Fire Alarms Are NOT Funny

19th October, 2009
7:11 am
The matchbox
The fire-alarm went off about half an hour back. Twas a drill. 6:45 am, when the bright sun hasn’t even hinted coming out of its cloudy hallows, this country rings off the fire alarm in EVERY building of the area, for a drill!
I had my personal alarm set for 6:45 myself (for unfathomable reasons) and refused to get up in the first minute the BIG one went off, because obviously, in my deep slumber I thought it was MY alarm. As usual I thought I tried putting it on snooze, in my sleep. But then, it wouldn’t turn off! And it went on and on in that gratingly annoying pitch that sounds like a hundred thousand cats meowing and drawing their claws on metal together.
By the time I got up fully, I realized it was the fire alarm. Instead of panicking, I just went “not again!” and took another two minutes to wear my hoodie (couldn’t find it and stoutly refused to get down without it). When I came out of my room, my wonderful Chinese flatmate saw my hoody and went back in to get hers. So much for a fire alarm.
These alarms have become so common in our area that nobody takes them too seriously anymore. There hasn’t been a single case of fire so far. Its mostly either a drill, or somebody having an ultra-hot shower, or burning toast! Such incidents remind of the old-school story of the boy and the wolf. The boy gives a false alarm to the villagers about a wolf attacking the sheep three times. When it actually happens, they think he’s bluffing again. The consequence of such a case is rather obvious.
These drill are supposed to be serious affairs, and having a fire alarm go off is far from a joke. But then, an overdose of fake-alarms kill the purpose of a real one. We were all out in the cold today and the fireman apologized for being late, he was to arrive at 5! Haha
I wonder what would happen if it ever happens for real. I hope it never does, of course. Just wondering…