Fire!

On Thursday morning, I left the apartment on my way to Hebrew school and as soon as I stepped out of the building, I smelt smoke from a house fire. As I walked toward the main drag, the air became hazy and as I turned the corner, I saw smoke billowing out of a first-story apartment. Parked on the sidewalk were a fire engine, a ladder truck, an ambulance, and a police car.

As I got closer, I noticed that there was no traffic control whatsoever and drivers were dangerously trying to out-maneuver each other to get around the emergency apparatus. Then, I saw Israeli firefighters in action, squirting water into the apartment through an exterior window with dark smoke billowing out, without wearing masks. The smoke on the sidewalk where I was, across the street, was hazardous enough to breathe, let alone non-dissipated smoke coming directly from the apartment. Quite unhealthy.

But the most quintessentially Israeli thing about the whole scene was the upstairs apartment residents, a couple, who were leaning out their window, taking in the scene and calmly enjoying the action while their downstairs neighbor's apartment was engulfed in flames. Why bother to evacuate? It's cold outside! We're A-OK right here!