As the author was the only inhabitant of Renswould Castle, his disaster plan in case of a fire was limited to three points: call the fire brigade, save the most important paintings, shut off the gas mains. And so he did when a fire started. Despite the simplicity of the plan there were awkward complications: not having his reading glasses on, the author had serious problems in fulfilling his task; the senior fireman had only recently joined the force and was not aware of the location of the water hoses within the building, of the qualities of the ceilings and the roof. From the inside, the fire could not be approached any more. As the fire was announced in the TV news, within a few hours a lot of people offered their help, so that time was available to coordinate the evacuation and ... to give interviews to journalists.