Well, that was exciting (I'm fine)
Dec. 5th, 2015 09:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miss_lucy21I was taking a nap this afternoon, when I was suddenly woken up by the fire alarm. Nothing in my apartment was doing anything that would set the alarm off, and it was the building alarm, not my smoke detector. Nothing seemed to be burning when I poked my head out into the hallway, but the alarm wasn't shutting off and I thought I maybe should evacuate. I grabbed my laptop and threw it in my workbag (which had my work laptop), put my jacket on and some shoes and left.
So, I head down the hall towards the stairs and when I get to the stairs, I smell smoke when I open the stairwell door. So I closed the door and turned around to go to the other set of stairs. One of my neighbors was leaving her apartment with her kids, so I told her there was smoke in the stairwell, and we went together to the other stairs. Her kids were handling things okay- the older one had figured out what was happening and was a little scared, but we all got out without a problem. We found one of the guys who lived on the first floor and he said that he didn't know what was happening, but someone had pounded on his door and told him there was a fire. So, he figured he should pull the fire alarm. I asked if he'd called 911. He said he hadn't, because he'd assumed the alarm would alert the fire station. My neighbor and I were like, yeah, let's not make that assumption, because the alarm had been going off for awhile at that point and the fire station is maybe a mile away at the outside and we couldn't hear any sirens. So my neighbor had her phone out and she called 911. While she was on the phone with them, the fire crew got there, so we all went around to the front of the building to see what was going on.
We actually had three fire trucks from at least two different stations, plus the fire chief and a squad. Fortunately, that was overkill, but I bet if they get a call that says there's a fire in an apartment building, they would rather have more than enough people than not enough. Plus, none of us knew where the fire actually was.
Also fortunately, it wasn't terribly cold and it was also not raining. Which I appreciated, because I was in my pajamas, since I'd been napping (I wear yoga pants or leggings with a tshirt to bed, so it wasn't like anyone was getting a free show, but it was also not exactly weather appropriate for standing around outside for about 30-45 minutes).
So, eventually (not that long, but it felt long), the fire chief said everything was clear and we could go back into the building. I went for the front door and wound up having to wait a minute or two while the fire fighters got the industrial fans in to blow the smoke out. Which meant I found out what happened from the fire chief who was also standing there.
Apparently, someone on the first floor set something on fire, probably while cooking. They got the fire out themselves, but panicked when the alarms went off and stayed in their apartment instead of leaving, which would have been the smart thing to do. But apparently, they were scared, so they stayed put. I don't know if they were scared because they thought people would be mad at them, or they thought they were going to be in trouble, or what. Which was a bit of a problem, because the fire crew couldn't pinpoint where the smoke was coming from, and they weren't coming out to tell them the fire had been in their apartment. So, it took longer than it really should have to clear the problem and let us all back in.
And then, when I got to the stairwell, we could hear the alarms still going off upstairs. So, we alerted the fire crew, because we weren't sure if there was a problem up there or if the alarms just hadn't turned off. There wasn't a problem- they should have turned off when they turned off the main alarm and they just didn't. So it took about 10-15 more minutes to get that sorted. I stayed on the first floor while they did that because my head hurt enough already from the first go-round.
So, I got back into my apartment and texted my parents (I'd been on the phone with my mom while we were outside because my instincts are still emergency= call Mom). They suggested I come out to dinner with them, and since I hadn't gotten far enough to figure dinner out yet, I said yes. I was mildly nervous coming home, but everything was fine. Except for the fact that the fire crew turned off the elevators and apparently forgot to turn them back on. I'm hoping if I call emergency maintenance, they'll send someone over tomorrow to turn them back on, but probably it'll be Monday. I'm less than thrilled about that- I can do the stairs, but I'm wheezing by the time I get to the top right now. It calms down pretty quickly, but not pleasant.
So, I head down the hall towards the stairs and when I get to the stairs, I smell smoke when I open the stairwell door. So I closed the door and turned around to go to the other set of stairs. One of my neighbors was leaving her apartment with her kids, so I told her there was smoke in the stairwell, and we went together to the other stairs. Her kids were handling things okay- the older one had figured out what was happening and was a little scared, but we all got out without a problem. We found one of the guys who lived on the first floor and he said that he didn't know what was happening, but someone had pounded on his door and told him there was a fire. So, he figured he should pull the fire alarm. I asked if he'd called 911. He said he hadn't, because he'd assumed the alarm would alert the fire station. My neighbor and I were like, yeah, let's not make that assumption, because the alarm had been going off for awhile at that point and the fire station is maybe a mile away at the outside and we couldn't hear any sirens. So my neighbor had her phone out and she called 911. While she was on the phone with them, the fire crew got there, so we all went around to the front of the building to see what was going on.
We actually had three fire trucks from at least two different stations, plus the fire chief and a squad. Fortunately, that was overkill, but I bet if they get a call that says there's a fire in an apartment building, they would rather have more than enough people than not enough. Plus, none of us knew where the fire actually was.
Also fortunately, it wasn't terribly cold and it was also not raining. Which I appreciated, because I was in my pajamas, since I'd been napping (I wear yoga pants or leggings with a tshirt to bed, so it wasn't like anyone was getting a free show, but it was also not exactly weather appropriate for standing around outside for about 30-45 minutes).
So, eventually (not that long, but it felt long), the fire chief said everything was clear and we could go back into the building. I went for the front door and wound up having to wait a minute or two while the fire fighters got the industrial fans in to blow the smoke out. Which meant I found out what happened from the fire chief who was also standing there.
Apparently, someone on the first floor set something on fire, probably while cooking. They got the fire out themselves, but panicked when the alarms went off and stayed in their apartment instead of leaving, which would have been the smart thing to do. But apparently, they were scared, so they stayed put. I don't know if they were scared because they thought people would be mad at them, or they thought they were going to be in trouble, or what. Which was a bit of a problem, because the fire crew couldn't pinpoint where the smoke was coming from, and they weren't coming out to tell them the fire had been in their apartment. So, it took longer than it really should have to clear the problem and let us all back in.
And then, when I got to the stairwell, we could hear the alarms still going off upstairs. So, we alerted the fire crew, because we weren't sure if there was a problem up there or if the alarms just hadn't turned off. There wasn't a problem- they should have turned off when they turned off the main alarm and they just didn't. So it took about 10-15 more minutes to get that sorted. I stayed on the first floor while they did that because my head hurt enough already from the first go-round.
So, I got back into my apartment and texted my parents (I'd been on the phone with my mom while we were outside because my instincts are still emergency= call Mom). They suggested I come out to dinner with them, and since I hadn't gotten far enough to figure dinner out yet, I said yes. I was mildly nervous coming home, but everything was fine. Except for the fact that the fire crew turned off the elevators and apparently forgot to turn them back on. I'm hoping if I call emergency maintenance, they'll send someone over tomorrow to turn them back on, but probably it'll be Monday. I'm less than thrilled about that- I can do the stairs, but I'm wheezing by the time I get to the top right now. It calms down pretty quickly, but not pleasant.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-06 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-07 01:09 pm (UTC)