Letter to Chief Michael Dillon

Re: June 30, 2011 Fire

Dear Acting Chief Dillon:

On June 30, 2011, the Providence Fire Department had to enter my leased premises at 72 South Main Street in order to deal with the fire emanating from the Parkside Restaurant. The firefighters had to attack the fire through the floors of two rooms in my office space. I am writing to compliment you and your force for the manner in which you treated the personal property and papers which were in the way as the firefighters addressed the exceedingly dangerous fire conditions

The firefighters who came into my law office space removed all books from the bookshelf they had to destroy and placed those books on my conference room table. They moved client file materials that were in my conference room into a protected place under my conference room table. They moved, as best they could under the circumstances, two shelves of books out of their way so that they could access the floor and attack the fire.

In the second office the firefighters carefully removed a bookcase containing personal items belonging to one of my former associates, and removed more than fifteen large boxes of paper materials that were being stored in that office. They placed those boxes in an orderly way in an adjacent office.

As a result of the careful and conscientious manner in which the Providence Firefighters treated the contents of my office and the places in which they were forced to demolish walls and floors in their effort to find and contain the advancing fire, I am pleased to report that I lost no client papers, no client files, no client information, and my personal property was damaged only as a consequence of the fire itself, not the firefighters' efforts to contain it.

I know that a great many members of the Providence Fire Department were present in order to contain the Parkside fire. It would be impossible for me to thank all of them. However, I would deeply appreciate it if at your next gathering of the force you would make clear how much I appreciate their efforts both in fighting and containing the fire and in their treatment of my office space and contents.

Very truly yours,

Lauren E. Jones
ljones@appeallaw.com