Just the smoke can be scary, especially when you don't know where it's coming from but you know there's a fire raging somewhere and it's gonna getcha if you don't get out. That happened to me when I was little, I woke up to the house filled with a thick blinding smoke and I couldn't find my way around and I got scared and hid under a blanket to try to filter out the smoke. Luckily my mother found me and took me outside.
On one of those 99 degree days my air conditioner stopped cooling. I panicked for a second and then remembered I had bought a portable for such an occasion.