# Fire alarm!



## Amocholes (Nov 5, 2003)

I seldom post in the triumphs section but what happened this morning deserves to be here.

I am normally at work every morning at 4:30 am. There are always a few people in by that time and more people will trickle in until the official starting time of 7:00. This morning at about 5:45, I was working away, when the fire alarm went off. I am on the Emergency Response Team so I'm supposed to help out when something like this happens. First I checked my department for other people and sent them outside. Then I headed for the security desk at the employee entrance. I informed the security guard that I was a member of the ERT and was there to help. All the other ERT members were off site and would not make it in very soon. My company cell phone is broken and so I picked up one at the security desk. The guard had to stay at the lobby to wait for the fire department to show up. We checked the fire panel and saw where the alarm was triggered from. It was at the far end of the building. I made a sweep through the building, making sure that everyone had left, reporting my progress along the way. When I got to the area that triggered the alarm, there were no signs of smoke or fire. I continued to sweep the building and returned to the security desk. The alarm automatically calls the fire department but we called 911 anyway. We got a busy signal. By this time a second security guard had arrived and we waited for the fire department. Meanwhile everybody was standing outside in the rain. The smart ones went to their cars even though it is against the procedure. There was no one to account for them anyway. One of the maintenance guys showed up at about the same time as the fire department and he took them back to check the area. It turned out that the roof had been leaking (it leaks everywhere) and water had run down into one of the fire pull stations, setting off the alarm. Emergency over! Everybody back into the building. 

After a bit of discussion about how things went down, I decided that it was time for a cigarette and went to get my coat and umbrella. Suddenly, I hear my name being paged , asking me to come to the employee lobby. It turns out that a lady was in the middle of a massive anxiety attack caused by the stress of everything. I'm a First Aid Responder and the only one in the building at the time so I had to go. It took me 10 minutes just to talk her down. She didn't seem to be in any real medical danger so I just talked to her. After a while she was calmed down and the uncontrollable sobbing had stopped. I gave her my extension and told her to call me if she needed me. 

By this time I needed a cigarette so I went outside and had one. When I cam back in she had gone into the cafeteria with a friend and got a coffee. I checked with her and she was doing much better. We talked for a few minutes and I went back to work. 

All this before 6:30 in the morning!

I had several people, including other members of the ERT and the Captain of Security, tell me that I did an excellent job and handled the emergencies well.


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## millenniumman75 (Feb 4, 2005)

Woohoo :boogie :boogie :boogie!

That is one of the more interesting things about having SA. We are so worked up with anxiety for seemingly small situations, but when a crisis like this comes up, we end up being the brave ones! :stu

Great job, though - it shows you know what you need to do in these situations .


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## ShyFX (Mar 6, 2006)

That post definitely deserves to be here. Way to go Amocholes, you're my hero! :b


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