We didn't start the fire

Today, as often happens, I saw a copy of the campus newspaper lying around on a table and started reading it. There was an article about a fire that broke out on Franklin (the street that bounds the north side of campus) yesterday afternoon. Funny thing was, it said the smoke blew across campus and drove everybody away from 13th Avenue - interfered with some classes on the west end of campus too. You'd think I would have noticed this, but I knew nothing of it.

Then I remembered I had lab from 3-6 and was therefore inside much of the afternoon. So I kept reading and, to confirm my hypothesis, noticed the times - started shortly before 3, and was under control by 4. I recalled that I actually went to the building where my lab is about half an hour early, so perhaps I was inside before it even started. Yes, that explains it.

And then another memory percolated through, something that seemed quite insignificant at the time - but when we all walked into lab, the first thing several people said was "it smells like something burnt in here." Just a small thing, and then we all turned our attention to iodine clocks. But that's what it must have been. I did get a small whiff of the fire.