[Noisebridge-board] [Fwd: Re: Fire Department Visits Noisebridge (oh, right, and there was a fire).]

Wed Dec 2 19:34:02 UTC 2009

Oh, Dr J, here's what Henry originally responded, and my board email to
which Mitch replied in case you have not seen it.

Rachel

----
While prohibiting NB access to the second floor is a reasonable
decision, I'm pretty sure Henry has the wrong impression about the
location and the cause of the fire.  Since Dr Jesus found the fire, I'd
like to ask him to tell Henry about it in a bit more detail so he has
better information.  I am pretty sure it wasn't one of us and I'd prefer
the landlords not think that either if we can help it.

Any objections to this?  Anyone have a different course of action to
suggest?

Rachel

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Re: Fire Department Visits Noisebridge (oh, right, and there
was a fire).
Date: 	Tue, 1 Dec 2009 23:57:59 -0800
From: 	Henry Ho <henryhoproperty at gmail.com>
To: 	Shannon Lee <shannon at scatter.com>
CC: 	Rachel McConnell <rachel at xtreme.com>, Andy Isaacson
<adi at hexapodia.org>, Rubin Abdi <rubin at starset.net>, Alex Handy
<alexhandy at gmail.com>

Hi Shannon and Noisebridge members,

I am glad to hear that everyone is safe. This could have turned out much
worse. Unfortunately, it has also come to my attention that there have
been ongoing events that have likely led to this near-disaster.

It appears that the locks securing southern entry into the rear unit of
the second floor have been pried apart, and apparently have been
disabled since shortly after Noisebridge's move-in. It also appears that
there has been ongoing access to the second floor rear unit via the
story's north-east stairs connecting the 2nd and 3rd stories. My father
mentioned that someone had asked permission to enter the 2nd floor
during meeting days to avoid the crowding that occurs on the 3rd floor.
While my father permitted this, he did not intend for access to occur at
any other time for any other reason (other than emergencies or with
prior consent). Unfortunately, perhaps due to the ease of access to the
2nd floor due to the combination of the previously mentioned entry
issues, it seems that there may be such prohibited entries recurring.

While we agree that it is unlikely a case of arson, we do however
believe that it was more likely a case of a member of Noisebridge
entering the 2nd story rear unit for a cigarette. We ruled out that it
was anyone in the 2nd floor because firstly, they were not there because
they don't work over the weekends. Their business has been suffering
over the past few months so it is unlikely that they would have enough
work to come in on weekends. Secondly, they don't smoke or use incense
in the building. Over the past decade, an incident like this has never
occurred.

Unfortunately, to address the issue and help prevent a situation like
this from happening again, *we must revoke and prohibit access to the
2nd floor by Noisebridge members* and restore the locks to the 2nd floor
units, monitoring their condition from time to time. We understand that
Noisebridge is a large group and that some members' actions are out of
the control of leading members, but we must insist that this policy
change be announced and enforced to the best of your organization's
abilities. We are not doing this to punish, but to ensure the safety of
all tenants of the building. Aside from this incident, you have been
great tenants.

We understand that Noisebridge is growing everyday, and as space becomes
an issue, members may naturally wander and explore other parts of the
building, perhaps to get away from the crowd to gain some privacy. If
this continues to be the case, Noisebridge is always welcome to rent the
2nd floor unit(s). This way, with more space and occupation of the
building, members will be less likely to engage in clandestine
activities away from the central group. If it sounds like a bad sales
pitch, it probably is :)  but please do consider the possibility as it
appears we all stand to gain from such an arrangement.

If you have any more questions or concerns, please feel free to contact
me at any time. You can reach me via email at this address or you can
contact me directly at 415.420-2189.

Best Regards,

Henry Ho

On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Shannon Lee <shannon at scatter.com
<mailto:shannon at scatter.com>> wrote:

    Hey Henry,

    Just keeping you in the loop.

    --S

    ---------- Forwarded message ----------
    From: *Shannon Lee* <shannon at scatter.com <mailto:shannon at scatter.com>>
    Date: Sun, Nov 29, 2009 at 9:55 PM
    Subject: Fire Department Visits Noisebridge (oh, right, and there
    was a fire).
    To: NoiseBridge Discuss <noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net
    <mailto:noisebridge-discuss at lists.noisebridge.net>>

    Hey All,

    Earlier this evening, just after the knot symposium ended, Dr Jesus
    smelled fire, and wandered around looking for it; after a while, he
    discovered that there was a smoldering piece of cardboard on the
    second floor landing of the south ("banana") staircase.  There was
    apparently a match nearby.

    Dr. Jesus brought the smoldering piece of cardboard upstairs and
    doused it in water.  There was a lot of smoke and yelling for a few
    minutes, and 911 was called.  The fire department instructed us to
    clear the space, which we did, slowly and anarchically.

    The fire department arrived as the last people were leaving the
    space, maybe five minutes after they were called; they investigated,
    and decided that it probably wasn't arson and that the smouldering
    cardboard was probably the extent of the fire.  While a couple of
    them checked around downstairs, others stayed and chatted with me
    about the space -- they seemed interested in Noisebridge's function,
    and inquired about how to become members, and about what dues cost.

    They spent about five minutes in the space and then took off.

    The best explanation I've heard offered for what happened so far was
    that maybe the downstairs neighbor was lighting incense; there
    didn't seem to be a cigarette nearby.  Nobody answered the door
    downstairs.

    --S

    --
    Shannon Lee
    (503) 539-3700

    "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."

    --
    Shannon Lee
    (503) 539-3700

    "Any sufficiently analyzed magic is indistinguishable from science."

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