THE STORY BEHIND THE GREAT FIRE OF '98
POEM
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On Jan 2, 1998 it was drawing to the close of our dayshift,
when one of our units got a cryptic message. It just said to attend 312
Main Street (our old police headquarters), you are needed to transport
some people to 2120 Cambie Street (Our new police headquarters). This will
be a Code 3 run authorized by car 10. Car 10 is the officer in charge of
the city.
.
Well, hearing this piqued everyone's curiosity. Questions
started flying all over the place via computer terminal. We finally got
the story and were told that 312 Main was filling up with smoke and that
a fire was suspected somewhere in the building. Since our communication
center is in the building, the code 3 run was to transport several radio
operators to the new building so they could set up emergency radio communications.
.
It seems though, that nobody tripped the fire alarm
within the building. The fire department was phoned and responded. Radio
operators, 9-1-1 call takers, and office staff all continued to go about
their work as if nothing was wrong. The office staff, who didn't know about
the fire, began to suspect something was up, when in addition to the smoke,
there were firemen in full gear crawling all over the office searching
for the smoke.
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Now, the Vancouver Firemen in an effort to raise money
for the Vancouver General Hospital Burn Unit, several years back, started
issuing a Hall of Flame calendar, which features several of the "best looking"
firemen in various beefcake type poses. Needless to say, these items are
vary popular with lots of women, and our office staff is no exception.
.
So, here was the chance for the ladies to maybe catch
a glimpse of some of their favourite firemen in action. The source of the
fire was found, and only then was the evactuation order for the building
given, some 35 to 40 minutes after the fact. It turned out that the fire
was in a ventilation shaft and was likely caused by construction work on
a building next door to the police station.
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Anyway, the whole operation was so clandestine and funny
at times, that I just had to write about it.
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