What's that loud constant monotonic noise?

[kaetchen]

Tonight some instructor brought his 3 year old in with him. Said child somehow managed to pull the fire alarm, thus setting it off and creating mass chaos for about half an hour. Luckily, we found this out within 2 or 3 minutes and let the main city dispatchers know so that they didn't send out the cavalry. Unfortunately, we aren't allowed to turn off the alarm until the fire department gets out to us and tells us it's okay. (It's a legal issue, etc etc.) But it took about 20 minutes for them to show up so people were calling and asking about what was going on.

This is a college, and we don't have fire "DRILLS" at all. Besides, if we did, why would we choose to do it at 6pm? GTFO.

If you hear something that sounds like an alarm of some sorts, and there are lights flashing under the *FIRE* sign. That means GTFO. That means there's an effing FIRE alarm going off, thus meaning there is a potential fire and you need to leave the building. It's not rocket science.

Do not come up to my desk and ask "What's that noise?" because I'm going to look at you like the moron you are and tell you "It's. a. fire. alarm." Thank you for turning around and leaving though. I appreciate it.

Oh, and to the instructor who came up and chewed me and my coworkers out. I kind of wish there really had been a fire so you could go die in it.Don't come up to me and tell me to turn the alarm off. For one, you don't know what is going on. Two, yeah, I told you that it was an accident. However, I told you that the fire department had to give the all clear. Don't get pissy with me about it. Don't tell me how ridiculous it is; I am well aware of it, and trust me, I'd turn it off if I could.

[Kirkygirl]

I had the same thing happen at work. Some dumb lady was using the payphone and happened to trip a fire pull. Alarm goes off. As everyone is having cows mooing in their heads wondering "wtf?" This one lady comes over to me, and says in broken English, "I am sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen...." et. al. After everyone hauls out, lady goes missing in the melee, and we don't see her again. Pity.
Poor service clerk had to put away EVERYONE's groceries. She was in tears even before she got started, she had already had a rough day.

[MadMike]

Back when my company was in a building that was shared with a doctor's office, someone's kid pulled the fire alarm. On the coldest day of the year, no less.

The icing on the cake was that when the fire trucks left, one of them sideswiped a parked car.

[otakuneko]

I almost thought you were a fellow student at my college, until I noticed the date stamp of the message. Someone pulled the alarm last week at my college too. Later found out it was a false alarm.

It was kind of an odd alarm. It came on, with a recorded voice saying, "There has been an emergency reported. Please evacuate to the closest exit." Then it went to the klaxon.

[malmalthekiller]

The same thing happened to my store the other night, but it wasn't as big an issue.

I was on my lunch, and one of the workers had their kid in the back, and he accidentally pushed on the fire exit door, so the alarm went off.

It was a good 5 minutes before the bonehead managers relayed it to each other and they turned it off.

[kaetchen]

Back when my company was in a building that was shared with a doctor's office, someone's kid pulled the fire alarm. On the coldest day of the year, no less.

The icing on the cake was that when the fire trucks left, one of them sideswiped a parked car.

It's been pretty cold here too. Funny thing about that was, during all the fuss and panic, one of the teachers had called up to see what was going on. Then after everyone was back in, he came up and said thanks for letting him know what was happening.

What bothered me was that he proceeded to go on to explain that there was an elderly woman without a coat freezing her butt off. He didn't think she was going to make it.

In my head, I'm going "...you could have gone back in and offered to get her a coat or uh, give her yours." (He's a big dude, doesn't need a coat.)

[Summerfly413]

All the fire drills I've had in school just pretty much teach me to not take fire alarms seriously.
I've only been in one place(besides school, at the movies, actually, which kinda sucked) where the fire alarm went off and we had to leave the theatre. Of course, there was no fire. There never is. So, I pretty much never think there's a fire.
I think at work once the fire alarm went off. Thanks to all the fire drills I've been through, I at least had the urge to leave the building. But nope...everyone just walked around the store ignoring it, shopping as normal. So I was very confused..

[South Texan]

In the brilliance that was my college's "do it on the cheap" logic, when my dorm had to be equipped with a fire alarm, the alarm system was linked to the dorm and another building next to ours even though a walkway was all that connected the three. All three buildings were almost solid concrete and only the wood doors of our rooms were flammable. Due to the haphazard way it was installed, the alarm malfunctioned eight times in its first month causing all three buildings to be evacuated the first three times. (A strong wind shook the wires and set it off once. Another time, it was the vibrations from one building's air conditioning condenser.)

After that, no one paid attention to the alarm and even wedged pencils and other items into the alarm boxes to stop them from making sound. Yeah, that alarm really did its job of protecting us.

[Apathy]

Wait, wait. Slow down, here. You're saying that fire alarms warn people about fires?

I'm afraid I just don't understand.

[Shangri-laschild]

Hehehe....so some guy comes up today. "Did you guys find out who pulled the fire alarm?" Me, being sleepy, and it being early, not to mention I was still trying to get T smell off the desk, I gave him a very impressive "bwhuh?" look. Luckily Y was right behind me and knew what was going on.

[morgana]

All the fire drills I've had in school just pretty much teach me to not take fire alarms seriously.
I've only been in one place(besides school, at the movies, actually, which kinda sucked) where the fire alarm went off and we had to leave the theatre. Of course, there was no fire. There never is. So, I pretty much never think there's a fire.

Not me. I was in a bulding fire once. I worked on the ninth floor; fire was on the fifth floor. If I hear a fire alarm, don't get between me and the nearest exit; you'll have footprints on your back. I still have nightmares.

[kaetchen]

It was kind of like this...or what it should have been.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1BDM1oBRJ8

[PepperElf]

not to mention, pulling a fire alarm without there being an actual fire... um isn't that a federal offense?

granted yeah a 3 year old did it, but he should have been supervised.


So is the parent getting any legal charges (that you can tell us about?)

[kaetchen]

not to mention, pulling a fire alarm without there being an actual fire... um isn't that a federal offense?

granted yeah a 3 year old did it, but he should have been supervised.


So is the parent getting any legal charges (that you can tell us about?)

I'm fairly sure nothing is being done about it.

I'm still trying to figure out how the little bugger was able to reach up that high.

[LadyAndreca]

With a kid so young, what I'd expect is for them to get a short lecture from a nice cop or fireman about why they shouldn't do that. In short, a warning. If the kid was old enough to know better or this happened more than once, then maybe a sterner lecture or a fine to the parents.