well now that I've had my heart attack for the day
Wow. Okay. So on the list of things I wanted to do today on my day off, what was NOT on the list is the massive fire in the building next door. My new bookcase was delivered this morning so I was in the process of moving some books around when I heard a helicopter outside the window, and suddenly there was a lot of scraping and banging. I looked out the window in my bedroom and all I saw was a dense cloud of black smoke. There were firemen on the low roof right next to my building; it adjoins ours on the east side. Needless to say that kickstarted my heart; I grabbed my keys and my phone, felt the front door and got the hell out of the apartment.
When I got downstairs there were -- gahd, it was crazy -- hundreds of people out on the sidewalk, police tape holding them back, half a dozen fire trucks, some ems, and police everywhere. I found my neighbor and he told me that the fire was in the 99cent store (remember my poisoned toothpaste?) and that it had spread to the apartments above the store. Luckily for me, this building does not actually sit up next to mine -- there is a narrow alleyway between the buildings.
A reporter from the Daily News came up to the stoop so my neighbor and I took him up to the roof and watched from there. Gahd -- the apartments are gutted and charred and my heart kind of seized up because you really don't expect to see how horrible it is. The firemen were working hard, water and smoke everywhere, and seem to have it mostly contained. All three floors on that row of apartments are gone, though; the ones next to it have their windows bashed out so the firemen could get onto the roofs of the shorter attached garage/storage sheds that are behind the building.
There are as of now no reported casualties; one person inhaled smoke, which is a miracle as far as I'm concerned. I've never been quite this close to a fire before. The reporter said he could see the smoke from the Manhattan Bridge, which was why he came. To give you an idea, my apartment is ...well. Several MILES from the bridge.
I had other, funny, items I was going to post today but I think I'll save those for tomorrow. Right now I'm going to cuddle the cat and drink some tea and thank some various deities that everyone is okay and that it wasn't in here. On the plus side, hey, I've had some clothes and shoes and coats that have been stacked up ready to give away now for over a month. I'd called Salvation Army and they only pick up on Tuesdays when I'm not at home. So this morning I'd called a church to go donate them and they said they weren't accepting any donations at this time. Well, I think I know now where they're supposed to be delivered.
When I got downstairs there were -- gahd, it was crazy -- hundreds of people out on the sidewalk, police tape holding them back, half a dozen fire trucks, some ems, and police everywhere. I found my neighbor and he told me that the fire was in the 99cent store (remember my poisoned toothpaste?) and that it had spread to the apartments above the store. Luckily for me, this building does not actually sit up next to mine -- there is a narrow alleyway between the buildings.
A reporter from the Daily News came up to the stoop so my neighbor and I took him up to the roof and watched from there. Gahd -- the apartments are gutted and charred and my heart kind of seized up because you really don't expect to see how horrible it is. The firemen were working hard, water and smoke everywhere, and seem to have it mostly contained. All three floors on that row of apartments are gone, though; the ones next to it have their windows bashed out so the firemen could get onto the roofs of the shorter attached garage/storage sheds that are behind the building.
There are as of now no reported casualties; one person inhaled smoke, which is a miracle as far as I'm concerned. I've never been quite this close to a fire before. The reporter said he could see the smoke from the Manhattan Bridge, which was why he came. To give you an idea, my apartment is ...well. Several MILES from the bridge.
I had other, funny, items I was going to post today but I think I'll save those for tomorrow. Right now I'm going to cuddle the cat and drink some tea and thank some various deities that everyone is okay and that it wasn't in here. On the plus side, hey, I've had some clothes and shoes and coats that have been stacked up ready to give away now for over a month. I'd called Salvation Army and they only pick up on Tuesdays when I'm not at home. So this morning I'd called a church to go donate them and they said they weren't accepting any donations at this time. Well, I think I know now where they're supposed to be delivered.