This was taken literally seconds after that sprinkler head burst. John and I caught the beginning of it in the mouth and face and were then too fazed to do anything but watch as thousands of gallons of putrid 1970 water spilled out on to our lab and our customer Tabblo wall.

The worst part about it was that we just kept staring at it wondering if it would stop on its own for what seemed like quite a long time.

The events in this Tabblo are happening in real time. As I write this, the fire alarm in our office is still blaring in my ears.

It took a while for the firemen to arrive. Quick note to anyone who this happens to– the sprinkler head works by pressure so the thing to do is to find something and wedge it in there as quickly as possible.

As it happens firemen carry these wooden wedges that look like doorstops for just such an ocassion.

You can't see behind the water and mist but Eddie, Dave and Dan ran out the back door and down to call 911 so that we could get the firemen to come and turn off the sprinkler.

They made it out but forgot John's wife Maria and their two kids on our terrace. Women and children first.

Aftermath

Three inches of water spread throughout most of our office.

Worse yet, immediately below us are the main electrical trunks for all of the office and residential units in our complex.

According to Marshall (our incredible super who arrived with a smile on his face), there was a foot of water down there, and rising.

So the guys quickly created a makeshift bucket brigade using Tabblo envelopes, frames, and even whiteboards to move the water out of the hot zones.

As you can probably imagine, it's going to be a few days before things are back to normal around here.

So please bear with us while we put our office back together. We're all still waiting for official word from the electrical inspector on whether we're going to have to turn off the power.

Though there was no fire – just a busted sprinkler head – perhaps the former might have been easier on us.

These are the moments that define a startup.

More photos... from Dan's camera:

(mostly detailing the aftermath)

Dan, Eddie, and Dave made it downstairs to call the fire department. Here Dan is getting some shots of the first firetruck arriving.

The front entry place of 810 Mem Drive was not a happy place. It's been likened to the scene in the Shining.

This is the sprinkler which busted open which was among the first things repaired.

Remember people, if this happens to you, find something to jam in there as a wedge. Or at the very least, go get a big trashcan.

This isn't a laser light show to be enjoyed.