Thank you to the Portland Firefighters.
You are true heroes.

Just before 3 a.m. on Saturday, May 2, a man drove a rented SUV through the front glass of the Multnomah Athletic Club at 1849 SW Salmon St. The vehicle held more than thirty pounds of explosive material — twenty propane tanks, around ten pipe bombs, and binary explosive powder. A few of the devices partially detonated. Most did not.

Portland Fire & Rescue arrived first. They didn't know how many people might still be inside. They didn't have robots. They had a burning car driven through the front of a downtown building, so they went in.

“A partially-detonated pipe bomb fell at one of their feet.” — Portland Police Sgt. Jim DeFrain

Police later said only about five pounds of the more-than-thirty pounds of explosives ever went off. Had the rest detonated, the blast would have been five times bigger. The supervisor of PPB's Explosive Disposal Unit, a thirteen-year veteran, called it the most complex scene of his career — and said only luck kept it from being a much bigger tragedy.

The bomb squad arrived later, and spent fourteen hours with robots clearing what remained. The firefighters who got there first did not have that luxury.