SUCCESS SUCCESCESSofES THE BAPTISM BY FIRE

By Louis Parenti, Sr. Vice President/Engineering & Project Management, The Building Group

“Baptism by fire”… a phrase meaning that the best way for someone to be trained is for that person to experience the actual situations rather than to just study those situations. The phrase has its roots in battle terminology describing a soldier’s first time in battle.

It’s the perfect phrase to describe the reality that faced a management company eleven days into managing a new condominium property. A tragedy in the making that was a true test of the team’s emergency plans and procedures. It’s a personal story.

On my first day back at work after a two week vacation, I was attending to the roof maintenance at one of the firm’s high-rise buildings. I noticed a building fire, quite a large fire. Having a “bird’s eye” view of the event, I watched the smoke billowing, the fire engines racing down the streets, onlookers gathering on the sidewalks and flames licking the entire side of the building. Breathing a sigh of relief, I thought to myself, “Glad it isn’t one of our buildings.” And then my phone rang.

I was informed that I was needed at the site of a fire at one of our buildings housing 80 residential units and 2 commercial spaces, and I was given the location. Thinking

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