Friday. I had just parked my car. I hadn't gotten out yet (okay, I was eating the breakfast I had picked up from a drive thru) when I heard the fire alarm blaring.
I rolled my eyes and kept eating.
But the alarm continued to blare. That was weird.
This is the school that has the fire alarm that goes off at various times for no reason whatsoever. But that usually happens during the school day, and not for nearly that long.
As I watched, students arrived for the day. The gates were open, but the students were hovering, not going in.
Did we actually have a fire?
Eventually, the alarm was silenced. I finished my breakfast and headed in. Students were kind of hovering around, more in clumps than they usually are at the start of a day.
I asked. Apparently, someone had turned on the heater in their classroom, and it started smoking.
I checked in. I got keys for the classroom. I headed to the classroom for the day.
I also heard sirens. I saw a cop car pull up. I didn't see a fire truck, but I assume one arrived. Because later, an announcement was made what we were "all clear".
And then we went about our day. The "all clear" came through before the first bell had even rung.
That should have been the end of it, but no. The fire alarm went off two more times throughout the day. Because of course.
But this is the school where that happens. The students didn't like the blaring alarms. (I was in special ed, so they were doubly not happy.) But they were false alarms like normal, and we were given the "all clear" quickly.
I figure the actual alert tripped something making the false alarms happen. While they happen on the regular, we don't usually get two in one day.
Thing #1578 I don't miss about working in the office - fire drills and fire alarms. And then, there was the one that was for real...but at least we didn't have two false alarms later that day. I can just imagine how the special ed students reacted.
ReplyDeleteIf I can, I totally avoid drill days. Alas, most of the time I can't nowadays.
DeleteMy school had a fire alarm like that! Right down to the heating system setting it off. Maybe all school alarms work that way?
ReplyDeleteThat would be frustrating, especially if you were teaching in the special education room.
ReplyDeleteIt would be more frustrating if it wasn't something that happens all the time. At this point we're mostly used to it.
DeleteFrustrating, I’m sure.
ReplyDeleteIt's so commonplace at this point that it really isn't. It's just a minor annoyance.
DeleteI'm sure that had everyone on edge.
ReplyDeleteNot really. It happens so frequently that we comment on it anymore.
DeleteTrouble with so many false alarms is when there really is one, people don't take it seriously. We don't have anywhere near the number of drills you have, but as I am the fire warden for my work, I have to be there for them :(
ReplyDeleteWow, that would be a huge disruption! You lose not just the time it takes to leave to the designated area and get back to the classroom, but also the minutes it takes for everyone to get refocused on the task in front of them. I hope they get that fixed!
ReplyDeleteOh no, no one evacuates. The alarm blares, we continue with what we are doing, the alarm shuts off, and then we get the announcement to "please disregard the fire alarm". It's noisy, but it's only a momentary disruption. No one moves from their seats.
DeleteAnd considering that this has been going on since the '90s (from what I'm told), I don't think that's getting fixed until they get budget to remodel that section of the school. So, never.
DeleteFire alarms... hmmm, they can be very capricious. We had one ringing yesterday, 4 times. We came to know that there was work in progress and they didn't know we were inside ;))
ReplyDeleteYou're so right about Special Ed. The kids in the Life Skills class where I worked would react most negatively to a fire alarm. Thank goodness none of them were real. Or pranks,
ReplyDeleteBelieve it or not, no one pranks the alarms. Especially at that school. Why bother? It's not like we trust the alarms anyway, so they wouldn't be getting out of class.
DeleteWe did have a prank telephone bomb threat on my ship. Which promptly sealed itself at 4 PM until about 7. Prank, indeed.
DeleteHi Liz - sound like 'fun and games' - but glad everyone's safe ... yet as Al mentions special ed children will struggle with anything different or very noisy. All the best - Hilary
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that the alarms are so regular and false alarms that they are so disruptive - hopefully they can fix whatever the issue is so that people know to react the next time it goes off as if it is a real alarm!
ReplyDeleteHope that you are having a great weekend! Was a hot and sunny one here :)
Away From The Blue
Snort. That alarm has been broken for, like, 30 years. It's not going to get fixed. Numerous people have tried over the years.
DeleteFire alarms have a purpose of course but that alarm going off can be a pain in the rear. In the building I work in downtown they have a scheduled alarm that we all know about, practice to see if we all get out in orderly fashion and good timing. The other alarm is unscheduled. I miss most of them since I just come and go whenever these days. The last one I got caught up in was the scheduled one.....and they even announced it over the speaker in the building. I was the only one in the office, my desk sets in front of a window looking out into the hall....I did not want to be seen setting at the desk when I was supposed to leave the office. So, I slid off my chair, and partly under the desk, partly.....took the keyboard with me so I could finish what I was doing. I sat out enough from out from under the desk so I could see my screen but could not be seen. I had to much to do to waste time on a drill.....
ReplyDeleteI've hidden in the classroom for scheduled drills if I have a prep period for it. It's easier to hide with a closed door ;)
DeleteCool, calm, collected. That’s you, Liz. :-)
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteNah. I just play calm on the blog.
DeleteFalse fire alarms can be really frustrating and annoying. The one at our condo goes off every now and then for no apparent reason.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday, Liz.
Two in one day, that has to be annoying. Hope they're able to get some good maintenance done to figure out what the problem is and fix it. Sadly, if they don't and the fake alarms continue, people will learn to ignore them which is dangerous; should there be a real situation. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteYup. They've been trying to fix the issue for 30 years. It's not going to happen. And yup, they do ignore the alarm. It's way too late to prevent that.
DeleteUgh that sounds annoying.
ReplyDelete