|
january
the curse of interesting times |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
man the pumps
firefighters are cool. heh-heh. heh-heh |
|
990118 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mark + Debbie
I need to Inform that there was a fire in your Master bedroom caused by a
lamp in that room. You need to contact your Insurance company or Speak
with the Red Cross. If you have any questions please contact our office.
Thank you
[the apartment manager]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
at 11PM friday we arrived home to find this note on our front door instead
of our wreath. they also kindly left us a souvenir on the landing outside.
|
|
|
|
|
our downstairs neighbors Damon and Tammy were annoyed with our managers
for leaving only a note, and had stayed up waiting for our return. they
regaled us with the excitement that occurred while we were away.
starting about 9PM the smoke detector in our bedroom went off
continuously until it melted to death.
|
 |
i don’t know how much time it takes to melt a smoke detector. it was
long enough for the fire to melt the candles in our bedroom candelabra,
about ten feet from the dresser. it was long enough to melt the toiletries
on the shower door as well as the grill of the bathroom vent, over 20 feet
away.
that black lump next to the new white smoke detector in the photo below is the old detector.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
it was long enough for five of our neighbors to leave recorded messages about
this on the apartment manager’s after-hours answering machine.
yup. i have neighbors who leave recorded messages to report a smoke
detector going off.
|
|
then after the silence had been restored a few minutes, down our hallway
the next smoke detector started beeping, and the intelligent downstairs
neighbor Damon stepped outside to investigate. he spied another neighbor standing around uncertainly. he also spied
smoke in our kitchen.
|
Damon knew deb and i are non-smokers from attending our New Years’
Bash, so he called 911 when no one answered his pounding on our door.
|
|
|
|
|
two separate fire station crews arrived in about four minutes. one of the
firefighters was a woman who lives in our apartment complex. i bet when
she heard the address of the other company’s call, her company
responded too.
|
|
|
|
|
the police blocked off the road, and our building was evacuated. a neighbor
from the next building broke out the beer for the evacuated ones, and voila,
instant block party.
this was nearly the exact time the
Rebecca’s Mask
concert deb and i were watching was starting. it was a great
show, and i have the recording!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
anyway, back at the ranch . . .
just after one fireman had bounced his shoulder off our front door twice, an
onsite manager arrived to unlock our apartment for his hose’s crew.
they had a second hose crew up a ladder to our balcony, where the firefighters
were thwarted by the locks on the screen and sliding door, but ready to break
the glass as required. surprise surprise, i had never really considered the
balcony door locks effective before hearing this.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
with the door now open, three fireman commandoes entered, leaving the primary
hose crew outside. they entered and separated to scout out the place. their
voices were heard clearly outside the building by our neighbors on the sidewalk
as the firefighters called out what they found: “Smelly pot in
kitchen!” and, “Stereo is on!” ...until one shouted that
special word, “Fire!”
Damon says it was like watching a water ballet. ok, he didn’t say that
exactly. he did say that the firemen had a hose on the flames within
six seconds of the fire’s discovery, and told the onlookers to get back
or be knocked over. simultaneously other firefighters
opened the balcony doors, disarmed the still-screaming smoke
detectors, stowed potentially flammable items like cologne and oil lamps
in a closed drawer, and closed our slow stupid cat in the safe bathroom.
|
|
|
|
|
|
i believe, but have not pursued, the idea that both cats were trapped in the
bedroom with the fire. the smart fast one would have run when the
firefighters opened the bedroom door, but the slow one was probably
frozen, yowling in terror. both cats were sooty when we comforted them
hours later.
|
|
|
|
|
the firefighters threw the smouldering debris out the window, to the asphalt
parking lot below, where it could cool off in relative safety under the
supervision of another team of fireworkers. inside, they pulled drywall
and clothing from the vicinity in search of stray sparks. other firefighters
competently installed four spanking new smoke detectors in our apartment,
and checked neighbors’ detectors in the same building, replacing
batteries and detectors, as needed, for free.
|
|
|
|
|
they also drilled a series of holes in the ceiling of the neighbors below,
to drain what water had collected in our floor. despite this, our carpet is
still moist three days later, but at least it isn’t wet any
more; when we arrived the carpet was squishy with retained water. ditto
all our clothes: all our closeted clothing and linens smelled of smoke
and chemicals until we did a laundry marathon on Sunday.
the waterbedding was wet; we’ve been sleeping on the futon since.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
a fireman told people the situation was 4-5 minutes from a Major Fire
Disaster™ when they arrived. we were fortunate the bedroom door
was closed, limiting the space and more importantly the oxygen for
the fire. if the door had been open, the fire could have spread
throughout the apartment. as it is, the asbestos ceiling and thick
closet doors prevented flames from spreading into the roofing insulation
and on to other apartments.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
the circumstances were eerie. Deb and i NEVER close the bedroom door, on
account of the cats, never closing the door in over five years unless we
hosted human roommates. yet the doorstop is nowhere to be found, and sooty
lines of evidence display that the door was as tightly closed as possible
with my bathrobe hanging on the corner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
additionally, neither deb nor i recall turning on the culprit lamp that day.
this is a lamp controlled by a wall switch that disconnects the outlet where
the lamp is plugged in. in other words, no power should have been going to
the lamp at all. perhaps it was on, but non-functional, a fire bomb simmering
since a previous use...
we’ve been so thankful about our fortune, we’ve concentrated on the
miraculously small impact in our lives caused by this potentially
devastating event.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
don’t like it here? |
|
tell me why |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
this page copyright © 1999 m. g. gadzikowski
all rights reserved worldwide
|
|
 |
|