The Day I Ran Away From a Ball of Fire

Today I was running errands for work. I had stopped at a bank, hit up City Bakery for a Pretzel Croissant and was making my way up 6th Ave to Staples to get ink for the office printer. I stopped to watch some firemen working on what looked like a fire being put out in front of the Radio Shack. There was just lots of white smoke billowing and a few of us had slowed to watch from across the street. Suddenly it seemed like the front of Radio Shack exploded out and up in a huge fireball. I stood there like a deer in headlights watching this thing get bigger and bigger, windows exploding out of the building above, and the heat hitting my face. The mail carrier next to me started making a mad dash around the corner. She snapped me out of it and I took off after her. From the corner I watched as black smoke billowed and the sidewalk burned. I stood there for a little bit, kind of freaking out, sipping what had not sloshed out of my City Bakery mocha during my run around the corner. The block filled up with emergency vehicles so I walked over to 5th, where I will be walking from here on out, and called my mother. I do believe I succeeded in giving my parents nightmares for a month. I am hoping to avoid nightmares by watching Mamma Mia tonight.

Here is a picture that was captured by a guy apparently standing near me who was also walking back to work from City Bakery. He was on the ball with this one. Since this picture is everywhere and I have no idea who to ask permission I am just going to post it.


If you want to read more about it here are some links
NYMagazine
Gawker
Gothamist
NY Times

Since I am sure this is the first thing you are wondering... No. No one was hurt by the fire.