Office Fire
September 21, 2021
It was Saturday, July 24th, when an alert popped up on my phone about a fire located on the same block where I work. Knowing the high probability of this being my office, a converted 91-years old Victorian house, I drove there to check out what was happening.
Unfortunately, my hunch was correct. Fortunately, no one was hurt.
According to the official report, three fire trucks arrived three minutes after an electrical fire started in the overhead light in my office, and firefighters extinguished the flames in 21 minutes. My office sustained enough damage to require that it be gutted down to the studs and rebuilt while the rest of the building remained structurally safe. There was, however, minimal smoke damage, a few office doors broken, and holes poked into some of the ceiling, all to ensure that the fire hadn't spread to other parts of the building.
I have insurance, yes, and everything is currently in the process of being replaced, including the new furniture I purchased prior to returning to my office on June 1. Listing and placing a value on everything that was lost or damaged for the insurance company was a tedious and time-consuming task, but it was nothing in comparison to what I know others face when dealing with the aftermath of a fire. Believe me; this was not lost on me!
My shocking and sobering experience of looking around the office included many sighs of relief that the only damage sustained was to things. Everything is replaceable, and the building was, relatively speaking, fine. I felt so grateful knowing that no one had to escape flames, no one lost their home, and most importantly, no one lost their life.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, there were 363,000 house fires in 2018. This stomach-turning fact reinforced for me what I had known since that night nearly two months ago. I'm lucky. I'm grateful. I'm thankful.
If there's one thing that this past year and a half has reminded me of, it's that life is unpredictable. Collectively and individually, we have faced unexpected challenges of varying magnitudes, some of which were imposed upon us by the pandemic and others that were altogether unrelated. How we respond to them is influenced by past experiences, current perspectives, and emotional capacity.
While I'd rank the office fire as a significant event in my life, I'd classify it as an inconvenience and nothing more. It has taken up a lot of my time and energy, I've lost sleep, and re-furnishing is challenging, in part due to supply chain issues during the pandemic. But that does not mean that this is in any way, shape, or form devastating. I know how bad this could have been and am continually filled with gratitude that no one was injured and everyone was safe, an outcome that is sadly not the reality for far too many others.
As we continually face challenges, some are devastating and bigger than ourselves, like the pandemic, climate change, and terrorism. Others are frustrating and disruptive, like tripping and falling, fender benders, and computer crashes. Some are life-altering, while others are life-changing. And some are inconveniences, just like my office fire.
