My office building caught on fire today
This was around 6pm.
We were eating dinner and watching the Olympics when Dee stepped outside and noticed smoke coming from over near the Post Office. To be specific, he guessed by the distance that it was my office building. He drove over to check it out -- there were flashing lights and everything, and sure enough, it was my office building that was on fire.
He came back and got me and we drove over and stood and watched... The building isn't very large -- it's two floors with a pitched roof, almost house-like, only it'd be one heck of a big house. There are/were accounting offices upstairs, and downstairs was a midwifery, some kind of masseuse I think, and then my office, which is a two-in-one of architecture and our graphic design office, not bigger than someone's two bedroom apartment or so.
The fire was in the roof and had started at the south side of the building - we're on the north side, my corner specifically being in the north west corner. The fire just gutted the roof -- there were so many fire trucks and so many hoses going that we thought the building was going to be a total goner. They were using the hoses to burst out the windows and even puncture holes through the bubbling siding to get into the fire... The underside of the eaves were melted and hanging, flapping vinyl in the air -- overheard on some firetruck radio was the call to GET OUT! GET EVERYONE OUT! (The firefighters). The accountants from upstairs had obviously been in the building when it started and they were holding eachother, crying -- all their books and things were still in there. I thought it was contained to the upstairs but then saw a glow coming from one of the ground floor windows from the center of the building. Firefighters broke out the window and doused the flames with water.
I walked around to the north side and watched from across the street. I didnt see any glow coming from our windows, but I knew water was pouring in from up above, running down the inside of the windows. Eventually they seemed to get the roof under control - it took a good hour and a half to do so. At one point I went home and ate the rest of my dinner and came back -- the crowds had dispersed and Channel 2 (NBC) news had finally gotten there. The accountants were still there but I saw no sign of Chris or Gary (I'd called Chris's cell from home but no luck; I dont know his home number). Our office door was open and some smoke was coming out, one of Gary's conference room chairs laying on its side outside. The conference room/foyer area windows were open. I could see in my window - I dont know why the blinds were up since Chris usually closes them and they had been closed when I stopped by earlier in the day to check in with Chris. I could see my iMac still sitting there. Hopefully all the archival CD's and DVDs, which are next to my desk, are okay -- those are worth more than the computers.
By the time I left, the firefighters (there were some women fighters, too) were suiting up with air tanks to go inside. They went in with hoses to the upstairs and were blasting the ceiling and walls from inside, which forced white smoke to come billowing out from under the eaves.
I still haven't heard from anyone but I'm going to wake up early and go down to see if there isn't anything I can do to help if we're able to salvage tomorrow. I was supposed to work Thursday; I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I'm sure most of it was insured but is Chris going to throw in the towel and just go to work for Gary? Is Gary going to throw in the towel since he's sick of architecture? Is this their excuse to finally change careers? If so, where does that leave me? Maybe the computers will be okay. Maybe the files will be okay enough that Chris will have me work on them from home. I dont' know what is going to happen.
Hopefully the damage is at a minimum since our office is at the opposite end from where the fire was worst. There is a hall and a bathroom between us and the ground office that I saw on fire. I hope the place is secured tonight and that looters don't get in and steal anything - we have a LOT of expensive computer stuff in there that might be okay.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Edit to add: they briefly mentioned the fire on the late night news. The accountants were there and called in the fire - they all got out just fine. The fire travelled through the ventilation ducts and "gutted the building" according to the news. The firefighters are still working to put out all the fire/hotspots, and they don't know the cause of the fire yet.
We were eating dinner and watching the Olympics when Dee stepped outside and noticed smoke coming from over near the Post Office. To be specific, he guessed by the distance that it was my office building. He drove over to check it out -- there were flashing lights and everything, and sure enough, it was my office building that was on fire.
He came back and got me and we drove over and stood and watched... The building isn't very large -- it's two floors with a pitched roof, almost house-like, only it'd be one heck of a big house. There are/were accounting offices upstairs, and downstairs was a midwifery, some kind of masseuse I think, and then my office, which is a two-in-one of architecture and our graphic design office, not bigger than someone's two bedroom apartment or so.
The fire was in the roof and had started at the south side of the building - we're on the north side, my corner specifically being in the north west corner. The fire just gutted the roof -- there were so many fire trucks and so many hoses going that we thought the building was going to be a total goner. They were using the hoses to burst out the windows and even puncture holes through the bubbling siding to get into the fire... The underside of the eaves were melted and hanging, flapping vinyl in the air -- overheard on some firetruck radio was the call to GET OUT! GET EVERYONE OUT! (The firefighters). The accountants from upstairs had obviously been in the building when it started and they were holding eachother, crying -- all their books and things were still in there. I thought it was contained to the upstairs but then saw a glow coming from one of the ground floor windows from the center of the building. Firefighters broke out the window and doused the flames with water.
I walked around to the north side and watched from across the street. I didnt see any glow coming from our windows, but I knew water was pouring in from up above, running down the inside of the windows. Eventually they seemed to get the roof under control - it took a good hour and a half to do so. At one point I went home and ate the rest of my dinner and came back -- the crowds had dispersed and Channel 2 (NBC) news had finally gotten there. The accountants were still there but I saw no sign of Chris or Gary (I'd called Chris's cell from home but no luck; I dont know his home number). Our office door was open and some smoke was coming out, one of Gary's conference room chairs laying on its side outside. The conference room/foyer area windows were open. I could see in my window - I dont know why the blinds were up since Chris usually closes them and they had been closed when I stopped by earlier in the day to check in with Chris. I could see my iMac still sitting there. Hopefully all the archival CD's and DVDs, which are next to my desk, are okay -- those are worth more than the computers.
By the time I left, the firefighters (there were some women fighters, too) were suiting up with air tanks to go inside. They went in with hoses to the upstairs and were blasting the ceiling and walls from inside, which forced white smoke to come billowing out from under the eaves.
I still haven't heard from anyone but I'm going to wake up early and go down to see if there isn't anything I can do to help if we're able to salvage tomorrow. I was supposed to work Thursday; I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I'm sure most of it was insured but is Chris going to throw in the towel and just go to work for Gary? Is Gary going to throw in the towel since he's sick of architecture? Is this their excuse to finally change careers? If so, where does that leave me? Maybe the computers will be okay. Maybe the files will be okay enough that Chris will have me work on them from home. I dont' know what is going to happen.
Hopefully the damage is at a minimum since our office is at the opposite end from where the fire was worst. There is a hall and a bathroom between us and the ground office that I saw on fire. I hope the place is secured tonight and that looters don't get in and steal anything - we have a LOT of expensive computer stuff in there that might be okay.
Keep your fingers crossed for us.
Edit to add: they briefly mentioned the fire on the late night news. The accountants were there and called in the fire - they all got out just fine. The fire travelled through the ventilation ducts and "gutted the building" according to the news. The firefighters are still working to put out all the fire/hotspots, and they don't know the cause of the fire yet.