Yesterday around 4:30 I was working at home with Marjorie and my sister Alex. We heard a popping and a bang coming from upstairs. We weren’t sure what it was and almost chose to ignore it. I walked to the back door and saw water coming into my place and smoke off the porch above me. Outside I saw huge orange flames shooting from the laundry room. I ran back into the apartment, screaming, “FIRE!!!, get out!!” I called 911 and ran upstairs to my neighbor’s place. I heard her leave a few minutes before the fire started so I knew she was safe, but there were animals in the house. I bolted up the stairs and didn’t see any fire, thought for a minute I was overreacting and had called the fire dept for no reason. Then I saw the smoke and flames in the kitchen. The dogs were gone, so I grabbed her turtle from his tank and flew down the stairs to help Marjorie and Alex. I had no idea what to take, where anything valuable was or what to do until the fire dept arrived. My brain shut down, I could hardly move.

The fire dept. arrived in minutes. Five engines, and dozens of firemen poured out of the red trucks and went to work. I have never seen anything like it. They were heroic in their yellow uniforms with oxygen tanks strapped to their back, dragging hoses up the massive flight of stairs to our house. I love firemen. I love firemen. I love firemen.

I had my phone in hand so I began trying to locate my neighbors and my landlord. Before too long the street was a sea of red fire trucks, seven engines and two SUV’s. The neighbors were lining the street, photographers were taking pictures…and a “public adjuster” was on scene freaking us all out. My phone kept buzzing and ringing, I couldn’t understand why the hell everyone was choosing that minute to call and send emails. When I had a minute to check, I found emails like “Are you okay? Twitter is blowing up about the fire at your place” so I checked twitter and could not believe the number of tweets about the fire!

I tried not to be alarmist about it. But the medium is all about the moment. It was a strange feeling to be standing across the street from my house, watching the firemen tear away the roof, and tweeting about it. But it was also somewhat comforting, I felt less helpless and vulnerable in the experience. In a tragedy - thinking about where you are going to sleep or eat are the hardest decisions to make. Knowing that so many people made themselves and their homes available to me and my dog - it made the experience so much easier. I didn’t have to think, I knew we would be okay.

Those amazing fire fighters (did I mention that I LOVE firemen) escorted me to my apartment and told me there was going to be water damage and they wanted to cover my apartment with plastic. They pulled shelves away from the walls, took all my pictures and paintings and put them on the table, placed anything that looked valuable away from the leak and covered my furniture, computer, bed and photos with plastic.

There wasn’t much to do after that, but watch as piles of burned wood cascading from the roof. Marjorie took us to get some food and a change of scenery. By the time we got back to my place it was dark and there was no electricity. Black foam and burned wood covered the backyard. My apartment was a disaster. The entire ceiling was on the floor, puddles of water, plants on their side, furniture turned over. Its a mess, but nothing compared to upstairs. Walls and roof, gone. My Janey is not my neighbor anymore. This makes me very sad and my heart goes out to her.

Alex, Sophia and I stayed at Marjorie’s last night. I’m dreading going home today.
I’m not sure what the day or next few weeks will bring. My biggest concern is not having a place to work while they re-build the house. Do I move or find temporary office space? Please let me know if you have either a place on the West side for rent or an office I can crash for a few weeks.

The LAist picked up on the Twitter fire story. What more could a Social Media Consultant want? A story about using Social Media in a tragedy….

Thank you to all who expressed concern and offered help. The emails, tweets and calls meant so much. Thank you to the spectacular LA Fire Dept. and the firemen who did an amazing job of saving the house and protecting my apartment. Los Angeles is truly a great city, I’m lucky to be here.

Earlier today an electrical fire started in the apartment above mine. 7 fire trucks and 30 firemen put the fire out and an enormous hole in the roof. My apartment is intact, but the extent of the water damage has yet to be determined.

I’m not sure yet, what I’m going to be dealing with, so if we had plans this week - they may be postponed.

Thank you for all the tweets, calls and emails with offers to help. My furniture and clothes are in good shape, however - I may need to find a place to work for a few weeks while the apartment is being worked on.

UPDATE:

This morning the LAist published a story about yesterday’s events as they played out on twitter.

*the fire was not started by a dryer as I assumed, but by faulty wiring in a porch light that was not even on.

Marjorie took these photos just after the fire was put out.