Fire and water

[rhionnach]

I was in the shower today at the gym when they had a fire alarm. I had thought I could hear something over the sound of the water but it wasn't until someone came in and shouted to us that we needed to get out that I realised it was in fact an alarm. Luckily I had just rinsed the shampoo out of my hair. I also decided that, as I could not smell any smoke, nor had the lights gone off, that I was going to put on some clothes. I was definitely not going out to the street in my towel and flip flops!

I'm a fire warden at work and have been on several training courses so I knew the plan was that you're supposed to go out by the nearest exit. But no one seemed to have done that. Everyone appeared to have gone out the front door. Not only that, but the pods where you put in your pin on entry and exit were still in use. I was puzzled by that as I assumed that the pods would automatically open up to allow people out when the fire alarm went. This made me more convinced it was a test. A very annoying test, given that I had been in the shower.

Comments

Test?

[alasdair hepburn (from livejournal.com)]

At my work, every week they test the alarm. The rule of thumb is that if it lasts longer than 10secs, then it's time to exit the building. Except that the tubes are all opened up (for those people whose nearest exit is the front door, rather than a side exit).

So I think you've just discovered that the gym has failed the test...