Emergency Situation
I may be without a house - due to explosion
I may be without a house - due to explosion
SPOILERS! (Click to view)
I awoke this morning with my boyfriend to discover that we had no water whatsoever in the building. This was our first sign of doom.
My 21 year old brother with cerebral palsy had been staying with me over the weekend and had decided to sleep on the balcony this past night. It was warm in the apartment and nice and cool on the balcony, so I set up a mattress for him and he was delighted.
When he awoke, we played a game of 'Whonu' until we heard the fire alarm ringing through my building. "Oy. What else is new? Some kid has pulled the alarm again" Which is usually what happens in our 23 story building.
My boyfriend and I went out onto the balcony to take a look at the oncoming firetrucks. There was a couple of them, but nothing too exciting. My brother crawled back out to the balcony to see them, too, as he's from the country and doesn't get to see things like this. Yes, crawled - as in he doesn't walk and has to use a wheelchair.
We watched as the firefighters lazily went down to the parking garage with a normal every day fire extinguisher. Nothing to worry about. Some car or something.
Nothing exciting seemed to be happening, so we went back inside.
About 30 seconds later, a BOOM so loud I had never heard its ilk before came through the building vibrating our very core. I rushed outside onto the balcony to take a look at what had happened and I saw the visitor parking lot out front crumble to pieces. The assfalt was in ruins and firefighters were lying injured on the ground.
My boyfriend announced :That's it, we're getting out of here.
I frantically called my mom to tell her she had to come and pick my brother up. "Oh, its nothing, you're worrying too much." My mom is a dolt.
Moments before this occurred, my boyfriend and I had been talking about "What if an actually emergency situation was to happen? What's the escape plan? What would we do with your brother?"
Holy fuck. Taunting the devil perhaps? We certainly didn't mean to be.
Seconds passed as we saw billowing black smoke rise into the air, scattering debris even higher than my 16 story window. I rushed to find my cats as my boyfriend had their crates ready to go by the door. It took all of five minutes, if that, but it felt like an eternity. They were impossible to find and both of them has scattered upon the explosion. I grabbed them quickly and tried to get all of our medications into a bag and anything else I could grab. Sadly, this was forgotten as the fear grew.
The apartment was black. No power. No light. The smoke had consumed everything. The windows were black. The rooms were black.
My boyfriend hoisted my brother onto his back in piggy back fashion and I rushed to get my wallet and keys so I could lock the door and so that I had identification on me. We opened the door to a smoke filled hallway and my boyfriend rushed to the stairs for the emergency exit.
I scrambled to lock the door and ran with the two cat carriers after them. I opened the stairwell door so that they could push through and we entered the smoke filled stairwell. My little brother was holding on for dear life. We had sixteen floors to go down and it seemed like it would be impossible.
The lower we got, the worse the smoke got. I tried to hold my breath, but taking a deep breath in of smoke and holding it is just about as bad as breathing the smoke constantly.
As we got to the bottom, I breathed a sigh of relief, just as this middle aged woman walks out in front of us and begins to decend the last story of floors as slowly as she possibly can. I continue to say "Excuse me, excuse me". She looks at me angrily as though I just told her I was going to boil her cat and doesn't move. I"m thinking "We got a handicapped kid piggy backing on my boyfriends back down 16 flights and I don't need this you stupid bitch"
We got to the bottom and there were police there asking if anyone was injured in the stairwells. We said no and that we had come down from the 16th floor and we didn't see anyone else in the stairwells.
An officer assisted my boyfriend in carrying my brother out to the grass where we were told to wait.
Oh, I forgot to mention the torrential downpour that was currently going on. We're talking flood-like conditions.
So as we're ushered to the wet grass, we set my brother down and I set the cats down. A lady comes over to him and puts her coat around him as he's shivering in the cold.
We're then told we have to move further over on the grass, as the smoke is appartently toxic. We gather enough strength to move him over just a little bit further and set him down leaning up against some metal thing. The same lady that offered her coat came back over and told us of this other lady that wanted to offer up her house to us in this emergency situation. "He's handicapped, he shouldn't be out here in this.". So we muster up every last bit of energy and take him to her townhome, which was technically in the same complex as my apartment building.
Our legs jelly, and my brother a step away from tears, we sit down in her kitchen out of the rain. We're there maybe five or ten minutes before officers begin to come to the open door and tell us we now had to evacuate the townhouses as the toxic fumes were spreading. We announce to the officer that we can't move him because he's handicapped. The officer says "OK" and goes to get his sargeant. A blonde chick with short hair whome I plan on reporting to her superiors. This sergeant orders the constable to leave us and that we must carry him to shelter elsewhere.
"We can't! We just carried him down 16 flights of stairs and to the next block! We don't have any strength left!"
So he asks her again.
"NO, they can carry him. Make them do it. Tell them they have to carry him"
We're just about at tears, unsure of what should be done when the constable goes against orders and carries him out to a squad car nearby. We're told we can all get into the back to get out of the torrential downpour of rain. We're squiched in the back with two cat carriers, the first time in the back of a squad car for both my brother and boyfriend.
Less than a minute later, we're told we need to move again. The toxic fumes are spreading further.
This officer is nicer. He moves my brother without question to the "shelter bus", a TTC bus, that was waiting nearby. They say they are going to open the school, but nothing has been done yet and we can't get there for the fumes.
On the bus, we are told that a transformer exploded underground. SOmeone in the bus was in a firetruck as it happened. He states that there must be a death toll by now because the explosion was so huge.
As we're waiting, I call my mom again and try to explain that she really needs to come and get us. She finally understands. She's coming.
My boyfriend calls his mom as well, hoping that we can get a ride with the cats back to their place and that my brother can go home with my parents.
Then we're moved again. To another bus.
The guy who owns the convenience store in my building was on the bus with us and brought everyone little bags of chips to help ease everything. No cost. Just wanted to help.
My boyfriend goes into the convenience store that's right next to the bus we're sheltered in. He comes out with a box of water bottles and spreads it around the bus. "Did you have to pay for that?" "Yeah, twelve bucks" he said. I was ashamed for the convenience store clerk.
As we were moved to the next bus, my mom called my boyfriends cell phone wondering where we were as she just saw the shuttle bus leave. I told her we were behind that bus and went out to greet them.
My dad works for Toronto Police and thus got access to bring their van into the scene to get close enough to get my brother to safety. The convenience store owner from my building volunteered to carry my brother to the van. We're talking about a five foot tall tiny Asian man. He did it. My brother got to the car and burst into tears.
Both my boyfriend and I were wobbly legged and told my mom we were meeting my boyfriends mom in the Canadian Tire parking lot. We waited there and were then taken a couple towns over to their home, with the cats, to safety.
I am exhausted and frustrated, and stressed right now.
The news says that the structural integrity of the building is in question right now and so I don't even know if I'm going to have a home to return to.
Any support anyone can give is much appreciated.
In the news:
null
I awoke this morning with my boyfriend to discover that we had no water whatsoever in the building. This was our first sign of doom.
My 21 year old brother with cerebral palsy had been staying with me over the weekend and had decided to sleep on the balcony this past night. It was warm in the apartment and nice and cool on the balcony, so I set up a mattress for him and he was delighted.
When he awoke, we played a game of 'Whonu' until we heard the fire alarm ringing through my building. "Oy. What else is new? Some kid has pulled the alarm again" Which is usually what happens in our 23 story building.
My boyfriend and I went out onto the balcony to take a look at the oncoming firetrucks. There was a couple of them, but nothing too exciting. My brother crawled back out to the balcony to see them, too, as he's from the country and doesn't get to see things like this. Yes, crawled - as in he doesn't walk and has to use a wheelchair.
We watched as the firefighters lazily went down to the parking garage with a normal every day fire extinguisher. Nothing to worry about. Some car or something.
Nothing exciting seemed to be happening, so we went back inside.
About 30 seconds later, a BOOM so loud I had never heard its ilk before came through the building vibrating our very core. I rushed outside onto the balcony to take a look at what had happened and I saw the visitor parking lot out front crumble to pieces. The assfalt was in ruins and firefighters were lying injured on the ground.
My boyfriend announced :That's it, we're getting out of here.
I frantically called my mom to tell her she had to come and pick my brother up. "Oh, its nothing, you're worrying too much." My mom is a dolt.
Moments before this occurred, my boyfriend and I had been talking about "What if an actually emergency situation was to happen? What's the escape plan? What would we do with your brother?"
Holy fuck. Taunting the devil perhaps? We certainly didn't mean to be.
Seconds passed as we saw billowing black smoke rise into the air, scattering debris even higher than my 16 story window. I rushed to find my cats as my boyfriend had their crates ready to go by the door. It took all of five minutes, if that, but it felt like an eternity. They were impossible to find and both of them has scattered upon the explosion. I grabbed them quickly and tried to get all of our medications into a bag and anything else I could grab. Sadly, this was forgotten as the fear grew.
The apartment was black. No power. No light. The smoke had consumed everything. The windows were black. The rooms were black.
My boyfriend hoisted my brother onto his back in piggy back fashion and I rushed to get my wallet and keys so I could lock the door and so that I had identification on me. We opened the door to a smoke filled hallway and my boyfriend rushed to the stairs for the emergency exit.
I scrambled to lock the door and ran with the two cat carriers after them. I opened the stairwell door so that they could push through and we entered the smoke filled stairwell. My little brother was holding on for dear life. We had sixteen floors to go down and it seemed like it would be impossible.
The lower we got, the worse the smoke got. I tried to hold my breath, but taking a deep breath in of smoke and holding it is just about as bad as breathing the smoke constantly.
As we got to the bottom, I breathed a sigh of relief, just as this middle aged woman walks out in front of us and begins to decend the last story of floors as slowly as she possibly can. I continue to say "Excuse me, excuse me". She looks at me angrily as though I just told her I was going to boil her cat and doesn't move. I"m thinking "We got a handicapped kid piggy backing on my boyfriends back down 16 flights and I don't need this you stupid bitch"
We got to the bottom and there were police there asking if anyone was injured in the stairwells. We said no and that we had come down from the 16th floor and we didn't see anyone else in the stairwells.
An officer assisted my boyfriend in carrying my brother out to the grass where we were told to wait.
Oh, I forgot to mention the torrential downpour that was currently going on. We're talking flood-like conditions.
So as we're ushered to the wet grass, we set my brother down and I set the cats down. A lady comes over to him and puts her coat around him as he's shivering in the cold.
We're then told we have to move further over on the grass, as the smoke is appartently toxic. We gather enough strength to move him over just a little bit further and set him down leaning up against some metal thing. The same lady that offered her coat came back over and told us of this other lady that wanted to offer up her house to us in this emergency situation. "He's handicapped, he shouldn't be out here in this.". So we muster up every last bit of energy and take him to her townhome, which was technically in the same complex as my apartment building.
Our legs jelly, and my brother a step away from tears, we sit down in her kitchen out of the rain. We're there maybe five or ten minutes before officers begin to come to the open door and tell us we now had to evacuate the townhouses as the toxic fumes were spreading. We announce to the officer that we can't move him because he's handicapped. The officer says "OK" and goes to get his sargeant. A blonde chick with short hair whome I plan on reporting to her superiors. This sergeant orders the constable to leave us and that we must carry him to shelter elsewhere.
"We can't! We just carried him down 16 flights of stairs and to the next block! We don't have any strength left!"
So he asks her again.
"NO, they can carry him. Make them do it. Tell them they have to carry him"
We're just about at tears, unsure of what should be done when the constable goes against orders and carries him out to a squad car nearby. We're told we can all get into the back to get out of the torrential downpour of rain. We're squiched in the back with two cat carriers, the first time in the back of a squad car for both my brother and boyfriend.
Less than a minute later, we're told we need to move again. The toxic fumes are spreading further.
This officer is nicer. He moves my brother without question to the "shelter bus", a TTC bus, that was waiting nearby. They say they are going to open the school, but nothing has been done yet and we can't get there for the fumes.
On the bus, we are told that a transformer exploded underground. SOmeone in the bus was in a firetruck as it happened. He states that there must be a death toll by now because the explosion was so huge.
As we're waiting, I call my mom again and try to explain that she really needs to come and get us. She finally understands. She's coming.
My boyfriend calls his mom as well, hoping that we can get a ride with the cats back to their place and that my brother can go home with my parents.
Then we're moved again. To another bus.
The guy who owns the convenience store in my building was on the bus with us and brought everyone little bags of chips to help ease everything. No cost. Just wanted to help.
My boyfriend goes into the convenience store that's right next to the bus we're sheltered in. He comes out with a box of water bottles and spreads it around the bus. "Did you have to pay for that?" "Yeah, twelve bucks" he said. I was ashamed for the convenience store clerk.
As we were moved to the next bus, my mom called my boyfriends cell phone wondering where we were as she just saw the shuttle bus leave. I told her we were behind that bus and went out to greet them.
My dad works for Toronto Police and thus got access to bring their van into the scene to get close enough to get my brother to safety. The convenience store owner from my building volunteered to carry my brother to the van. We're talking about a five foot tall tiny Asian man. He did it. My brother got to the car and burst into tears.
Both my boyfriend and I were wobbly legged and told my mom we were meeting my boyfriends mom in the Canadian Tire parking lot. We waited there and were then taken a couple towns over to their home, with the cats, to safety.
I am exhausted and frustrated, and stressed right now.
The news says that the structural integrity of the building is in question right now and so I don't even know if I'm going to have a home to return to.
Any support anyone can give is much appreciated.
In the news:
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VIEW 19 of 19 COMMENTS
I sent a letter to yuor house before I read this, hopefully the post office will keep it or something though.
I hope everything gets better quickly!