| It turns out that the vast majority of the damage done by the blaze was to the building to the south of my Mom's. There are three buildings in the complex.
Her building suffered limited damage, some charring and a bit of water on the top floor and roof at the end of the building. The western building suffered no damage. The one to the south -- the top floor is almost entirely out of commission, the second floor is creamed from water damage, and the first floor has limited to severe damage is several places. All together, from a single (alleged) barbecue fire on a top floor balcony, twenty four (!) suites were damaged either severely or worse, and up to twice that number suffered mild to moderate damage.
My friend's cats were okay, and his suite is in the same building as my Mom's. In fact, no resident was hurt and as far as we've heard no pets were harmed or lost to the fire. Yay!
Two of our hard-working firefighters suffered burns to their hands last night. That appears to be the limit of harm done to people.
Richmond Emergency Services were out in force today, with assistance for victims of the fire, including food, water, shelter, clothing and emotional support. Our property taxes at work.
I did hear that some folks had no contents insurance. :-o | 
