So last Tuesday morning, I got an email from one of my good friends/running buddies who had to move out of her apartment because of a fire on Monday.

I looked up news on the fire and was amazed by how bad it really was. The apartment next to the one on fire was just vacated by one of our other friends, K just a month ago. K was the lucky one. Friend's next door neighbor tried to escape through the hallway and ended up dying in the hospital from his burns. So sad. Others jumped from balconies.





This kitchen is the exact layout of my friend's kitchen. A place I had stood many times over the last several years. (This is not her kitchen. She lived two over and one across the hall from this apartment.) She was planning to get renters insurance because of the crack heads living in the place below her. Little did she know that it would instead be a fire started by a cigarette from a neighbor down the hall. Seriously?!!! A cigarette did all of this? Which also makes me wonder why people still smoke.

Please don't forget to put those safety stickers on your door so people know to rescue your pets! Her poor kitty hid in her bedspread for hours until she was rescued. My friend's landlord didn't call her all day (fire started at about 10am.) A friend called and left her a message at 5:30pm hoping she was okay after seeing the fire on the news.

Not the kind of message you want to get after the fact and while you are working on the other side of Los Angeles. When she got a hold of her landlord she kept her anger to herself when he told her about how bad it was and that her neighbor had died.

I spent three hours Friday after work helping her pack up all of her stuff. My clothes reeked of smoke. I wore a mask but still had to use my rescue inhaler afterwards.

I don't know how my friend is holding up so well. She said she has cried countless times. But she is a rock. And I am traumatized. Because it also means that she will be moving closer to work now to shorten her commute. She lost an apartment and I lost one of my morning running buddies.

Stupid FIRE!



So tomorrow, when my tax refund clears my bank account, I will finally get renters insurance for my apartment that I have lived in for over 12 years. I don't want to have to move a smokey couch or bed to a new place! Plus it pays for displacement (hotel), stolen items from my car (deductible), and water damage if your neighbor leaves the tub running.

It's always been one of my biggest fears... coming home to a burnt apartment.