shootingstar Posted August 5, 2022 Share #1 Posted August 5, 2022 Our main headquarters building was broken during wee hrs. of early morning last Mon. A guy with metal bar smashed through window/glass door. Then he went up to 3rd floor, where he set 3 different fires which activated the sprinkler system on that floor. It took several security staff to catch and hold him down (since he did have a metal object) for police. Anyway, the incident, resulted in security staff, locking out several hundred employees who commuted to work. (we have a requirement to at least work 1-3 days / wk. @office) But more seriously it did damage areas of building. Caused relocation of several walk-in municipal services to other building locations. One of the alternate locations is over 15 km. north from downtown. The damage is great enough on 3rd floor it might take several months to fix. (probably do something to fix fire sprinkler system too). YES, we serve the public faithfully for certain walk-in services in public for those who need it since some services require submission of tax filing documents. (if you don't want to mail-in and wait around as a low-income resident, for several days for a transit pass). Today: I learned it has also disrupted courier services, recycling service from building and some portion of IT system was disrupted. Not clear what. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerrySTL ★ Posted August 5, 2022 Share #2 Posted August 5, 2022 2 minutes ago, shootingstar said: some portion of IT system was disrupted. Not clear what. Water and servers, routers, power supplies don't go well together. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 5, 2022 Author Share #3 Posted August 5, 2022 14 minutes ago, JerrySTL said: Water and servers, routers, power supplies don't go well together. Our building is a 1960's bldg. with alot of glass. Homeless or unemployed folks cruise through our building in past. Sometimes they sit in the foyer quietly. Yes security staff circulate. However since covid, seating has been much removed for the public. This incident was reported in news media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wilbur ★ Posted August 5, 2022 Share #4 Posted August 5, 2022 Insurrection! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Posted August 5, 2022 Share #5 Posted August 5, 2022 What a shame. The trouble caused by one person can impact a much larger of people just trying to get along in their lives and deal with required government offices. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 5, 2022 Author Share #6 Posted August 5, 2022 28 minutes ago, Kirby said: What a shame. The trouble caused by one person can impact a much larger of people just trying to get along in their lives and deal with required government offices. Precisely. Clearly the person also had mental health issues. It was around 4:00 am. One of our services is dealing directly with building, trades permits....which means discussing building plans/property etc. with front counter service staff. There are fees involved at some point when obtaining a permit, etc. This is thousands of $$$ for people who will come in person in hopes to get conversation and problems resolved faster in person. But we....give the green light, etc. This is not just disputing about one's property tax bill..which can be done online. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 5, 2022 Author Share #7 Posted August 5, 2022 I wish people understood what it actually means to be on the other side of the counter/serving the public, being in govn't. I see many staff trying hard with considerable expertise and patience. with covid pall, in general, people seem to be angrier, flinging out their frustration wrongly. I see alot more signage in public buildings, asking public to behave with respect, not assault, etc. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thaddeus Kosciuszko Posted August 5, 2022 Share #8 Posted August 5, 2022 2 hours ago, shootingstar said: Our main headquarters building was broken during wee hrs. of early morning last Mon. A guy with metal bar smashed through window/glass door. Then he went up to 3rd floor, where he set 3 different fires which activated the sprinkler system on that floor. It took several security staff to catch and hold him down (since he did have a metal object) for police. It sounds like your boss had a really bad day... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 5, 2022 Author Share #9 Posted August 5, 2022 31 minutes ago, Thaddeus Kosciuszko said: It sounds like your boss had a really bad day... Other than that was kinda a bad joke... it will be interesting later if/ just what type of additional security controls will be added around the building. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 5, 2022 Author Share #10 Posted August 5, 2022 2 hours ago, JerrySTL said: Water and servers, routers, power supplies don't go well together. There was water leakage migrating through 3 floor levels. So it started off on 1 floor... Our IT dept. learned their lesson quite seriously during our massive river flood a few years ago. Nearly $1 million worth of IT equipment was damaged because some was stored in....basement. So there were desperate procurement efforts across Canada. Fortunately our main servers were moved off to some unknown location elsewhere in the city ..only 1 month before major river flood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted August 6, 2022 Share #11 Posted August 6, 2022 No alarms? If you had alarms with window breaks sensors, door sensors & motion sensors security & police could have been on site in minutes possibly preventing the fires. Our stand alone remote offices all have these and are really inexpensive to set up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Beanz Posted August 6, 2022 Share #12 Posted August 6, 2022 Shouldn't it be...what damage one person can do? Do you work for an engineering company?😄 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Beanz Posted August 6, 2022 Share #13 Posted August 6, 2022 2 minutes ago, ChrisL said: No alarms? If you had alarms with window breaks sensors, door sensors & motion sensors security & police could have been on site in minutes possibly preventing the fires. Our stand alone remote offices all have these and are really inexpensive to set up. Maybe she can get you a job watching hours of their surveillance video. 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 6, 2022 Author Share #14 Posted August 6, 2022 38 minutes ago, ChrisL said: No alarms? If you had alarms with window breaks sensors, door sensors & motion sensors security & police could have been on site in minutes possibly preventing the fires. Our stand alone remote offices all have these and are really inexpensive to set up. It's a large mammoth building and aging 1960's that's had several technical upgrades in different sections. Lots of glass with concrete also. (However very recent new office highrise buildings have same amount of glass all over.) And hey.....built @ taxpayers' expense. So I can see it already to retrofit on the frame of a older building, would probably cost more than constructing a brand new bldg. Ok. Let's present it to City Council after the estimate is given.....and then public screams onward. THis is what happens.....all the time. Who knows, they may block 1 of the side entrances forever. Bldg. houses up to 2,000 employees. I'm not sure of the full legal occupancy rate as per fire code, to include members of public. There is hypersensitivity to what level a govn't public building should install surveillance cameras and sensors. The building has surveillance cameras for long time and all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted August 6, 2022 Share #15 Posted August 6, 2022 1 minute ago, shootingstar said: It's a large mammoth building and aging 1960's. Lots of glass. (However very recent new office building have same amount of glass all over.) And hey.....built @ taxpayers' expense. So I can see it already to retrofit on the frame of a older building, would probably cost more than constructing a brand new bldg. Ok. Let's present it to City Council after the estimate is given.....and then public screams onward. THis is what happens.....all the time. Who knows, they may block 1 of the side entrances forever. Bldg.houses up to 2,000 employees. I'm not sure of the full occupacy rate as per fire code, to include members of public. Or the building gets broken into, shut down for weeks and has to be repaired… A thorough risk analysis by someone like me could present a case to the stake holders. But you are way overthinking this too. To set up an alarm on a facility like you described could be done for around $10K with maybe $1,000 annually in monitoring. No retrofitting required and the system could be set up on a cellular system allowing it to be off the network. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shootingstar Posted August 6, 2022 Author Share #16 Posted August 6, 2022 7 minutes ago, ChrisL said: Or the building gets broken into, shut down for weeks and has to be repaired… A thorough risk analysis by someone like me could present a case to the stake holders. But you are way overthinking this too. To set up an alarm on a facility like you described could be done for around $10K with maybe $1,000 annually in monitoring. No retrofitting required and the system could be set up on a cellular system allowing it to be off the network. Maybe you should partner with an IT person/technical security specialist and form a little company. After all, these days more people are just more unruly, angrier. Covid isolation has really triggered some folks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheep_herder ★ Posted August 6, 2022 Share #17 Posted August 6, 2022 One person broke into a Big Bear sporting goods store in Billings and eventually had a gun fight with the police. Enough damage occurred that the store was closed permanently. They are currently remodeling the store and several stores will occupy the space. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MickinMD ★ Posted August 6, 2022 Share #18 Posted August 6, 2022 The mental health issues put some doubt on his reasoning, but if he was "getting even," it seems like the much higher standard of living today compared to a couple generations ago makes people think it's no big deal to cause material damage. I taught some high school kids who, in general, had higher ethical and responsibility standards than my classmates and I did in the 60's. But, if they were really angry or jealous of some "mean girl," they'd key her expensive car without thinking twice - running a key along the side to ruin the paint job. To them, causing the person to have to take time to fix the paint job was what they were after - the cost wasn't a big deal to them. My classmates with a conscience would never have considered that because the cost to repair the damage was a real burden to the victim's family. Back then, government buildings weren't even air conditioned in most areas and had no sprinkler systems and it was much harder to cause significant damage. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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