Well, that was rather more excitement than I had planned on having today

I've been smelling hot asphalt and combustion-like odors for the past couple of hours or so, thanks to the roadwork in progress both a block to the west and half a block to the north of here. Ugh. But just a few minutes ago the burning-like smell intensified, followed by the sound of sirens as two fire engines, the chief's vehicle, and an ambulance converged on my neighborhood. I looked out the window to see a slight haze of smoke drifting through the air, and went outside in time to see firefighters hustling toward the house two doors south of mine. A couple of minutes later, they emerged shrugging as the smoke haze dissipated, while others walked up toward the roadwork zone to the north or gestured toward the west. As I watched traffic stack up (including a city bus and several cars), I overheard snatches of conversation containing phrases like "smell" and "construction zone" and "I'm not sure" between the various firefighters and the chief, and about ten minutes later, everyone had boarded their vehicles and left again.

I've not a clue what happened. But it sure got everyone's attention, as folks all over the neighborhood dropped what they were doing to watch.