Monday, June 16, 2008

A Little Excitement Never Hurt Anyone

I have to tell you guys all about our little adventure here at the library on Saturday. I'll give you a hint.

It involved...
and





It was caused by this.

It seems a wire in a lighting fixture shorted, causing a fire, which began melting the fixture. The melting plastic fell to the carpet, which then also caught fire. It was back in the 900 section in the adult area and a patron noticed it first. He alerted staff and our handsomest Librarian used one of the many fire extinguishers around the building to douse the flames. An announcement was made and the alarm was set off, but you would not believe how difficult it is to get people to leave! Even if you are assuming it is a false alarm or a drill, you are still going to have to leave! Anyway, the fire dept. came just to blow out some of the smoke and make sure there was no further danger. We were only out of the building for about half an hour, then it was back to business as usual.

As always, it was a pleasure to see the Fire Fighters in their gear. I'm sorry, but it was. And it turned out to be not so bad as far as fires or other disasters go. And it gives the staff something to talk about endlessly...what could we have done differently? Could we be better prepared? Blah, blah, blah...but of course that is what you do, right? All I say is...If you are inside and you hear a fire alarm GO OUTSIDE! Seems like common sense to me, but I suppose that can be in short supply :-)

15 comments:

FW said...

Excitement! Whew, I'm glad nobody got hurt. Sounds like quick thinking prevented a disaster, fire so easily turns nasty. Glad it worked out for you all.

minijonb said...

mmm... i love the smell of melting plastic in the morning.

Tara said...

Firemen AND policemen in uniform?...(sighhhhh)...Thank you for those photos.

Anyway, I'm glad that it wasn't a horrible, traumatic kind of fire and that even though it was back to business soon after, it was back to business rather than too much problems or scary stuff.

Did the fire alarm scare off the defecator you spoke of awhile back? :)

Anonymous said...

common sense??? what is this thing you speak of?

C'mon, fess up. We all know you have this thing about firemen and guys in uniform. Was this an "accident" of the set up kind of nature to spur a little excitement in an otherwise quiet day? Admit it!!

Seriously, sounds like an interesting little event to shake things up. Nobody was hurt, you saw firemen, and you got a post out of it. Alls well that ends well.

laura b. said...

FW: Yes, fire in a crowded library could have gone wrong in so many ways. We really were very lucky it was handled quickly.

MiniJonB: Nothing else in the world smells like that ;-)

Tara: Happy to provide photos. I was quite obvious clicking away with my phone. And we were lucky it ended so well, even with the back to business part.
haha! I haven't seen or heard of the defecator being here lately, so perhaps he was scared off by something....

Evil-E: ha! Yes, common sense is a lot to ask. Not sure what I was thinking.
Anyway, sounds like you totally have my number. Good thing you are too far away to point the finger ;-) You're right...all's well that ends well.

Churlita said...

Hey, you got a little time away from work and got to see hot firefighters. Sounds like a perfect day.

AlienCG said...

Ah, you ladies and your firefighters. I'm glad to hear that everything is OK once and that you got some time away from work.

Anonymous said...

churlita has tagged you to name the word....

Mrs. Hairy Woman said...

Glad it all worked out and on the plus side was seeing (ooggling firemen)men in uniform.. Hopefully the next time people will be more on the ball when exiting a burning building (light fixture)..

Viki said...

Yea, ppl dont want to leave when the alarm goes off. When really it should be the other way around. Its silly. I used to work in the museum and when the fire alarm went off, ppl were just hangin out hoping it stopped. Did I say it was an anthropology museum and filled with totem poles...
Meh! people!

laura b. said...

Churlita: Hey, the way things have been lately, it is right up there :-)

AlienCG: We really are helpless to explain or control it. Thanks!

Evil-E: Woo hoo! I love getting to choose!

Mrs.: I think I did a good job of making the best of what could have been a bad situation - haha! As for people and their poor instincts...well, probably nothing going to change there.

Viki: Meh! people! Exactly! I know, really, what better place to be than inside a burning building filled with either thousands of dry books or big wooden totem poles (ie. LOGS...the BURN!) *snerk*

MrManuel said...

Wow, considering you were in a library, it could have been much worse.

laura b. said...

MrManuel: For sure. It turned out to be a little diversion, rather than a tragedy on the evening news.

Anonymous said...

Wow real firemen... how simply yummy and lovely. All dressed up in their neat tight uniforms those firemen yes? How lovely and yummy....
What? Oh sorry, yes, thank goodness everyone was ok. ;o)

laura b. said...

Daffy: I can never pass up the chance to share fire fighter sightings...they are just too cute!