EMERGENGY ON COOPER STREET

Well what an experience I had last week Turned out there was a fire in the generator room and the generator caught on fire and we were left with no hydro at all. It started around the noon hour and we were finally evacuated around 4 p.m. or so. It was amazing to see all the emergency people do their thing. First we had firefighters that knocked on the doors of the people that didn't get out before we lost emergency power and couldn't get down the stairs telling us to pack up for a few days. Then we had the firemen and ambulance crew come up to get us and assorted animals. After getting downstairs we were loaded up on an OC Transpo bus, animals and all and taken to the Jack Purcell building where we received a brown bag lunch for those that hadn't eaten. After that we were assigned emergency shelter if we had no place to go. Some of us were extremely lucky with where we ended up but I am sure all of us were happy to be safe and sound. The only real problem I had was the lack of communication where we were left for days wondering what was happening. Then we would be told it would probably the next day we could come home and then it turned in to the next day and the next day. I am so amazed at how stressful this was when we didn't lose our home or our belongings that I couldn't imagine how that would be.My thanks to everyone who did their job so well, we were so well taken care of. From the firemen to the ambulance crew, the red cross, OC Transpo, the Jack Purcell centre and the city of Ottawa who helped us to be placed in our lodgings. My thanks to everyone, May May and I are very grateful.