On Fire !

When the fire alarm went off, i thought its just another false alarm.. I dint care a **** and continued my work.. It was already 7.45 in the evening. But then when there was panic in the building, I set on my foot; my cube mates still glued on to the pc. A quick analysis of the situation and i sensed some danger. Burning smell was coming from the interior of the floor. I alerted my cube mates to evacuate. The entire floor and building evacuated to the safe assembly area. The security was quick to act. They assessed the situation, and immediately alerted the fire service and police. By the time they came, I saw the security boys - even the pantry staff - running around and climbing to the 3rd floor. They sensibly opened up all the windows for proper ventilation. Thats when we, from below, saw thick smoke coming out from the back extreme of the building. From what we learned, the fire was in the data centre - thats somewhere at the middle of the length of the 3rd floor. The back end would at least be 20m from that point !

Fire brigade came in quick time. By 8.20PM, they were in the stand by mode. The squad rushed in, and I guess, the fire extinguishers in the floor were used to quench the fire, if any.

By 9PM it was all in control. I climbed up to 3rd floor, to check if my pc is all fine. But i was stopped at the entrance, coz there still was thick smoke inside.. The security warned that its unsafe to go in - rightly so. So I retracted to the basement. A colleague of mine who went to fetch his vehicle keys later told me that, there still is smoke inside, and its all foggy in there.

By 9.15PM, the fire brigade packed up and left.
The facilities team of the office had already arrived by this time.
Hopefully, everything is under control.
And fortunately no one is hurt.
The damage to the property - well, thats left to be assessed.

Not a great way to end the week !