Since I keep a weird schedule, I was up at 01:00 this morning. Around 01:30, I was on the computer when the fire alarm went off. Our condo building not only has smoke detectors, but a fire suppression system complete with fire alarm. My first thought was, “did my sprinkler system go off somewhere?” I performed a check of all three floors of my condo and no sprinklers were active.
*sigh*
Well, time to get dressed and head out into the chilly night to see if my place is the only one impacted or if it is the whole unit. Fortunately, it was the whole unit and all of us congregated in groups that mixed and mingled at times, almost like a neighborhood social. I’m sure the other building residents near us were happy by the alarm noise and our chatter. ^_^;
Two different fire companies arrived and after getting access to the fire closet, they made a discovery — the panel in our building had no useful information, nor could the alarm be shut off from that location. Nice. So a truck was dispatched to the club house where the master fire control sits. Those fire fighters reported there is a water flow problem. Thirty minutes later, there was still a water flow problem being registered by the system. So to get the alarm to be silenced, the fire department placed our building into “trouble mode” which means that until they find out what’s tripping the water flow sensor, our building is not going to alarm for fires (though the smoke detectors will still work).
Unlike the others, I’m fortunate in that I didn’t have to work today. I felt bad for the others who had to work today, one woman saying she was going to have to get up at 03:45. ^_^;;; Just another fun part of being a home owner though (specifically, a condo-home owner).