Emilya Taghiyeva writes…
How changing life is. I finished my work, put a fresh cup of tea on the magazine table to wash away the day’s tiredness, and grabbed the remote control to watch a movie. Today, after two or three days in bed, I felt better, and after tidying up the house and cooking, I was preparing for a quiet and peaceful evening. But you tell what you say… A minute later, everything changed: this interval was replaced by an excited noise in the courtyard, a commotion in the hallway. He says there was a fire in the building and we didn’t realize it.
What follows is a story of moments of fear and hope, as well as how our people united like a fist on a difficult day.
What is shown in the video is a small part of about 40 minutes of footage captured by our door surveillance camera. It is also clear from the images that our neighbor came and warned us about the fire. However, at that time his house was on fire. Then he returns and has to leave his apartment with his family.
I was watching what happened next like in a movie.
With fear and hope: the disturbing story of the night of the fire
The hallway was dark until we put our shoes on. When we opened the door, thick smoke came in, it was impossible to breathe and we were forced to go back inside. We quickly wet the towels and put them in our mouths, when we felt ready, we jumped up and in the dark (the light from the phone was not enough) we began to go down the stairs, trusting in the air of our hands and our senses. .
We were on the fifth floor and below us there are no homes, only stairs. The work of those on the upper floor was very difficult. Because they had to fall into the thick smoke of burning apartments on several floors, not one, like ours.
However, bravery prevailed here too. For example, our neighbor Mr. Vagif, despite having his hand in a cast, helped our other neighbor, who had lung problems due to the coronavirus times and his condition worsened due to the dense smoke, helped him fall and saved him life.
What I have listed about these neighbors are just two examples.
But a close neighbor is better than a distant relative. And I saw that the distance between these neighbors can sometimes be the size of a town of about 20,000 inhabitants. Imagine, a block of flats, and on one side, between the floors, the glass exploded and fell on your head. Now I can’t describe it here, but in that commotion it was very difficult to tell if it was a floor explosion or something else and it looked terrifying.
But despite this, the young people of the neighborhood entered the block without being recognized and walked one by one through the floors, helping the elderly, women and children out.
All this is clearly visible from the cameras installed in the building and the block.
But there are also shots that the cameras did not capture. It is then that the neighbors from other buildings approach us in the courtyard, invite us to their homes, offer us hot tea, etc. was
In fact, the police and firefighters also arrived quickly. But before arriving, the young people ran to the aid of everyone without knowing them, friendship and solidarity defeated the fire and they emerged unscathed from the tragedy. The neighborhood, which is closer than a distant relative, protected and supported us that night, became a light for us in the darkness of the night and once again demonstrated the pride and care of Azerbaijanis for each other.
The fear of that night is over. Humanity and sacrifice were what we remember from the terrible moments and left a mark on our hearts.
It should be noted that the house of some of our neighbors, especially the house of the person on camera, was severely damaged by this fire and became completely unusable. Families, especially children, need to have their apartments repaired so they can sit in their warm homes again during the cold winter months. We hope they are helped soon.
