Fire alarms in public places... do you head?

[sam_gordon]

Do those airports also have pedestrian routes too? Sacramento did not and now they are spending millions to add such routes.

Atlanta definitely does, not sure about Cincinnati. I don't think Denver does.

But, its not like they let people onto the apron now (at Sacramento).

 

[tvguy]

But, its not like they let people onto the apron now (at Sacramento).

No. I will have to look next time I am there, but I am not sure any emergency exits open into the secure areas. I guess you could rush an open jetway. I worked security at Sacramento Airport 1973-75 but that was a whole different world security wise. I'm not sure when metal detectors went in, but I know I was able to walk my girlfriend (now wife) to the gate and there were no metal detectors as late as 1981,

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

If I was in a public place and heard an alarm, I would probably be moving towards the exit kind of watching others to see what they are doing to determine the pace at which I would move.

 

[PollyannaMom]

If I was in an airport or hospital, I would expect an announcement to tell me what to do.

In a department store or hotel, I would exit... and probably be reminded of many college dorm fire drills.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I leave.

I've had a tornado (which used the fire alarm system b/c it was Ohio) warning at a hotel where we were all brought to a basement safe zone to wait out the tornado at 1am.
I've had 2 days in a row at another hotel with alarms going off for an hour at 2am - they were malfunctioning (they comped us both days).
I've had a fire above my head in the lights/electrical in my 8th grade classroom - yes, we exited and pulled the alarm ourselves and didn't go back in that day. Fire fighters put it out, and we did have school the next day.
I've had an alarm in a Church where we all left and went home - was a malfunctioning new HVAC (no fire, but somehow smoked), but no one knew that with the smoke.

Not once did I stay. You don't know why the alarms are going off, but you know they mean to leave. And leaving isn't usually a big deal, whereas staying might end up being one.

 

[CGB]

I was in a 4th floor hospital waiting room last week (DH's colonoscopy) and the fire alarm went off. I didn't immediately get up but looked around at the staff's reactions. Nobody was jumping. Almost immediately, a message came over the PA briefing were in the hospital the problem was located. Then, about a minute later, the all clear was given and all flashing lights terminated. So, I guess my answer is no... I don't immediately evacuate.

For the record, if you ever find yourself on an upper level floor and the main elevators/stairwells are packed with people that aren't really moving, start checking the outer edges and corners of the floor for an additional (usually smaller) stairwell.

 

[Southernmiss]

We were on a tour boat 2 days ago when the alarm went off lol. No where to go.

Captain checked it out and said he would slow down as something got too hot.

We had just passed a Coast Guard boat, so we weren't too worried.

 

[goofyernmost]

It's like hearing a weird noise on an airplane. You check how the crew is reacting. If they don't have a worried look on their faces, than I will not either.

 

[tvguy]

What to do was always an issue at a TV station during live programming. My last company finally had to have a written policy as to what to do. Leave the building. While that is the smart and safe answer, over the years some managers did not want to do that during live programming.
My wife's station had a real fire at 1 am when there was one person in the building, the Master Control operator and she called her boss who said to stay. Fire department told her if she didn't leave they would carry her out. At least that boss was honest enough afterwards to admit he had told her to stay, which netted the company a fine. In that case, the fire wasn't the big concern, it was the smoke. A lot of folks were surprised to see the investigator's report listed the fire as minor, less than $20,000 in fire damage. However, it cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars to clean up the smoke damage that spread throughout the whole building..

 

[MillauFr]

It depends where I am. If I'm in a old building with no sprinklers I would be concerned. I work in a 63 story modern high rise building with 7,000 workers. My biggest concern isn't the fire but getting trampled in the two stairways that are far too narrow to safely evacuate 7,000 people.

 

[goofyernmost]

I live in an apartment building that has around 100 apartments. Every one has a sprinkler system in every single room. It also has an alarm system that could wake the dead. I doubt that it could spread any where past a single apartment. It has a system that automatically closes doors and shuts down the elevators (which one is not supposed to use anyway in case of fire). Both the first and second floors have a ground level exit. The stairways to each floor are at the either end of the building which is quite far even from the middle. The upper floors require use of very long stairways which if you're in your twenties is not a big deal, but this is a place for 55 and older (some are over 100) The third floor and especially the forth floor would be quite the challenge for some to negotiate what with ever increasing stiffness of knees, etc. Hopefully we will never have to know how that works out.

 

[#1hoosierfan]

I lived in a dorm my freshman year of college. The alarm went off in the middle of the night on a weekend soon after school started and everyone evacuated. I was on the ninth floor.

After that, we learned that it was just a drunk student coming in that would pull the alarm. I eventually slept right thru them. It could have been SO bad if there really was a fire.

I can’t recall being someplace when a fire alarm went off. I was in Target years ago when there was a tornado warning. Those are frequent here in Indiana. I was not overly concerned.Security told everyone we had to go to the stock room or leave while the warning was in place.

 

[sam_gordon]

I lived in a dorm my freshman year of college. The alarm went off in the middle of the night on a weekend soon after school started and everyone evacuated. I was on the ninth floor.

I got called to the Dorm Director's office a couple of times because I slept through the fire alarms. Legit, I never heard them. I was a VERY sound sleeper!

 

[wenrob]

I was 12 years old when the MGM fire happened here. In the aftermath they found people still sitting at the tables. I remember my stepmother frantically trying to get ahold of her mother (who worked there) for hours before we got confirmation she wasn’t there. It’s something that has stuck with me my whole life. Those people were told to stay and/or ignored the alarms. If I hear a fire alarm I prepare to MOVE and if there’s no feedback or announcements ASAP, I’m out.

Once the main alarms in our apartment building went off in the middle of the night and I was up and out the door with my dog, purse and bird before I was even fully awake. My neighbor had left a pan on the stove and fell asleep. No fire but I’d rather have the whole building see me in my jammies vs wait and see. Another time I was working on the 7th floor and the alarms went off. There was a small fire on another floor and they kept telling us to wait. Nope, nope. It was our job to knock/open doors in the event of a fire (which I find crazy now) and fortunately the guests had come out of their rooms and we all headed for the stairs. Sprinkler systems had been overhauled by that time but I wasn’t taking any chances.

 

[sasywtch]

I was at the casino one night when the fire alarm went off. They were herding people outside but they were having a tough time getting people to leave their slot machines. (I mean yelling at them to moooove). There was a fire in one of the kitchens.

We had many a fire alarm in the building I worked at for some reason. I can't count how many times we had to meet up at our spot and had roll call taken. I was in charge of checking the hall bathrooms before leaving. I was on the phone to an applicant and told her I had to go and she laughed because it was so loud she could hear it. (it was directly over my head). One time I looked out the window, saw a lot of others in their assigned spots and called my boss. It appears our alarm never went off but all the other offices did. The fire department came out and found out it was OUR office that burnt popcorn alerting the fire alarm.

Twice in the hospital when my daughter was admitted. This last time I was walking down a hallway and then lights started flashing, the doors in front and behind me closed. I was trapped in about a 20 foot hallway for 10 minutes. Good thing there was a bench.