That's How It Happened

This evening we went out running in the park, leaving some macaroons in the oven. Mrs Q our next door neighbour called the fire brigade when she saw smoke pouring from under the front door. Luckily we beat the fire engine home, and quelled the flames before they had to sledgehammer their way in. I used the opportunity to expand my vocab:

A "Code 1" is a genuine lights and sirens emergency. In A&E that's usually called a "blue call".

A BLEVE is a boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion, which has a convenient backronym: blast leveling everything very effectively. This does not occur unless you really make a large batch of macaroons.

A blue canary is a term for a (presumably US) policeman who approaches a toxic blaze without proper breathing apparatus.

Tags: slang, firemen