Fire??

I had another German-language adventure Saturday evening. I called the fire department.

When I looked out our living room window at around 5pm, I saw big flames through the window of an otherwise dark apartment across the street. They kept burning for a few minutes and weren't getting any smaller, and it looked like they were too large and too high off the floor to be coming from a fireplace or anything contained. Besides, who would have a huge fireplace in an apartment?

I called Brian over to tell me I was not imaging things, and he, too saw the flames. He said something like "yeah they look big. Do you want to call 112? Maybe you should watch them for a few minutes first." 112 is the emergency phone number, just like 911 in the US. It occurred to me that, since we're the apartment I was looking at is on the top floor, just like ours, I might be the only person who could see the fire. So I waited, and the flames kept burning and leaping. I couldn't tell whether they were getting bigger but they weren't getting smaller. Finally I decided that if my place was potentially on fire, I'd want the neighbors to do something about it. So I called 112.

I explained what was going on and they sent the fire trucks. Because our street is now under construction and half closed, the trucks took over the whole street and people stopped on the sidewalk to watch. There were flashing lights and guys in helmets and stretchers at the ready. I was hoping I wasn't wrong but had a sinking feeling that maybe I had overreacted. They sent a fireman up in the cherry-picker part of the truck to look in the apartment window, and two other guys to go inside the building. Five minutes later, the cherry picker started to come down. One of the firemen on the sidewalk told me that the building was not on fire - it was in fact a fireplace.

Was I embarrassed? Sure, I had made a huge production out of nothing. Sure, I had probably cost the city of Hannover some money, and messed up traffic by bringing the fire trucks that blocked off the street. I was hoping that the firemen would be less angry with me because I am a foreigner. They obviously don't have fireplaces where I come from, right?

But let's focus on the positive - I know that my language skills are good enough to contact emergency services. I am absolutely scared of talking on the phone in German and I overcame my fear in the interest of public safety. Plus, I created some excitement in the neighborhood and gave the firemen something to do. They were probably sitting around the fire department watching soccer on TV. Maybe this means I am becoming better integrated into the community here. I not only use the library and the public swimming pool, I also contact emergency services when needed... or not needed. Who knew a 5th floor apartment would have a huge fireplace halfway up the wall? I, certainly, did not.