Alarmingly Real
I’ve worked in an office building in the downtown Honolulu area since 1995. Ever since I started, we’ve had a policy for fire alarm activations. The alarms go off, department and floor leaders prep, and then we hold. Our security department will then issue one of three announcements within fifteen seconds:
- False alarm, please disregard
- An automated all clear
- Evacuate
For the last thirty years, it has always been a false alarm, and as the building grew older, the various reasons for those false alarms had grown more common. This led to a full modernization of the buildings’ fire systems, which did not fully solve the problem due to “old wiring” or something.
Recently, the fire alarms went off, no one in my department moved, conversations went uninterrupted, and work continued.
Automated System: “An emergency has been detected in the building—”
Automated System Plus Several Of My Coworkers: “—please standby and wait for further information. Security is investigating the alarm and will make an announcement shortly.”
The system clicked off.
My coworker, who had been one of the people mimicking the announcement, stood up and wandered over to my cubicle, holding a cup of coffee.
Coworker: “What do you think today? Wiring, water?” *He sipped his coffee.* “Or will it finally be the mythical building fire?”
Me: *Laughing.* “Don’t speak that into existence, please.”
Coworker: “Ha, by the way, what time is the meeting today?”
My answer was interrupted by a dual-tone chime, indicating that the system was about to speak again, and we both looked up at the ceiling.
Automated System: “Security has concluded their investigation and—”
There was a clicking noise, and the announcement stopped:
Someone In Security: “THIS B**** ON FIRE, GET THE F*** OUT!”
There was a solid beat… and then absolute pandemonium.
The effects of no one taking fire safety seriously for several years became apparent as we stumbled in the “fire lanes,” and no one seemed to know which fire escape was closest.
Eventually, our department’s fire lead herded together his department of feral cats and managed to shove us all down a stairwell into our evacuation route away from the structure.
As it turns out, the fire was on the floor below us and in the space nearly directly below us. From what I have been able to gather, someone had something large charging in an abandoned space unattended, and the battery exploded. The fire spread quickly as the former department was piled with boxes and documents.
Luckily, the fire suppression sprinklers did their job until the fire department arrived. The space itself needed to be gutted and remains inaccessible to this day, but the building still stands.
The security guard still works for us, though he was chewed out by literally everyone above him, from his direct supervisor to HR.
Company administration has also tightened down on fire safety, and we have mandatory department walks to ensure fire safety standards, as well as random visits from administrators to do checks and new quarterly training classes regarding safe evacuation.
