Update on "building go boom"

[lordshipmayhem]

I'm still boggled at the force required to lift a fire truck clear of the pavement. Especially a pumper - even empty it weighs a lot, because it has to be robust enough (and have a powerful enough engine) to haul around enough water to fill a large-size above-ground pool or two. And that water itself weighs tons too.

Bad news so far: it'll be at least four weeks (possibly double that) before the tenants of the building can get back in their apartments. There's no power (duh, as the transformer is now largely vaporized), no water and no structural integrity to the garage or the floors of the lower floors. The supports are OK, so the building isn't going to collapse, but the first floor itself (between the columns) is another tale. Plus, there are low-level toxic fumes everywhere.

So there's no elevator. So they can't get their stuff out. They've got their pets, their meds, their credit cards and maybe some clothes other than what's on their backs. That's it. They've also got rent refund cheques. Great, they can rent a room for a month - with their furnishings trapped in a building elsewhere in the city.

At least they're alive...