IT'S ALARMING

Imagine you’re in the shower belting out My Way at the top of your lungs, when suddenly you’re drowned out by a shrieking alarm. Womp! Womp! Womp!

DO YOU GUESS: This can’t be good?

BINGO: You would be right. It’s important to stay calm but not too calm because, Fire?

DO YOU: Finish the song? Or find a towel, fast?

STOP. THINK: Would I rather stay in my unit and die of smoke inhalation or be seen on Wilbur in my ratty pink bathrobe? Hard choice, admittedly.

BE PREPARED: Along with your family album, always have your best silk kimono within
reach in case you have to leave in a hurry.

KNOW THIS: Pacific Tower loves you and there are numerous ways it protects you in
case of fire.Obviously we’re the opposite of a woody log cabin.Concrete versus wood is
good.Also, there are censors all over the building connected to a fire detection computer
that’s also connected to the fire department.All our doors are fire-rated not to melt for two
hours.The FD inspects the property annually to make sure all is safe.Not only that…

FUN FACT: Your unit has TWO alarms – SMOKE AND FIRE! What’s the diff? That 5” white round plastic thing (probably over your bedroom door) is a smoke alarm. It’s not connected to the rest of the building. It’s yours.You can get one at Walmart for 18 bucks plus 9 Volt batteries or you can get the fancy-shmancy combo one that also includes a carbon monoxide detector (39 smackers).You’re required by our CC&Rs (AKA the building rules) to have at least one working smoke alarm (and reminded to swap out the batteries annually).

IF IT IS CHIRPING: It’s trying to tell you – I need new batteries ASAP!

HOW DOES MY SMOKE ALARM WORK?
EXAMPLE: Say you left a pot on the stove and went into the bedroom to binge watch a
Three Stooges Marathon.The Stooges aren’t as funny as you remembered and you nod
off.You wake up to a smoke-filled room and your smoke alarm is blaring.

GENIUS: You immediately trace the smoke back to your stove where your mac and
cheese has turned into black and sleaze.
DO: Turn stove off.
IMPORTANT: Do not let your kimono sleeves catch fire.You’ll never forgive yourself.
DO: Turn off and reset your alarm in case the I Love Lucy marathon has the same effect.
DON’T: Leave the building.Stay home, open the windows and have fun trying to rehab
that Revere Ware you just destroyed.

ALARM NUMBER TWO:

IN YOUR HALLWAY: There’s the 3” X 4” rectangular fire alarm. It goes off if there’s a fire anywhere in the common areas of the building like the garage, dumpster room, boiler room, laundry rooms, hallways, lobbies and storage rooms. It’s also connected to our local Fire Station #21, and they are no doubt, on their way the second after our alarm goes off. 

DO I STAY OR DO I GO? It’s not a bad idea to leave the building. It COULD be a false alarm, but why chance it? Skip the elevator and take the stairs down - you could use the exercise. Consider it an opportunity to:

• Get away from the deafening shrieking alarm.
• Meet your neighbors.
• Show off that silk kimono.
• See cute firemen.

Karyl Miller - Writer. Trish Mylet- Editor
http://www.PacificTowerHOA.org 

Fire Inspection

June 15 we had our building’s annual fire inspection and are happy to report we passed with flying colors and with only a few tiny corrections to be made. Important to note again and again, – even though Pacific Tower is solid concrete so that flames seem unlikely - smoke can kill you. Smoke is the reason all laundry room and hallway fire doors must be kept closed, so that if there is a fire, the smoke won’t travel through the building.

Fire!

                      

Don’t you just hate it when you’ve given yourself permission to take a little well-deserved nap in the middle of the day (even though you hadn’t done anything all that tiring) and you’re 30 seconds into that deep, luscious daytime dreamland when the screeching fire alarm starts ceaselessly jack-hammering in one of your ears and out the other?

On April 15, I was just about to take a little Saturday snooze, when HONK, HONK!  HONK!  Since we had had our annual Fire Alarm testing just the day before, I assumed it was a false alarm.  Nevertheless, I scrambled downstairs to head off the Fire Department (who come automatically).

In the lobby I read the Fire Alarm Panel, (which I had just been taught how to read) assuming it would say “low battery” or something, but NO, it said the dreaded words “Boiler Room.”  Then I instantly remembered our shower was not that hot that AM.  OMG, I thought, “Did 2 and 2 make fire?”

Heart pounding, I grabbed my keys and ran toward the Boiler Room, smelling burning metal.  Hearing a roar and feeling the heat, I threw open the doors and saw actual flames coming out of the boiler.  I could already hear the fire trucks approaching, but in my panic, I called 911 anyway.  No law against making sure, just in case that siren I heard wasn’t headed elsewhere.  My next panic call was to John McLean, our former trusty Building Manager who is my constant mentor and moral support.  Like ex-presidents, only John knows the tremendous responsibility of running this building and he remains a loyal friend to Pac Tower.

While everyone milled about on the sidewalk, the Fire Department examined the building from head to toe, making sure we were out of danger.  An energetic female fire fighter didn’t hesitate to scale 12 flights of stairs (two stairs at a time, no less). It made me feel proud and old at the same time.

The plumbers came quickly, accessed the damage and by evening, had disassembled and hauled off chunks of the charred metal thing affectionately known as “our boiler.”  It served us many years but now it was time for new.

AND YOU THOUGHT, “TAKING A COLD SHOWER” WAS JUST AN EXPRESSION?

So now the heat was on to get a new boiler (because cold showers are considered a torture by the Geneva Convention).  We needed a new boiler STAT!  No surprise, you can’t get a giant, room-sized industrial-strength boiler at Home Depot.  No!  It’s a SPECIALTY!  It has to be ORDERED and ASSEMBLED and TRUCKED to San Diego from the exotic location of OXNARD!  A FORKLIFT is going to be involved!  AFTER that, the entire operation is going to have to be piped and connected and heated up.  

As we patiently waited for the undertaking to be over, all of us became more and more demoralized and disgusted with ourselves, as we smelled more and more like Mount Everest hikers.  Finally the day came when we could all enjoy (although separately!) the luxury of a soothing hot shower.  It was a good thing!  Yes the showers were imperfect, but a part was ordered and tweaking will have taken place by the time you read this – so SHOWER ON!

Karyl Miller,  Building Manager

It’s Getting Hot in Here! AGAIN?

Just as we were putting this newsletter to sleep Tuesday May 9 at 6:30 PM, Beep!  Beep!  Beep!  - Our fire alarm went off – AGAIN!  Our wonderful fire fighters from Engine 21 put it out  - a very small dumpster fire in no time.  Did someone toss out a still-lit cigarette in there?  So please remember this if you’re throwing things down the chute:

1.     Make sure your trash is NOT on fire.

2.     NEVER leave your laundry room door open. Propping open or hooking your laundry room door open creates a genuine fire danger.  Staff will shut every laundry room door every day but we need you to do it too whenever your neighbor ignores this rule.  Thank you.