Those were the three things a woman, who lives right next to the unit which had a kitchen fire yesterday, thought of when she was rushed out of her flat in Invercargill yesterday.
Residents of a row of flats in Bowmont St, Appleby, were evacuated after smoke was spotted coming from one of the unit’s roofs about 10.30am.
Kingswell station officer Nick Barclay said three crews, two from Invercargill and one from Kingswell, were sent — 12 firefighters in total, four of whom used breathing apparatus.
Upon arrival, firefighters discovered a fire had started in the kitchen and spread to the ceiling.
The neighbour, who wished to remain anonymous, said she was notified of the fire when another street resident knocked on her front door.
"They just said ‘there’s a fire and you need to escape’.
"I think it started in the kitchen and was electrical," she said.
She grabbed whatever she could and made sure her cat followed her out before shutting the door.
It was the first time she had experienced a fire, and her biggest fear was the flames would set her unit alight.
Firefighters climbed on to the roof and ripped off the iron to gain entry and extinguish the blaze.
It took about 10 minutes to bring the fire under control. Crews then searched for hot spots in the ceiling.
The next step was for firefighters to check neighbours had working smoke alarms and if not, to install them.
It was not yet clear what caused the fire.
Mr Barclay said the occupants of the property were not at home when the fire started, but arrived once firefighters had entered.
While crews were able to prevent the fire from spreading to surrounding structures, it was a reminder to people to check their smoke alarms were working.
