![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
About 3:30 this afternoon it seems there was either a fire or a chemical spill upstairs in the chemical labs in the building where I work. Someone went walking around telling everyone to get out, even though our brand-spankin'-new fire alarm system was not making even a peep in our office area (but one could faintly hear it going off upstairs when a door was open). We left anyway, and as we got to the lobby the alarms in our area and the rest of the north half of the building finally went off.
We stood outside for about 10 minutes and watched three fire trucks and as many police cars arrive. The first two fire trucks went to the lobby, where they were immediately re-directed around the other side of the building (which entailed a significant detour the way the driveways and such are laid out). The third appeared to have been directed where it was supposed to go, however.
As far as I know no injuries were reported, just a lot of water damage.
Because of the cold they decided to let us into the lobby, and when it became clear that only a small portion of the building should remain off-limits due to water damage, they told those of us not in that area to return to our offices. One small problem, though: those brand-spankin'-new alarms would not shut up! Our manager is a volunteer firefighter and well aware that the noise generated by the alarm is such that it's actually illegal to make people work in that space; he so informed us and sent us home for the day, about 4:00.
I suppose someone at our alarm vendor has got some 'splaining to do...
Incidentally, many of our building security systems are run by an outfit called Johnson Controls. (I'm not sure, but I think they are also responsible for the fire alarms as well.) I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you need to hire a contractor to control your johnson you're in a heap of trouble. ;-)
We stood outside for about 10 minutes and watched three fire trucks and as many police cars arrive. The first two fire trucks went to the lobby, where they were immediately re-directed around the other side of the building (which entailed a significant detour the way the driveways and such are laid out). The third appeared to have been directed where it was supposed to go, however.
As far as I know no injuries were reported, just a lot of water damage.
Because of the cold they decided to let us into the lobby, and when it became clear that only a small portion of the building should remain off-limits due to water damage, they told those of us not in that area to return to our offices. One small problem, though: those brand-spankin'-new alarms would not shut up! Our manager is a volunteer firefighter and well aware that the noise generated by the alarm is such that it's actually illegal to make people work in that space; he so informed us and sent us home for the day, about 4:00.
I suppose someone at our alarm vendor has got some 'splaining to do...
Incidentally, many of our building security systems are run by an outfit called Johnson Controls. (I'm not sure, but I think they are also responsible for the fire alarms as well.) I've said it before and I'll say it again: if you need to hire a contractor to control your johnson you're in a heap of trouble. ;-)