Most people believe that, should the need arise, they will be struck by unbelievable calm and behave in logical ways. That is wrong.

When a fire alarm goes off, most people panic. They go the wrong way, they don't pay attention, they run into elevators, they knock each other over, they don't evacuate, they continue their phone calls.

For fire panels, they have sensors in each and every fire/life safety thing throughout the building. If one duct detector picks up smoke, it will automatically set off the entire building.

These panels have TWO phone lines (in case one fails) that alert a monitoring company who forwards to 911.

Because these systems are so sensitive, they must be maintained QUARTERLY. Every three months, they must be inspected.

Fire extinguishers must be checked annually at the very least. After 6 years, they must be either replaced or have a "teardown" (where the individual parts are taken apart and inspected). After 12 years, the hydrostatic pressure must be examined.

If the alarm goes off, get out of the building calmly. Even if it *might* be fake, suck it up and go.

Do not take elevators. They are programmed to not move when the system triggers.

This may seem obvious, but, again, I have literally seen people do the exact opposite.

Doors are programmed to shut automatically when the alarm triggers. They don't lock. They're just closed. You can open them.

All stairwells *should* (if they are ADA compliant) be equipped with special carriers to assist in the transportation of folks with mobility disabilities. It kind of looks like a small stretcher.

This should be a sign to folks without mobility disabilities that, no, it is not ethical to leave disabled folk behind. Don't leave them behind. It's a shitty thing to do.

Because the system is so aggressively safety oriented, if the alarm triggers, it will not stop until the problem is corrected.

Which means, if the alarm goes off because someone pulled it, it won't shut up until the pull station has been fixed. (Which is hard because there is a special key that will reset these things. You can't just pop them back into place.)

Even if you hit "Reset." It'll just keep triggering. And even if you hit "Silence," it will still notify the monitoring company.

For commercial buildings in the US at least, management offices are actually *legally* required to conduct fire drills once a year. If your office hasn't had a fire drill in a while... 🚩 🚩 🚩 🚩 🚩

They are going to get you killed.

The purpose of drills is to prepare you to react *calmly*. You know what the alarm sounds like, you know what to do. You've done it before, etc etc etc

If you listen, you can actually hear the *click* of the panel triggering the entire system right before the alarm goes off.

I can't exactly remember what else I wanted to put in this thread. Fire and life safety stuff takes up so much time and work and money.

I spend a lot of time training office managers and HR people for these scenarios, and I'm also the honorary fire alarm-puller.

I was out with my team for lunch today, and we all looked at each other when we heard the *click* right before the alarm went off. We were the only ones to evacuate. The fucking staff at the restaurant didn't even know if there was a fire or not, but didn't tell anyone to evacuate. 🚩 🚩 🚩

Do you have any questions for me?

@guerrillarain The people in my office are so half-assed. They exit the building, but then just stand near it. As if that's a good place to be when an actual fire engine shows up. 🤦🏻‍♂️ Luckily only drills and false alarms due to nearby construction since we moved in a couple years ago, but still.

@benhamill I've seen that a lot!

There was a crowd of people who actually *blocked* the fire trucks because they refused to move away.

@guerrillarain smdh

@guerrillarain What does the elevator do if there's people inside when the fire alarm triggers?

This includes the rare scenario where people are inside with the doors closed but no button was pushed so it's sitting idle.

@polychrome When the fire alarm triggers, elevators immediately go to the ground floor and open. So, if there are people inside at that moment, they go to the ground floor and are able to exit.

However if there is someone on, say, the 3rd floor who hears the alarm and then tries to take the elevator, the call buttons will not respond.