Today we learned a "high-rise" living lesson. Apparently when the fire alarm sounds, you are to remain calm, remain in your suite and await further instructions.
You see, this morning, Neil and I were awoken by the fire alarm. This thing is bloody loud (it sounds over our buildings intercom system). So it is going and going, blaring louder and louder. Neil and I slowly get dressed and even take some time to grab our wallets and a few important things -- you see, in our old place someone was forever burning toast so 99% of the time we were told all was well within a few minutes... not this morning. The alarm kept going and going...
So we eventually head out to the stairwell and head down 15 flights of stairs and out the emergency exit. We instantly see 4 fire trucks outside our building and 4-5 firemen heading into our main entrance. Neil and I take a minute to get our bearings and realize that we are the only people in our 25 story building standing outside. So we hang back a bit and follow the firemen to the front of our building. From this vantage you can see people in the lobby waiting for the elevator??? So we ask our doorman what's going on?? He says, "Oh, the fire department is here investigating as the alarm went off but you guys can take the elevator up to your suite. We usually ask that our tenants remain calm and in their suites unless told otherwise..." Okee Dokee.
Doesn't this seem weird?? The one time we had to actually evacuate our old building (the 1% was actually also due to burnt toast -- toaster started on fire) we had to wait outside while the fire department investigated our building. Seems to me to be less of a liability to ask your tenants to wait outside until they know what's going on -- and if they know what's going on... and it's a false alarm... shut the bloody alarm off, make an announcement, yadda yadda yadda...
An announcement was made --- eventually. Pretty crappy way to start the day. I should note that the fire alarm went off another 2 times during the afternoon. I sent Neil an e-mail and it went like this:
Subject: fire alarm is going off again
I am going to stay calm and in my apartment. If I die, know that I love you.
Krista
In other news, I have been on a painting frenzy. Stereo stand - done. Magazine stand - 1 coat. Old book shelf - 1 coat. Another old bookshelf -- to be started tomorrow. TV Trays X 2 - to be started tomorrow. Printer cart - to be started tomorrow. I cannot believe how easy this was and it makes stuff look shiny and new! I'll post pictures later.
That's just Ontario's way of population control....there are too many people living there anyway.....so ya, keep 'em in their apartments!!!`T
Once when I was living on the 15th floor the same thing happened. I was going to make my way down the stairs only to see people loitering and visiting in the hallways. Once I got downstairs I was told the same thing. As in your case, I could see the fire trucks from my window and they seemed to be getting out the ladder. It is weird to not evacuate when you hear an alarm. It's Pavlovian instinct to evacuate when you hear an alarm. It goes against instinct to stay put and wait for further direction. What's even more surprising is that they allowed you to use the elevator! The whole scenario seems to be against some sort of code....
If the World Trade Center taught us anything, it is that fires only kill people when they are real (not false alarms).
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