These are some other things that happen here

Feb. 20th, 2008

I was disturbed from my sleep in my new apartment above Suspect Video by my roommate, Charity as she exclaimed that I had to get up, that there was a fire.

To be honest, I didn't really take the whole thing very seriously. When you here something like that, but see no visible evidence of such, you assume that the neighbours accidentally plugged in too many electronics and are going to stink up the building with smoke for a while. I threw on my pant pile on the floor with already loaded pockets, grabbed for my favourite hoodie from my dark closet, which I later realized I actually missed for an inferior sweater next to it, put on my coat and gloves because I wasn't going to wait for the fire department freezing my ass off in the cold and put on my still wet shoes, no socks.

As I ran down the stairs I realized that this was slightly more serious than just a forgotten iron or stovetop. I couldn't see all the way down the 15-stair case through the foggy smoke. My eyes still burn a little bit from the run down those stairs, or maybe I'm just tired.

Two fire trucks and billowing black smoke next door above National Sound were waiting for me downstairs. One of the firefighters started asking me about other people that live in the building. I didn't really know. I'd only lived there for two days. He asked me to hold open the door until somebody asked me to move. I stood holding that door with a single wall between me and a burning building full of electrical equipment for a few minutes watching the firefighters set up. They were organized, almost militantly, and seemed to be performing with routine. There were setting up several ladders to gain access to upper floors as well as using the door I was standing beside, on the other side of the wall. Within minutes I saw Kevin Frankish of Breakfast Television in his white shirt and black suspenders, camera thrown over his shoulder, grinning from ear to ear chatting it up with one of the fighters. He was loving this footage. Jackass. He was followed by several police cruisers, one of which carried the officer that asked me what the hell I was doing standing so close to the fire. He demanded to know who had asked me to stand here but I couldn't tell one uniform from the next. He promptly took my place holding the door and asked me to stand across the street.

The smoke thickened and soon there were flames. Massive flames crawled across the ceiling of National Sound and out the front windows, climbing their way up the front of the building like vines on a Victorian electronics store. They didn't last long, but soon they appeared again, this time on the second floor. By now the street was swarming with uniforms. Even the chief of the TTC was there almost as fast as the cops, soon followed by a truck full of his employees. We were told to wait at Bathurst Street, behind where there would later be yellow CAUTION tape, politely keeping people back from the heat but not back from the action.

I stood around for about an hour, watching my neighbours building burn. I could see that the roof had holes burnt in it and that the fire was raging inside, lighting a bit of the sky, cutting through the thick, black smoke. A bus was sent for us to wait in and keep warmish and I watched as people spoke of their experience here, half shocked, half excited.

I'm on the street now because of this bullshit.

I've lived here for 12 years and I've never seen anything like this before... not that that really means anything.

I had to run back in, you know, to get the dog...

I was tired and freezing without socks on. I had only slept for about 4 hours before the alarm had gone off, so I decided to call Jess and sleep the rest of the morning away in her bed. The fire seemed to be under control, but I rose to text messages and phone calls inquiring about my state, and exclaiming the severity of the event.

There are a lot of great pictures online of the fire and the buildings, but I only need one to show what my home looks like now. While I was asleep the fire jumped from rooftop to rooftop, burning them from the top down. The buildings are beyond repair, let alone the things inside of them.

What would I have done differently had I known that everything I own was about to be burnt to the ground, if I'd known I had another minute to gather everything I wanted in my life in my arms? I would have ensured to grab the right sweater. I would have shoved as many socks, underwear and shirts in my backpack, which already contained my headphones, cd player and book. I would have scrounged for the next couple of books I was about to read, and I would have taken my balascarfa from the closet when I took my coat and gloves. Everything else would have seemed insignificant at the time. A lot seems insignificant now.

See more at;

http://torontoist.com/2008/02/massive_fire_hi.php

http://torontoist.com/2008/02/phototo_queen_s.php

http://news.google.co.uk/news?hl=en&q=toronto+queen+fire&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=news_result&resnum=1&ct=title