One of the usual Thursday nights, when three of us were home (Oakland, California) - myself, my dog Jovi (super-hyper maltipoo) and my friend's dog Brownie (Shih Tzu mix). Brownie is apparently Jovi's first love. I was sitting in my bed with my blinds all closed working late. I checked my phone, it was 2 a.m. - regular time for me to go to sleep. I turned my laptop off, tucked both babies in and went to sleep thinking 'Yay! It's Friday tomorrow'. Day we all eagerly wait for.
In the middle of the night, I heard someone's voice - a man's voice. First I thought it was a dream but few seconds later I realized it was for real. The voice was coming from my apartment's inbuilt speaker. It was an announcement to evacuate the building. I jumped off the bed thinking it's an earthquake, California being such an earthquake prone area, that was the first thing came to my mind but I couldn't feel any tremor. I rubbed my eyes and looked at the clock, it was 5:00 am and I couldn't understand what is happening. The evacuation announcement was on repeat in the background creating anxiety in me. When my eyes were completely open I looked around in the room and through the window with blinds closed I saw very bright yellow-orange light outside. I panicked thinking "Oh My God, Aliens are real and they got us". I peeked outside through the blinds hoping I may get to see an alien spaceship in this lifetime but what I saw was a high rise building right next door from where I live in huge flames. I am one of those fortunate people who has not witnessed a fire bigger than a born-fire. My once in life time moment to see an alien spaceship had already been shattered.
However, it was not clear if it's only the neighbor building on fire or our building too. I panicked even more. I picked both my dogs, put on the jacket, picked my wallet and keys and left the apartment. After reaching the assembly area, it was a relief that it's only that newly constructed building where nobody lived yet was on fire and not ours. I thank God that all my clothes and shoes were safe - Female's most valuable materialistic asset. Sorry, can't help!
Standing there in assembly area looking at those huge flames and fire-fighters trying to contain the fire so other buildings don't catch it was overwhelming. I couldn't stand and see it for long, it made me sick looking at that fire thinking how it can destroy everything in seconds.
I saw this building being stood up from nothing. Everyday I looked at these construction workers from my window working hard all day, guards watching over it all night. It took almost two years to reach where it was and all what's left now is only ashes. Time it took to bring it all down was less than two hours. Everyone is glad that no one was hurt or stuck in the fire, neither the neighbor homeowners or buildings.
We were on streets until 10:00 am waiting for an update if we can get back to our apartments, now that the fire is contained. But we were not allowed to return home for another 48 hours as they wanted to make sure there has been no collateral damage that would put residents of this building at risk.
I was impressed to see how my building staff, Oakland Police and Firefighters handled the situation so well. In all this, one of the cutest moment was when a firefighter was approaching all dog owners with water and a pack of dog food since dogs were out without water or food since early morning.
Thinking about this incident still gives me goosebumps but it also makes me feel blessed to be in a place where life really matters, be it human or animal and be reminded that we can have faith in people like police and firefighters who will fight for us and will do what they can to keep us safe.
Thank You!
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oakland-lake-merritt-massive-fire-forces-hundreds-to-evacuate/
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