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## pjaye (Dec 9, 2016)

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## Peeb (Dec 9, 2016)

Wow!  So sorry to hear that.

What a nightmare.


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## vintagesnaps (Dec 9, 2016)

Oh Barb, that's awful. I hope they're able to recover files etc. especially being of medical importance. Maybe the water damage won't make for a total loss of paperwork if the fire didn't destroy it. Glad you're safe and things get worked out for your workplace.


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## limr (Dec 9, 2016)

Oh that's awful! I'm so sorry


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## Rick50 (Dec 9, 2016)

Oh my gosh!


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## Raj_55555 (Dec 10, 2016)

symplybarb said:


> It was after i left and everyone is safe.  First floor destroyed.   We are on the second floor.  Heavy smoke on our floor and we are assuming water damage.  Probably structural damage as well.  I process about 100 applications a day for genetic and medical treatment out of country/out of province care for Ontario patients.  Many are life/death situations.  I'm just devastated.  They will have to relocate us for now. We are essential services.   I can't even wrap my head around it. We have over 50,000 paper files.    I can't post pictures from this stupid tablet but if you are on twitter, you can see it at @ygktraffic.


That's horrible.. glad that you're safe at least. How is it going to be handled, I hope there were digital records of those paper files for the sake of those patients..


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## snowbear (Dec 10, 2016)

I can't fathom recovering from this.  Thankfully no one was hurt.


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## otherprof (Dec 10, 2016)

symplybarb said:


> It was after i left and everyone is safe.  First floor destroyed.   We are on the second floor.  Heavy smoke on our floor and we are assuming water damage.  Probably structural damage as well.  I process about 100 applications a day for genetic and medical treatment out of country/out of province care for Ontario patients.  Many are life/death situations.  I'm just devastated.  They will have to relocate us for now. We are essential services.   I can't even wrap my head around it. We have over 50,000 paper files.    I can't post pictures from this stupid tablet but if you are on twitter, you can see it at @ygktraffic.


I hope the damage is much less than you anticipate, both physically and in terms of its effect on your patients. I think you are probably in shock, literally, and should not trust your own judgement or assessment for a while. Also, I'm hoping that while the 50,000 paper files are important - or they wouldn't have been saved - most of them are not of life and death importance in an urgent way. Something terrible happened but I'm hoping it turns out less terrible  than it appears now. Anyway, here's hoping.


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## astroNikon (Dec 10, 2016)

Saw the pictures.  Quite devastating especially the first floor section that was engulfed in flames.  No Fire sprinklers ??  Seeing flames like that are quite scary and intense.


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## pjaye (Dec 10, 2016)

I still can't wrap my head around what happened.  We do know that the southeast end of the building is gutted. That was Ontario Disability office and our in house tech support. That side is just completely gutted. Most of the first floor is burnt. The flames reached the third floor on the exterior. I could see our file room from outside and it *looks* like it didn't get burnt (we are on the second floor, directly above where the fire started). But there's heavy smoke up there and we are assuming some water damage. They had an emergency management meeting this morning to come up with a contingency plan. We simply can't not do our job. Patient's will die if we aren't there to process. We are a small unit, only 7 people but we are extremely busy. One of the other units deals with ontario patients health insurance eligibility. Again, they have to be able to process applications. We expected to be relocated to another building in town, however, we have no idea what, if anything, that we will be able to get from our offices. The files are critical. Especially the cancer ones. 



otherprof said:


> I hope the damage is much less than you anticipate, both physically and in terms of its effect on your patients. I think you are probably in shock, literally, and should not trust your own judgement or assessment for a while. Also, I'm hoping that while the 50,000 paper files are important - or they wouldn't have been saved - most of them are not of life and death importance in an urgent way. Something terrible happened but I'm hoping it turns out less terrible  than it appears now. Anyway, here's hoping.



I've worked this job for 10 years. I know what effect this is going to have on Ontario patients. We are funding out of country treatments for, among other things, cancer treatments. Treatments that these patients need or they will die. And these treatments are $400,000 to over a million $. Patients certainly can't afford it and out of country facilities (all over the world) won't treat the patients without funding from us . We are hoping to be able to send someone in once the building is deemed safe to grab at least the current files 



astroNikon said:


> Saw the pictures.  Quite devastating especially the first floor section that was engulfed in flames.  No Fire sprinklers ??  Seeing flames like that are quite scary and intense.


Interestingly, the building owner had just put out a new tender for fire inspection and safety equipment. I talked to the security guard who was there. He said that smoke just started billowing down the hall and then a window blew out. I don't understand how the fire alarm didn't go off long before that. Hopefully I will find out tomorrow.


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## robbins.photo (Dec 10, 2016)

symplybarb said:


> It was after i left and everyone is safe.  First floor destroyed.   We are on the second floor.  Heavy smoke on our floor and we are assuming water damage.  Probably structural damage as well.  I process about 100 applications a day for genetic and medical treatment out of country/out of province care for Ontario patients.  Many are life/death situations.  I'm just devastated.  They will have to relocate us for now. We are essential services.   I can't even wrap my head around it. We have over 50,000 paper files.    I can't post pictures from this stupid tablet but if you are on twitter, you can see it at @ygktraffic.


Very sorry to hear that Barn, just glad everyone is ok

Sent from my N9518 using Tapatalk


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## SquarePeg (Dec 10, 2016)

Glad you're safe. Sorry to hear about the damage. Terrible time of year to have to deal with all that.


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## pjaye (Dec 10, 2016)

astroNikon said:


> Saw the pictures.  Quite devastating especially the first floor section that was engulfed in flames.  No Fire sprinklers ??  Seeing flames like that are quite scary and intense.



So your question made me ask some questions.  No sprinklers in the building.  On of the people who came in to do the quote last week told me tonight.  I can't fathom why there were no sprinklers.

We are getting update tomorrow by management, but as of right now, the damage is very extensive and we will be moved to a temporary location.  This is going to be a nightmare.


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## vintagesnaps (Dec 11, 2016)

Makes you wonder how up to code the building was, and it's a good thing nobody was in there at the time. I hope things get figured out and you get settled in at least temporarily someplace soon.


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## jcdeboever (Dec 11, 2016)

Wow, I missed this one. Glad no one was burnt. I trust it will all get sorted eventually.


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## terri (Dec 11, 2016)

I missed this, too!  First and foremost, I'm glad you're okay and no one was hurt.  This clearly won't be easy, or fun, but it sounds like your files might have escaped from real damage.  Sure hope so!  

Stay safe while everything is getting moved to the new location.  Hopefully no one will suffer from the delay.   Good luck, Barb.


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## Gary A. (Dec 11, 2016)

That is horrible.  I hope there is minimal down time.  I am so sorry.


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## pjaye (Dec 12, 2016)

Thanks everyone. We are moving to a temporary location as of tomorrow. There were 4 people in the building when the fire started. All out safe thank god. 

It's going to be a rough week, but patient care comes first and we'll get through. Only essential staff are working this week, so myself and 4 other co-workers. I'm just so glad everyone is ok.


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## Gary A. (Dec 12, 2016)

Thankfully nobody was hurt.  (My stepson lost a friend in the Oakland fire.)  Now you have to just put your head down and plow ahead, one step at a time.  The long term goals are daunting, so just look at the immediate things that need to be done, roll up your sleeves, one thing at a time.  We're all behind you and we know it won't be easy or fun ... but it has to be done ... and we know you can do it.


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## vintagesnaps (Dec 12, 2016)

Take some deep breaths and once you get going in the new location you'll probably get it things figured out. Hope the files are able to be salvaged to some extent.

Sorry to hear that Gary, that was a shame.

Let us know Barb how it goes tomorrow.


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## webestang64 (Dec 12, 2016)

So glad to hear that everyone is safe. Papers, buildings can all be replaced.


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## NancyMoranG (Dec 17, 2016)

I just read the title and thought your photo business 'just caught fire' meaning it went ballistic!
So sorry to hear about it but especially sad for your patients...


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## jl1975 (Dec 17, 2016)

That would be a huge pain for any business to get through.  More so in your case as you have patients depending on you.  At least no one was hurt.  I heard on the news that the police were investigating the cause of the fire.  Have you heard anything more about it?


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## JustJazzie (Dec 17, 2016)

Oh my goodness! How scary. I'm glad to hear everyone is safe. Lots of good vibes heading your way!


Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app


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## pjaye (Dec 18, 2016)

We are up and running, not quite at capacity but enough that no patient care is comprised.  Three of us did overtime on the weekend to clear the backlog.  We are plowing through   I will probably do more overtime over Christmas.  Thank you everyone, I really appreciate the kind words.

As to the cause, they are investigating. Hopefully we will know more soon.  We've been told we probably won't be moving back into the building.


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## snowbear (Dec 18, 2016)

Glad to hear it is working out for you and your patients.


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