Over the course of my five months in Bonnyville the fire alarm in my apartment building has gone off four separate times; all false alarms.
What bugs me is that every time the alarm bells go off it seems like I am one of the only ones to notice it.
This past Sunday I was in a nice deep sleep, enjoying what was probably a wonderful dream, when “ring, ring, ring”, the incessant and unmistakable sound of the fire alarm – again.
Lucky for me the big fire bell is just outside my apartment door, so I get the full effect of the alarm. No sleeping through that.
I jump out of bed quickly, throw some clothes on and peer out the door to survey the situation. Nothing. No smoke. No flames. And not a single person is in the hallway.
I immediately head to the exit and scout the building from the outside to see if there is a fire. After seeing nothing, I head back into the building and start wandering the halls.
Finally, after about ten minutes, I see a few other tenants peer out their doors to see what is going on.
After bumping into two other people, who are just as uninformed as myself, I decided to wait outside.
Another ten minutes pass before the alarm stops and I head back inside.
Throughout the whole incident I kept thinking to myself “Where is everybody?”
It was 3:30 a.m., so you'd think most of the other tenants were home – probably sleeping.
Are people just ignoring the fire alarm?
My building has 24 apartments in it. For me to only see six people wandering around, something didn't add up.
Sure, it seems like there are false fire alarms happening in my building quite frequently but is that really enough of a reason to disregard a fire alarm?
I'll admit the thought to just roll over in bed and ignore the alarm did briefly cross my mind. But it's a fire alarm. It has a purpose.
To me, the time it takes to check out the situation is a lot better than ignoring it and winding up caught in a building that's on fire.
Next week, Oct. 6 to 12, is Fire Prevention Week. Please take the time to check your smoke detectors and make sure you have a fire escape plan. Most of all, don't ignore fire alarms.
