Someone tried to set our elevator on fire Friday night.

[tango-tee]

I used it Friday evening and it was fine, but when I went grocery shopping Saturday morning I saw the damage. There is a plastic sign in it directing people to the pharmacy across the courtyard (we have two doctors offices in our building). It is fairly large, of thick material. Someone must have held a lighter or such to it for a while I suppose, because a good portion of it has melted, blackened and started dripping to the floor. One wall of the elevator is covered with soot.

For starters, what sort of a blithering idiot does this person have to be to do this to an elevator WHILE HE IS IN IT?

Why someone would do that to begin with is beyond me - does @§§holery know no bounds? This is a large apartment building with many elderly residents, many of them not in the best of health. The apartments are small and affordable. This is why we also have several young couples here who are just getting started in the working world, no children yet, needing an inexpensive place to live. We have always enjoyed good relations with one another here, which is why I am completely stunned.

As time goes by and I keep thinking about this, it scares me more by the minute. Thinking about how I was supposed to get my disabled husband down five flights on stairs in a fire... Granted, fires can and do happen... pots forgotten on the stovetop, overloaded circuits, etc. There are fire codes and material specifications, I know that.

It is the deliberation that I find stunning and scary.

No one wants to suspect a neighbor, but this building is locked. So it had to be either a resident or a guest ("Oh, before you pour me a drink, buddy, call the firetruck. On the way up I set the elevator on fire.").

I am somewhere between totally pissed off and :tinfoilhat:

[noamnety]

1. Is there a smoke alarm in it?

If not, I'd make sure the apartment manager is aware of the incident and ask if they can get one installed.

[tango-tee]

2. No smoke alarm.

The building is about forty years old.

I think it freaked me out so bad because I'm worried about whoever it was trying to do the same in the basement, where we all have our little cubicles to store trunks and cabinets full of stuff. Maybe I'm just getting old and scared.

I only hope this is an isolated incident of somebody being stupid...

But thank you so much for answering. I appreciate it!