Most times when I hear an alarm (presumably for fire) go off in the office or a public place, it goes as such:
- Observe for any signs of actual emergency: smoke, smell, flame, first responders, or panicking crowds
- If nothing unusual seen and nobody is getting up, assume it’s a false alarm and continue with task at hand
- (Most of the time) Alarm was false and goes away within a few minutes
- (<1% of the time) There is indeed a fire somewhere in the building and people take their time gathering belongings before leisurely walking to the nearest door
Same goes in the house:
- Wake up groggy, assume false alarm again
- Put on pants, check out the source of the noise
- (4 times in current residence) Find no indication of fire, hush alarm
- Alarm shuts up with a dose of compressed air. If not, sledgehammer time and buy a new one the next day.
That can’t be how most of us are supposed to go about it, right?
Is it for a lack of better smoke detection technology? A consequence of buying low-quality detectors? While we’re at it, can anyone recommend a smoke detector that does its job with a minimum of false alarms?
Watch the video of the Station Nightclub Fire. You’ll be scarred, but you won’t ignore fire alarms.
Is that the Great White one? The horrors. I am haunted by that footage. Like Dante’s inferno brought to life in the flesh. We watched it in my apprenticeship. That and the fire in the MGM grand. Needless to say I took my fire alarm installs very seriously when most don’t. I never want any systems I touched to fail.
is it the one where the vigil was stopping people from getting out by the artist exit?
I recall that people were piling up and it was almost impossible to drag them out. Not just fire alarms, but ensure there are enough exits, and exits big enough for the number of people in the building. It’s something I gauge when I go into a concert venue for example.