[this is the longest blog post in the history of blog posts, sorry]

i learned something new this morning. when firetrucks do the equivalent of laying on the horn in unison – it means that all firefighters are supposed to leave the building where they’re fighting the fire. that happened twice last night.

i was on the phone with a friend who lives 2 doors down from me discussing the excess amount of “bacon” (read: cops) in the ‘hood when i asked “can you hear those sirens?” he was in a car coming back from dropping friends off one neighborhood over. he laughed at me and said “no.” we got off the phone after a bit more random hilarity.

2 mins later the phone rings again. i’m in my pj’s in bed at this point – 11:55pm – so says my call log. “um, cristen, you might want to come down here,” robin says. “there are about 5 fire trucks outside your building and smoke coming from a couple doors down.” of course, i through on a coat and pants and head downstairs. i can see smoke and a bunch of folks gathered outside of 7-11. mind you, this is mount pleasant, folks loitering around 7-11 is an everyday occurrence. i walk across the street to get a better view and reconnect with robin (who is now toting his video camera). the fire is at 3145 Mt Pleasant Street, a large fairly recently-renovated apartment building.

[as i'm writing this, a DCFD hazmat truck just blared up 16th street - i really hope the building hasn't collapsed]

so, i end up standing around watching the fire and snapping some pictures with my iphone. everyone who has a phone is now taking pictures. there’s just smoke coming out the windows and no water actually being used (that anyone could tell). DCFD is systematically knocking out all the windows of the building as there are still some residents inside. DC police have gotten on the PA and in english and spanish have been calling for everyone to evacuate the building bc it’s on fire. even after standing there for 45 mins, there were still stragglers leaving the building. according to nbc4 today, no resident was harmed, thankfully.

as windows are being broken out, flames start to erupt from the side of the building. suddenly the reality hits everyone. at this point the dc police are asking anyone who’s a tenant of the building to head up the street towards park street – where a metro bus is waiting to take everyone to shelter for the night. many families had small children and babies – they were the first in line. many tenants could not tear themselves away from watching everything go up in smoke (and now flames).

just before 1am, the police finally got out the police tape and started pushing everyone away. “to the other side of 7-11 everyone. the other side.” in my hurried rush to get outside, i didn’t grab the warmest clothes so i decide that i need to head back to my house after about an hour of watching it all go down.

i was reluctant to call my mom as she’s quite the worrier, but there was just something that prompted me to do so. it takes quite a bit to get me excited or alarmed, but this just wasn’t setting well. on my walk back down the block, i’m deliberating what i would take if i had to leave my house because of a fire. as i sat in bed talking to my mom, with my pj’s on for the 2nd time, my windows are illuminated by all the lights of the firetrucks. i can hear the PA and yelling, but suddenly i start to hear what sounds like mini explosions? shit! pipes? gas? wtf? i mention it to mom.

next thing i know – knock! knock! knock! i’m on the phone with mom still. i open the door. it’s bano, from downstairs. “hi cristen. don’t want to alarm you, but we’ve been asked to evacuate everyone from the building. you’ve got a minute, but please gather your things and get out.” lovely! i get off the phone and start gathering my things. thankfully, i’d already considered what i would do in the situation – oh about 10 mins prior to this point.

so the rush is on. first? pants. “these pj shorts aren’t going to cut it.” i grabbed a big bag and loaded up contents including:

• two shirts (i have on jeans at this point so i could make it a couple days at least)
• underclothes
• boots (my tennies were pretty cold, i learned that earlier in the evening.
• my heavy coat
• my work bag
• my laptop
• my phone charger
• my purse
• my grandmother’s pearl earrings that she gave me before she passed away
• my hollyhock cookbook (don’t harass me, you know i’m a food nerd).

i end up downstairs with all my neighbors. at this point, i come to find out the loud booming noise i heard was the window’s of the building 2 doors down exploding because of the heat. turns out, we were evacuated bc embers from the fire were now falling on my apartment building. they also closed down tonic – which was still open and serving folks. i’m promptly pushed behind the police where i find a cozy space against the wall with my bag and pop a squat. watching it all go down. the first is quite larger than before and is definitely spreading.

i met a lot of neighborhood folks. we were all feeling very disoriented and at a loss. everyone was very friendly. we can’t go back into our building. it’s 3am. what do we do?

robin finds me propped up against a building on the other side of los primos. he’s almost finished filming. several of his friends are in tow. one of them has offered up a couch for me for the night. it’s 3:30 now and i’m definitely willing to take it. my coworker chris was the first to come to the rescue, after reading my tweets from the night. he offered up a couch, but i had a huge bag and didn’t think i could make the 7 block trip to his house. (thank you, chris) en route, we hear that the church roof behind the building it now on fire and engulfed, but we’re too exhausted to investigate.

after it was all said and done. i was in bed by 4:15am and totally emotionally exhausted. actually, i still am. all night long i heard sirens and loud noises. every time i woke up i wondered if i would any place to call home when it was time to get out of bed. robin reassured me that the fact i was safe was most important, but it’s a dreadful idea that you never want to have to consider… where will i call home? what will i have to replace? will any of my photos be left?

i woke up this morning around 7:15, packed up and headed towards my house. there was still smoke coming from the block. i crept towards the apartment. so afraid of what i might find when i got there. thankfully, everything was ok. everything is sort of smoky and drab. although at this point, it could’ve just been my allergies reacting to all the suit from last night. no fun.

i drop my bag. put on clean clothes. i have no water pressure (thanks to the fire) so i grab my toothbrush and work bag and off i go. i did stop to take a couple of pictures on the way. i go out the back door of the building in the morning so i was able to get an entirely different take. it was overwhelming how close the fire was to the back of my house (click on the picture to see the notes). i walk to 16th street and it’s closed. “guess i won’t be taking the bus today.” finally the street opens up at 16th and Harvard, but no sign of any bus any time soon so i decide to truck it. why not?! i haven’t showered anyway. now that’s one exciting (and terrifying) night. thanks to everyone who responded to my twitters, called, IM’d, and emailed. i’m very thankful to be safe and sound with a place to call home, albeit very exhausted.

this morning i received the following email from a neighborhood group:

As many of you already know, 3145 Mt. Pleasant Street (also known as the Winston) was partially destroyed by fire last night. The most recent word is that donations of money, food and clothing (including shoes, kids’ clothing, winter wear, etc.) are needed for the over 800 people who have been either permanently or temporarily displaced, many of them children and elderly . Donations can be brought to:

Neighbor’s Consejo
3118 16th Street, NW
Contact: Evar Sandoval
(202)234-6855

Yasmin Romero is the president of the Tenants’ Association at 3145 Mt. Pleasant Street, and she is a very active, much loved member and organizer with Hear Mount Pleasant. 3145 is a highly organized building of mostly immigrant residents. Our hearts go out to Yasmin and all the tenants of this building and we will support their efforts to make sure the building is renovated and that every single one of the tenants is able to move back and stay together. Haydee’s and Don Juan’s Restaurants served as shelters overnight for the displaced.

i haven’t been this scared in a long time and it wasn’t even my building that was engulfed. if you’re inclined to help out in any way, please do. i’m also happy to help collect items from friends to take to the Neighbor’s Consejo if that’s easier.

Check out my del.icio.us feed for more fire related articles and photos.