Saved by an Angel

From: Susan (susanlaz@yahoo.com)
Story type: Angel
Location: Silver Spring, MD
Source: Form Submission

It was 3:30 a.m. in the morning on March 6, 1973 when I was suddenly awakened by screams of "Fire" coming from my roommate (whose bedroom was down the hall). Thinking the fire was probably in the apartment building where we lived (and not realizing it was actually in OUR apartment),I opened my bedroom door and was met with a blast of smoke and intense heat. I quickly ran to my bedroom window and slid the window open. The smoke bellowed all around me. I began screaming as loud as I could for anyone to help me.

Before I proceed, first let me tell you a little bit about our apartment building. The building we lived in was a 14-floor high rise brick apartment building which covered four square blocks. There was a main entrance on one block and another main entrance on a parallel block and the entire building was joined by more apartments on the side (sort of like a box). My apartment faced the inside of the box and looked down over a multi-level parking garage which was completely surrounded by 14 floors of apartments. There was no way a truck or ladder could be brought in to save us. Each of the buildings was divided into four sections so there was a 716A, 716B, 716C, and 716D. We lived in apartment 716D.

Meanwhile, across the courtyard, a man heard us scream. People began to awake and open their windows to yell to us. By this time, my roommate was standing on the ledge out- side her bedroom window seven stories up holding onto the side of the building for dear life.

The fire department came and dragged the hoses up to apartment 716B (because there had been so many phone calls each giving a different apartment number). Finding no fire there, they then proceeded to drag the hoses down the seven flights of stairs, around the corner to our building, and up another seven flights of stairs.

Meanwhile, the heat in the apartment was unbelievably intense and the smoke so thick, I could hardly breathe. My greatest fear was that the carpeting in my bedroom would soon catch fire and that I would die from burns before I passed out from the smoke.

Just when I thought I could no longer stand it anymore, someone (I could not determine at that time whether it was a male or female) appeared in my room, placed a wet towel over my face and proceeded to lead me out of the apartment and down the stairwell. At no time could I see the face because my face was covered with a wet towel. When we reached the lobby, I was asked if I was all right, and then deposited in a chair in the lobby.

A few minutes later several firemen entered the lobby carrying my roommate. They were telling people in the lobby that they could not find her roommate (me) and thought I had perished in the fire. When I heard what was going on, I approached them and informed them that one of their men had brought me out. I attempted to find the person who had saved me but there was no one there.

Later on I learned that none of the firemen had saved me from the fire and that when the police arrived on the scene (right before the firemen), they were unable to enter the apartment because of the smoke and flames. Fire officials say that it would have been physically impossible for anyone to have entered the apartment prior to the firefighters entering.

The next day when I called my parents to inform them of the fire, my mother told me that she had had a very strange dream the night before. My grandmother had come to her in a dream and told my mom that something terrible was happening to her end tables. These end tables had been left to me by my grandmother and were now in my apartment. I proceeded to tell my mom that the fire had started on one of the end tables (my roommate had left a cigarette burning in an ashtray on one of the tables which subsequently caused the fire).

I am convinced it was my grandmother (or an angel sent by her) who saved my life that night and I look forward to thanking her one day when we meet again in the spiritual world.