Just pottering along, minding my own beeswax, and suddenly: the building’s fire alarm went off!
It was Quite Loud.
Mind you, it was 9:30 PM, about, and I was completely alone in a three-storey building…
Stuck my head in the hall: no smell of smoke, no sign of trouble.
Looked out the window: no sight of smoke, no sign of anything.
Shrugged, put on my shoes and my good glasses, bundled up (20 degrees F, -6.6 C). Detached my laptop from the big monitor, grabbed my bag and keys, and ambled downstairs – with my hands over my ears, so my eardrums wouldn’t burst from the noise.
Well, this is interesting, I says to myself, as I wait by my car.
And… here come the fire engines.
And… there they go, down the street, passing me by entirely.
So… okay.
After I while, I could hear the sirens getting closer again, and I realized that they had gone to the other side of the entire warehouse/office complex, on the far side of my building. Faced with the prospect of walking completely around the entire complex to find out what was going on, I thought; shrugged again; re-entered my building (alarm still screeching); and exited straight out the back door.
Out there: two fire engines, two auxillary SUV’s and several perplexed guys sort of milling around in full fire-gear, trying to figure out where buildings 1 and 38 were. In fact, Building 1 is mine, and 38 is the adjacent. We share a fire-escape. The buildings are only labeled on the front. Thus, their confusion.
Alas, I could not let them in the building: the door had closed behind me, and I only had keys to the front door.
So, we all got in the trucks and rolled through the whole complex, past the tractor-trailers, past the massive piles of discarded wooding packing skids, out to the street, back in by the other entrance, and to the front doors of 1 and 38.
Those two lighted windows on the top floor? That’s my office.
What I really wanted to do was hang around and look over the firemen’s shoulders as they dealt with everything, asking all sorts of questions, and generally getting the way. But such participation on my part was not actually welcome. So I observed from a respectful distance, stomping around in the cold, while the firemen checked things out.
Upshot: the sprinkler system in Building 38 froze and broke and then triggered, setting off the alarm in that building and mine.
Broken sprinkler drenches the place!
Much relief all around, as there was no actual fire.
The owner of the complex showed up, reset the alarm, and they discussed things as I wandered back up to my office.
Made tea.
End of semi-adventure.
In other news: still workin’ on my stuff. Occasionally coughing.
Buh-bye!