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Chris on Television! |
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Wednesday, October 27, 2000If you were watching the 7 AM news in Columbus, Ohio, you would have seen my son Chris' apartment on TV. |
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There's Chris!And if you looked closely while they panned the crowd outside the apartment, you would have seen Chris standing on the edge of the crowd. |
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And Brian CooperAnd you'd have seen Chris' roommate, Brian Cooper |
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And Mark BloombergAnd look - you'd have also seen Chris' other roommate, Mark Bloomberg |
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Don't Know Who That IsAnd that guy there...well, all we know for sure is that he's a fireman. One of the many firemen who accompanied 32 pieces of equipment to the three alarm fire at Chris' apartment on OSU's campus. |
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At 2 AM, Where Was YOUR Kid?Mine was scrambling out of his apartment. It seems that there was an old couch sitting in the alley beside the house Chris, Mark and Brian live in. Someone evidently decided it would be a funny prank to set the couch on fire. And then the fire spread from the couch to Chris' apartment building and the apartment building next door. None of the residents were injured, though one firefighter broke his hand. The news report said there was over $70,000 worth of damage. A very tired (and uninjured) Chris tells me that all their stuff is wet and smells like smoke. As I write this, Chris is drying out his portable computer and preparing to rent a U-Haul to cart all his stuff over here for clean-up. On the bright side, we should get to see more of Chris until he finds a new place to stay. And for Christmas, we can give Chris a magnetic dry erase board with this picture of him on TV! |
QuickTime Movie of TeaserAll three Columbus television stations did stories on the fire. Channel 4 did the most comprehensive coverage (and was the only one to show Chris, Brian and Mark). The compressed QuickTime movie of Channel 4's entire report is over 13 meg in size, so I'm not going to put it here. I will, however, show you this 1 meg QuickTime movie of Channel 4's teaser about the story. Sure would have been nice if Chris, Brian and Mark had been on TV for all the great stuff they do instead of because some idiot set fire to a couch, wouldn't it? |
Noon UpdateI spent the morning with Chris, Brian and Mark. They and their neighbors are doing an unbelievably great job of coping with the situation. Friends and co-workers were stopping by to help out. Several people have asked if their stuff is covered by insurance, and it is. That doesn't help with all the notes and computer files that were ruined, but at least they'll be able to replace all their damaged stuff. The news says there were over 100 firefighters on the scene, and it looks like at least half of them were involved in poking holes in the walls and ceilings. Chris mentioned several times what a great job the firefighters did of trying to minimize the water damage to their stuff. Although there was a lot of water damage, it could have been much worse. We took some videos to help the guys as they fill out all the insurance forms, and I'll probably upload some shots of the damage and clean-up effort later tonight or tomorrow. The two houses have been declared "uninhabitable" by the city, and I'm not sure where the guys are going to be spending the night. If we get real lucky, Chris will move back in here for a little while. |
QuickTime Video, Morning NewscastThe full story from this morning's 7 AM WCMH TV newscast is a 13 meg file, and I originally decided that it was too big to put on here. After all, who in their right mind would wait for a 13 meg download. However, when I was over helping Chris, Mark and Brian, some of their friends stopped by, and I was reminded that they all have high speed access to the internet. Soooooo....I decided to put the WCMH story on here. However, since not everyone has high speed access to the web, I've split the story into three parts. The links on the left will take you to the three parts. Part one is the intro and shows the mess outside the house. Part two is the main part of the newscast, and if you're going to download only one segment, this is the one to download. It shows a bit of the fire and several of the tenants as they watch the firefighters work. Part three is the wrap-up. |
Pics of the Clean-upHere are several pages of pictures from the clean-up |