I recently paid a visit to ONE LIFE TO LIVE (a very fun part of my job; don't be jealous). I was there to make the rounds, get quotes, meet new actors, drink their coffee and hope for a stray bagel (I'm shameless, I admit it). But this time I wasn't allowed on the soundstage because they were taping the scenes in which Nora's house burned down. I was sitting in the lobby with Kristen and Eddie Alderson's mom (a very proud mom, to say the least) when I noticed there was a fire truck/ambulance outside the door. Duh! That was there because there was fire (though carefully staged) going on inside. Fortunately, I could watch what was happening because in the lobby there are closed-circuit television monitors showing the live feed from the studio.

Once I made it downstairs, where the dressing rooms are, I saw racks of firefighter uniforms and began to see some firefighters rushing about (but not in a something-bad-has-happened way). Some of them were actors and some were the real thing, who were in the scenes just in case. However, real or faux, all them were cute.

Hillary B. Smith (Nora), who was front and center in this drama, was nonplussed by all the activity. "There are a lot of flames going on up there," Smith says, "but there are a bunch of professionals up there. You feel very comfortable everyone is doing a fantastic job. Danny Aiello was there and we trust him implicitly." (That would be Danny Aiello III, a well-known actor/stunt coordinator.)

Though Smith has been around for many, many episodes that involve special effects and scary effects, it was Eddie Alderson's first big-time stunt. "We got him out pretty quickly. He had very minimal exposure. He's fabulous," Smith says protectively. I must add that Smith had lots of smudges on her face; she sure looked as if she'd been in a fire.

Ah, the wonders of the makeup department.