Fire alarm went off at romance book event and the arrival of 'hot' firefighters' was straight out of a novel

Readers who love romance novels often picture the perfect meet-cute, the dramatic interruption, or the moment someone unexpected walks into the room. It’s part of what makes the genre so compelling — those scenes feel like they could happen. In Toronto, at a book event for New York Times bestselling author Abby Jimenez and fellow author Hannah Bonam-Young, that dream got a little closer to reality. TikTok creator, Jules (@julessanantonio), who was one of the attendees of the event, shared a video where Jimenez was promoting her latest novel, "Just for the Summer," when a fire alarm interrupted the evening, reported Fox News.

A few minutes later, a crew of firefighters entered the room to check on the situation, walking into a crowd of 400 mostly female romance readers, and the timing couldn’t have been more on the nose. The video showed a short intro and some lighthearted narration from Bonam-Young as she turned to the firefighters and asked them, "Hi. Do you guys know Abby Jimenez? This is Abby. She writes really good books. She's a No. 1 New York Times bestseller." She went on to ask what every romance reader dreams of coming true, "So just for the audience, this is a question for them. Are any of you single?" At the end of the video, one firefighter even said, "Bye, Abby," and the crowd, full of hopeless romantic women, couldn't help but cheer.

The fire alarm was confirmed to be false, but for fans in the room and the three million viewers watching the original video, the moment had already delivered what felt like a live-action romance plot, with some even thinking that they were paid actors. However, Jules was not the only creator covering the footage from the event. Countless other creators also posted videos on their TikTok pages, capturing the moment from every angle. Another noteworthy video, posted by TikTok creator Vic (@vinylswithvic) showed a close-up version of the firefighters walking in.

@dawnslullaby1 said, "It would be wild if the book was a firefighter romance book." @alissakaeli added, "Their spouses: 'So honey, how was your shift?' Each and every one of them: 'Uhh, it was good. Nothing exciting.'" @rachaaelbrand noted, "The firefighter guy who clapped for the author and then shook his head no for 'single' is an icon. A girls' girl." @r_is_reading wrote, "Firefighters showing up to a romance book event is SOO unserious. I can’t." @_kirsteneva said, "That one firefighter shaking his head like, 'Nope. My wife reads these books. I know exactly what all these ladies are thinking.'" @fizzyknix commented, "As someone who dated a firefighter, I can tell you they love it when this happens."

Even Wattpad and Audible commented on the video. @wattpad chimed in, "This is what dreams are made of," while @audible said, "We had no doubt the collective minds of Abby Jimenez and BookTok were powerful. Now we have proof." Reflecting on the moment, Jimenez posted a TikTok video on her page (@authorabbyjimenez) from the event and assured viewers that they were not paid actors. She wrote, "We had the fire alarm go off midway through our event, and then a bunch of hot firemen showed up… they were not actually paid actors, but we would’ve paid them because it was beyond amazing and I can’t wait to see all the videos everybody posts because it was nothing but cameras in that crowd."

You can follow Jules (@julessanantonio) for more daily-life content, and Vic (@vinylswithvic) and Abby Jimenez (@authorabbyjimenez) for more reading content.