PEOPLE BEING PEOPLE

Swedish firefighters raced to an apartment where a fire had been reported, only to find “a virtual fire” burning on the screen of a resident’s television. A DVD depicting a fake fireplace is popular among Swedish apartment-dwellers seeking a cozy atmosphere. When passersby spotted the fake flames through a window, they sounded the alarm. The simulation was so effective, said responder Goran Gunnarson, that “we even stayed and watched the fire for a while afterward.”