Hello.
I am Mr. Joseph, and I am a sort of hero.
Now, I know some of you are wondering what the hell I’m talking about – especially since I haven’t written anything in months. First of all, I apologize for that. I should’ve done better, and I should’ve at least put SOMETHING up here. A lot of things have been neglected as of late because I’ve been running around like a chicken with his head cut off. How that looks, I don’t know, and I don’t wanna know. The fact of the matter is, I can’t rant about UAB football (FIRE EVERYONE!), Washington football (not getting excited yet), politics (they’re all incompetent), or anything else because of my busy work schedule and tending to my daughter. But, Megan is sleep, and I have a little free time. So, I can talk about how interesting my weekend was…specifically Saturday night.
My Saturday began pretty much like any other Saturday for me: I woke up, played with my daughter, and watched college football. Watched most of the Navy loss, the Georgia Tech win, and the UAB/Troy State game. Yes, UAB was on TV. Shocking, I know. Anyway, sometime in the 4th quarter, my wife was getting ready to feed our daughter. Now, Saturday night was a good night for open windows; it wasn’t too cool, but it was very comfortable. So, I had the windows in our (seldom-used) office and our bedroom open. While I was wandering around, I smelled a faint hint of smoke. I asked my wife, and she said check the baby bottles, because they may have been too hot. I checked the bottles and the smoke wasn’t coming from there. While looking around, something told me to go check outside.
I went downstairs and still smelled the smoke. I walked to my right, but didn’t see anything, but then I went to my left…and saw nothing. I still smelled the smoke, so I walked around back…and ran face to face with the largest civilian fire I had ever laid my eyes on. I was far enough away that I wasn’t in any danger, but I still felt the heat. A bottom apartment was completely engulfed in flames. I called 911 and stayed on the phone with an operator and waited until Fairhope Police showed up. When they showed up, they had me help to get people out of the apartment. Shortly thereafter, the complex was full of ambulances, fire trucks, and policemen. The complex was also full of onlookers, but that’s to be expected. I don’t know how the fire got put out, but I have a good idea. I got a round of congratulations from everyone who lived in that complex and found out that they didn’t smell anything. They were completely oblivious to the fact that a fire was raging around them, and in one case, right below them. They praised me and called me a hero, and I just told them I didn’t do anything different than they would.
They pulled a dog out that was in the apartment, but it didn’t make it. I was told today by the complex that I would be mentioned in the newsletter they pass around to the complex, and that I am considered a hero by everyone in the complex.
I still don’t think I did anything special, but I’ll take it with a smile.