Romance book event in Toronto interrupted by firefighters, sending crowd into a frenzy

A group of firefighters walk into a room packed with hundreds of romance book fans: it sounds like the setup to a joke, but it’s exactly what went down at one author’s event.

Abby Jimenez, the writer behind bestselling romance novel Just for the Summer, was at an event in Toronto this week to promote her new book, Say You’ll Remember Me.

But midway through, there was one unexpected interruption that had the audience all turn away from the author they were there to see and hold up their phones in a frenzy.

Watch the video above.

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Author Hannah Bonam-Young was hosting Jimenez’s event to a room of 400 people.

While the pair were talking to the crowd on stage, the fire alarm suddenly went off.

Next thing you know, several firefighters arrived at the scene to investigate.

When the many, many women in attendance clocked the surprise guests walking through the doors, the room erupted into a chorus of cheers. 

The firefighters responded to the attention by waving to the crowd.

Fan-captured videos from the spontaneous moment quickly circulated on social media.

“Did a fire alarm go off in the middle of my Toronto event with @authorhannahby? Yes. Did a crew of hot firemen show up? Also yes. 🤣🤣” Jimenez wrote on Instagram after.

In videos capturing the moment, Bonam-Young appeared to be the one to ask the firefighters if they knew who Jimenez was before following up with a cheeky question.

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“So just for the audience, this is a question for them, are any of you single?”

In a video filmed backstage, Jimenez assured the moment was completely unplanned.

“They were not actually paid actors but we would have paid them, because it was like beyond amazing,” she confirmed.

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Jimenez noted “there was nothing but cameras in that crowd.”

In her own post from the day, Bonam-Young joked about how the day panned out.

“Sometimes you get to meet your literary idol and while hosting her in front of 400 people (plus a digital live stream) the security alarms start blaring and firefighters show up…” she wrote.

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