Another visit from Calgary's finest

"What is that beeping?" I called up to B from the laundry room.  "No clue," he replied.  Suddenly, I started to smell smoke.  Racing up the stairs, I grabbed the phone, hesitating just a second or two before dialing 911.  Should I or shouldn't I?  Decided I had to call because it was definitely smoke and we are sandwiched between two townhouses, one of which was on fire. 

"I want you and everyone in the house to get out immediately," instructed the 911 operator.  The fire department is on the way, she said.  Immediately, the EMS truck pulled up and then a police car.  Man, that was fast!  Just then the next door resident's door opened and smoke billowed out.  She was in her bathrobe and shower cap, obviously having put something to cook on the stove and then forgotten about it.  "Oh dear," she said to us.  "It's out now, so the fire department doesn't have to come."  She looked mortified, but by this time both the police and EMS people had pushed past and were in her house. 

Then the fire department arrived; in they went.  "You did the right thing M'mam," this entire row could have gone up in seconds."  That's exactly what my firefighter son-in-law had said a while back.  They stayed inside the neighbour's house for quite a while, presumably ensuring it had not spread into any vents or the walls. 

Man, some days you just don't know how close the grim reaper might be!