Yeouidos Burning

Very exciting morning this morning. I was sitting in the apartment, when I noticed some smoke coming up outside the building. I closed our windows quickly, and retreated as moments later the blue builders netting on the building site opposite burst into flames in front of the window.

I managed to grab a couple of photos before getting outside rather quickly. Outside the extent of the fire was not great but was threatening the local petrol station. The Fire brigade were on the scene fairly quickly and soon tackled the blaze. The news crews were on the scene almost as fast as the emergency services and all three stations had crews covering the fire. After milling around outside I was accosted by our cleaning lady who urgently insisted I go upstairs very quickly.

When I reached our apartment I was greated by a crew of firemen in breathing apparatus who immedidately went into the apartment after I unlocked our door. It turned out that I had forgotten the small room containing the air conditioner had a vent that was open to the outside. A small spark or ember must have got in and set fire to the two suitcases and a box of winter clothing we had stored there. As a result of the firemen dousing the flames there was a deluge of water in the apartment. It was swilling around about 3 cm deep. Mercifully I had put all our bedding up on a chair earlier. As the fire brigade were milling about and checking it was all out the TV crews came in. One who spoke English asked me what happened and after he put a microphone on me I explained the sequence of events. I then repeated the explanation for the other two crews! I then showed one of them the photos I had taken and they took screen shots of the photos.

I spent all morning cleaning up the mess. Luckliy the only damage was the suitcase and box of clothing. The parquat floor seems to have servived intact. The Bat came home after lunch to survey the damage. In fact there was not that much to see. She was upset about the loss of the clothes.

I have plenty of photos but the power supply for the computer has been full of water, so am unable to upload them for now. ( I am at in internet cafe now)

I hope someone can video the local news from either MBC, SBS or KBS to see if the interview of me is on! I must check their websites for any photos. If there are stills of flames in a window, they are mine and want some royalties!

The neigbours have been extremely kind in helping clean up and translate for the various people that have been round this afternoon to deal with the repairs.