When a stranger at your door says, "The back wall of your apartment is on fire," it's not something that begs discussion.

That's what happened to me that Wednesday morning when the Traditions at Augusta apartments caught fire. Eighteen of us were evacuated by the stranger. I have no idea who she was, but we all owe her a great deal. She gave me time enough to save my dogs and parrots.

Some guy also ran in to help me evacuate my pets. Again, I don't know who he was, either.

We live close to the Fire Department, but I will tell you those men and women did an absolute perfect job saving our homes.

Of course we lost stuff, but it's just stuff.I don't know how long it took, but I think the last flame was extinguished within about 15 minutes from the time 9-1-1 was called.

I know of two women who could have easily died without the quick thinking of other residents and the professional conduct of our firefighters. A woman who is eight months pregnant had to come out of her bedroom window by ladder since her door was on fire. Same with the woman who lived across the hall from her. She came off her balcony with the help of another resident who used his adrenaline to jump up to get her on that second-floor deck.

A neighbor gave me a pair of shoes since I was barefoot. The Red Cross took care of all of us and made sure we had places to stay, clothes to wear and food to eat. We all had friends who came to help us move all of our stuff out of our ruined homes.

As far as fires go, we were all very lucky.

I must also tell you how grateful I am to the Augusta firefighters; my neighbors; my dear friends; my mother and sister; the maintenance guys; and especially to that wonderful woman who risked her life to get us all out. Not everybody would do that.

If any of you know who she is, please let us know. At the very least, I have a couple of dogs who want to lick her face. I'll just give her a hug.