Melinda Skaar wasn't expecting any phone calls. Skaar was working late in her office at the First Internet bank of California. By 10:45 that night she was almost ready to go home when the phone rang. Picking it up, she heard a guard shouting, "There is a fire! Get out of there." Skaar didn't panic. She figured that it was just a small fire. Her office building was huge. There were 62 floors and her desk was on the 37th floor. Skaar called out to office mate Stephen Oksas, who also stayed late to work. But when they got out to the hallway, they were met by a cloud of black smoke. Rushing back, Skaar shut the door and filled the space at the bottom of the door with her jacket to keep the smoke out.
Then they called 911. Before they could call their families, however, the line went dead. That meant that they were completely cut off from the outside world. All they could do was wait and hope someone would come to rescue them.
Minutes ticked by. Smoke began to float into the office. Soon it became hard for them to breathe. Looking around, Skaar noticed a small workroom. It seemed to have cleaner air. So they crowded there. That helped for a while, but in time even the workroom was filled with deadly smoke. Hopeless, they tried to break the windows, but the glass was not breakable. Everything they threw at it just bounced back. Defeated, they struggled back to the workroom. They felt weak and dizzy. Soon Skaar found Oksas had passed out.
As Skaar and Oksas lay near death, rescuers were rushing to find them. At last, at about 4 a.m., firefighters found them.
Skaar and Oksas knew they were lucky to be alive. Sunday is my birthday, Skaar told a reporter. She would be turning 29, but she knew she had already got the best present possible—the gift of life.
