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MFF Gas Attack
11 years ago
I should probably say a little about the gas attack incident during MFF.
I was in 961 on the 9th floor.
Saturday night I had been suiting for a couple of hours and went back to the room about 12:30am. I desuited and then took a shower... and while in the bathroom I thought I heard someone knock on the door. I wasn't sure, though, and when the knock didn't repeat itself I assumed it had been something from the next room. Thought no more about it.
Finished my shower, got dressed, and left the room to go back to the lobby. Upon opening the door I was instantly hit by a very strong, nasty odour. I instinctively knew it was something dangerous, and as if to cement this fact I saw a firefighter run by wearing a gas mask. He shot me a weird glance as he passed - couldn't see his face but it seemed as if he was thinking "why the hell is that guy still up here?"
There were no alarms sounding at this point, so I reckoned they'd cleared the floor by going room to room.
I quickly made my way to the elevators but was stopped by con security who told me I couldn't use them in an emergency situation ( at this point I still had no idea what was going on ), so I made my way to the staircase and descended to the lobby. Just after I reached the lobby an alarm was sounded and we were all instructed to evacuate the hotel.
Thousands of us poured out onto the street, and after congregating for a moment very close to the hotel, we were told to move farther away.
I started searching for Tenderpaws ( my roomie, who I knew was still in fursuit somewhere ) but there was no sign of him. Following a crowd I wandered up to the overflow hotel, a Hilton, and stayed in the lobby there for a while. It was quickly filling up with refugees from MFF and I found @SlapHappyBunny, @KTurtle, & lanakila there. Some people seemed rather shaken. Word was starting to get out that it had been a deliberate gas attack and that some people had been taken away in ambulances. Rumours were flying thick and fast and I heard someone even suggest people were dead ( thankfully, this was not the case ). But there was a definite sense of panic seeping in.
I left the Hilton and started moving back towards the Hyatt, where a large crowd was gathering. I've never seen so many police cars, ambulances and fire trucks in the one place. Flashing lights everywhere. I ran into neouka here, then Emejn ( in his Slocombe Kitty suit but with the head off ). Asked him if he'd seen Tenderpaws but he hadn't. He was trying to find friends of his. The situation just seemed crazy at this point.
I noticed that people were being herded into the convention centre across the street from the Hyatt, and going inside I found the place thronging with con refugees. A very wide area filled with maybe a couple thousand people or more. I found Tenderpaws finally, still in suit, which he was now pretty much stuck in until the emergency was over.
I found a few mutual friends of people I'd seen elsewhere, and informed them who I'd seen and who I knew to be safe.
A lot of people had been at private parties and there were a lot of furs in bondage gear and even a few diapers. I recall a tweet that went something like "Rubber! Bondage! Baby furs! This is the best room party ever!"
We remained in the convention centre until after 4am, when the all clear was sounded. Due to sheer numbers of us, though, it took me and tenderpaws well over an hour to work our way back to our room. Unable to sleep, we eventually ended up in the lobby drinking hot chocolate at close to 6am. A mad, crazy night.
We got an official statement from the con the next morning when we learned it was a deliberate act and that 19 people had been hospitalised. Thankfully, as far as I know, they were all okay afterwards.
A night I'll remember for a very long time.
I was in 961 on the 9th floor.
Saturday night I had been suiting for a couple of hours and went back to the room about 12:30am. I desuited and then took a shower... and while in the bathroom I thought I heard someone knock on the door. I wasn't sure, though, and when the knock didn't repeat itself I assumed it had been something from the next room. Thought no more about it.
Finished my shower, got dressed, and left the room to go back to the lobby. Upon opening the door I was instantly hit by a very strong, nasty odour. I instinctively knew it was something dangerous, and as if to cement this fact I saw a firefighter run by wearing a gas mask. He shot me a weird glance as he passed - couldn't see his face but it seemed as if he was thinking "why the hell is that guy still up here?"
There were no alarms sounding at this point, so I reckoned they'd cleared the floor by going room to room.
I quickly made my way to the elevators but was stopped by con security who told me I couldn't use them in an emergency situation ( at this point I still had no idea what was going on ), so I made my way to the staircase and descended to the lobby. Just after I reached the lobby an alarm was sounded and we were all instructed to evacuate the hotel.
Thousands of us poured out onto the street, and after congregating for a moment very close to the hotel, we were told to move farther away.
I started searching for Tenderpaws ( my roomie, who I knew was still in fursuit somewhere ) but there was no sign of him. Following a crowd I wandered up to the overflow hotel, a Hilton, and stayed in the lobby there for a while. It was quickly filling up with refugees from MFF and I found @SlapHappyBunny, @KTurtle, & lanakila there. Some people seemed rather shaken. Word was starting to get out that it had been a deliberate gas attack and that some people had been taken away in ambulances. Rumours were flying thick and fast and I heard someone even suggest people were dead ( thankfully, this was not the case ). But there was a definite sense of panic seeping in.
I left the Hilton and started moving back towards the Hyatt, where a large crowd was gathering. I've never seen so many police cars, ambulances and fire trucks in the one place. Flashing lights everywhere. I ran into neouka here, then Emejn ( in his Slocombe Kitty suit but with the head off ). Asked him if he'd seen Tenderpaws but he hadn't. He was trying to find friends of his. The situation just seemed crazy at this point.
I noticed that people were being herded into the convention centre across the street from the Hyatt, and going inside I found the place thronging with con refugees. A very wide area filled with maybe a couple thousand people or more. I found Tenderpaws finally, still in suit, which he was now pretty much stuck in until the emergency was over.
I found a few mutual friends of people I'd seen elsewhere, and informed them who I'd seen and who I knew to be safe.
A lot of people had been at private parties and there were a lot of furs in bondage gear and even a few diapers. I recall a tweet that went something like "Rubber! Bondage! Baby furs! This is the best room party ever!"
We remained in the convention centre until after 4am, when the all clear was sounded. Due to sheer numbers of us, though, it took me and tenderpaws well over an hour to work our way back to our room. Unable to sleep, we eventually ended up in the lobby drinking hot chocolate at close to 6am. A mad, crazy night.
We got an official statement from the con the next morning when we learned it was a deliberate act and that 19 people had been hospitalised. Thankfully, as far as I know, they were all okay afterwards.
A night I'll remember for a very long time.
On a plane - can never sleep on planes. Will go straight to bed when I get home.
Heading to bed myself...I didn't sleep much the whole con
I reckon the fact that it was so close to O'Hare was also a factor in the enormity of the response. I've heard that a couple of flights had to be cancelled because pilots staying in the Hyatt ( which is used by a lot of airline crews ) didn't get the designated number of hours sleep they're obliged to have between flights.
Here in the SF Bay Area, we have protesters (all, at this point using recent events) causing mayhem on the local freeways, and railways; blocking them, basically imprisoning people in their cars, etc., not letting them get from point A to B. And they obviously don't consider the fact someone might be in dire medical need, and their antics could be contributing to injury or loss of life.
I mean.. what the HELL has gotten into this country in the past few years?
This whole thing has been very disturbing. Everyone wants answers, and I hope we'll get them soon.
A lot of sickness was reported around the con on Sunday, but that seems to be an unrelated issue.
Hopefully next year's MFF will be more the normal I am used to of the con and nothing "Special" happens. :)
But good to hear that everyone seems to be okay, even the ones hospitalised.
Hopefully the person(s) get caught, cannot imagine how it would be if that would happen on more cons now ...
Glad you were ok too!