be a good idea to lock the only emergency exits in the parking garage. To get out, you had to have a key or pray that the electricity would lift the garage doors. There were no open windows nor an exhaust system. One vehicle fire, gas or electric, would have filled the place with a lethal amount of smoke in seconds.

I warned the HOA board, of which the maintenance guy was president, that it was serious code violation, not to mention a liability hazard. They ignored me.

As a paid manager I still worried about my liability and the guilt I would feel if something bad happened. So, I reported it to the fire marshall. He issued a strongly worded letter to the HOA demanding that they fix it and about 20 other violations, some of them serious.

I'm sure some of them hate me for it, but I don't have an ounce of regret. Vehicle fires can be really bad, especially in an enclosed space.