Some kind of big garage repair project is going on underneath the building and the fixit guys down there with their roaring jack hammers are kicking up a concrete "dust storm" which is also setting off the sensitive fire alarm.
For the third time this last week, bells and whistles and loud recorded voices being pumped into every apartment and screaming "run for your lives you're all gonna die, suckers!" have been terrorizing all of us soon after 8 o'clock in the morning. Older folks in their nighties have to slowly hobble their way down the stairs to the lobby , women with their hair all askew and no make-up on, truly hating this. Parents with scared looking kids in tow and a host of other people bitching and moaning with all the noise and having to make our way to the outside for yet another false alarm. The first morning it went off I was in the shower, me and a few of my own deleted expletives.
The DC Fire trucks arrived the first two times it happened and the fire persons were none to happy about it either. Fire is serious business.
Each successive day the alarm goes off, hundreds of folks must stop what they are doing and get out the building in case this time it really is a real fire. (I did notice on the third false alarm that there were not all that many people in the lobby.. as you will see in the video below)
Well.. after the second time it happened on Wednesday I decided that if happened again I would grab my camera and recorder and try to make some kind of video of the events, just for the fun of it. The movie below is the rather haphazard recording of moment.
So where is Patti in all this excitement?
Well, Patti and I have worked out a little system whereas when the alarm goes off I grab the cell phone and zoom down the stairs, (fortunately my 61 year old legs still allow me to zoom) and checking each floor for smoke as I go. If I actually see or smell smoke on any floor, I call her immediately and then she comes down as well. It only takes me about three minutes to get to the lobby where other people usually know if the sounding alarm is for real or just another false alarm.
