and I knew if they caught, there would be a big problem.
On of my neighbors had come outside during all this (and I am still surprised that more people didn't notice and/or come outside to see what was going on.) He told me that he had already called 911 and I told the operator this and she said that the call had been received already. I hung up and already heard the sirens approaching. I guess a dumpster fire is important enough to call the fire department. My neighbor offered to get his hose and hook it up, but I said that we might as well wait for the professionals.
So I sat on my step and watched the firefighters fill the dumpster with water. I wondered if the bag of cat poop I tossed in there a few days ago was still there. Burned cat poop. Heh.
They were there about 10 minutes, most of that time spent rolling their hose back up. The apartment maintenance guy showed up about one minute after the firemen, so I guess they get those messages pretty quickly. After my neighbor went back inside I called KeeperSister to tell her all about it. (She wanted to know if the firefighters were cute but I couldn't tell much because of the flashing red lights.) And then they left and it was all over. Still, EXCITEMENT! That is the first time I have ever dialed 911.
On a completely unrelated note, did you know that every year on Labor Day, TNT plays Law & Order episodes all day long. And boy, can that fuck up your day. You sit down and watch one and think "Oh, after this is over I will take a shower" (or start the laundry or clean out the fridge or go grocery shopping) but then the next one starts right away and you get caught up in that one, and the next thing you know, you've been watching TV for 10 hours and you stink and have no food in your filthy refrigerator. Uh, not that that happened to me or anything.
Click here if you think I'm a keeper!
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