20-02-2008 06:00 hrs

The hour was absurd, I was exhausted, and I ignored the ringing phone.

Steve called again, and thinking that the circumstances must be out of the ordinary, I picked up the phone.

In a calm, but serious voice, he informed me that there was a major fire burning on Queen Street, and that National Sound was on fire.

I called Anthony's cell phone.

He answered the phone, and I heard him say, I was going to let you sleep, but I guess you found out.

In shock, I asked him what was happening.

He explained that a fire had apparently started downstairs in my studio, and that he had been evacuated through the front window of the apartment.

He had been able to save only 3 items from the fire. Everything else was gone.

I asked about the studio. He said that it was all gone.

His words were not making sense to me.

I first became aware of the reality of what was happening, when I saw images on the Internet, of firefighters breaking down the door to my studio, while flames licked through the roof over an area I knew to be the washroom, or at least, very close to it.

When the door was opened, tongues of flame licked towards the suited firefighters. They didn’t jump back. But I did.

As unbelievable as it seemed, my studio was on fire, and practically the whole block, was on fire.

I panicked.

I played back my actions the previous night. I had been at the studio until just a few hours before the fire. I had been recording some music, and ended the night with a workout, after which I left.

Before leaving the studio, as always, I did a safety check, which involved turning off the gear, some lights I didn’t trust to turn my back on, unplugging any unsafe extension cords and looking for lit candles.

I had done all of those things. What had I missed?

I wanted to curl up under the sheets and sleep until this nightmare ended. But this was not a time when sleep could come.

Eventually I went down to the scene, and started shooting footage..

The block where I had previously shot the original footage for the film, was off limits, because a fire of historic proportions was slowly but surely eating its way through my world.