Some of you have already heard, but today (22 Feb) I had to do something I hoped to never have to do: call the fire department.
I have never in my life been more happy to have arrived home from the grocery store when I did. Shortly after 6 PM Pacific time, my building caught fire.
I’ve lived in a dorm for far too long to know to not ignore when your entire building alarm goes off. Sure enough, while evacuating, I encountered some pretty heavy smoke on the third floor of the building. I immediately called 911 after leaving the building. After a five minute hold, I finally reached a dispatcher for Portland, and the fire brigade arrived about six minutes later. They did end up finding an active fire on the second floor of the building.
If you hear a fire alarm go off for your entire building, get the hell out.
We were let in a few minutes ago, and thankfully my unit is safe. The first and second floors of the building were not so lucky.
Note: This post originally appeared as a screenshot of an update I shared to social media. It has been converted to plain text for better accessibility.