I have a nice window view of the hills outside of our office building. However, it wasn't the view, but rather, it was the strong burning smell oozing into the office that alerted me on this very day.

I took off my earphones, stood up and noticed a big puffy white column of smoke rising from the distance. I went outside; the smell was eminent; helicopters circling above the burn site; the fire engine sirens approaching from all directions... Yup! Something is definitely burning! Although I wasn't able to see any flame from where I was standing, the smoke column indicated that the ground zero was less than a quarter mile away.

Exciting day!