Donna in Hollywoodland

Office Fire Drill

I work in a building that is 20-something stories. In Los Angeles, thats considered a high-rise.
Maybe some newer buildings go into the 30-floor range. Being in an Earthquake area, the higher you go, the more risky it is.

This means that the City of Los Angeles requires the building to do a once-a-year evacuation drill.
Today was it.

The Fire Dept goes floor by floor. And we can hear either the alarm on the floor above or below us going off.
So we know our turn will pretty soon.

Usually, I volunteer to be a Stairwell Monitor or something - so I don't have to go down the stairwell.
I stand there, pretending to be helping "injured" people. And when the fire department checks on the stairwell, I say "We have 2 injured people in the South Stairwell." And they are supposed to radio down to the firetrucks below to come get us.

They say that the doors in the stairwell have a 2 hour time frame before the fire reaches the stairwell.

My floor always passed the Fire Drill with flying colors. We are usually the best. Our fire drill is always well organized.
I just hope it goes that smoothly in the event of a real emergency.

So far, the "real" emergencies have consisted of Microwave mishaps.
Someone puts tin foil in the microwave.
The alarms go off.
Someone hits "2 hours" instead of "20 minutes" on the microwave, then walks away.
Their popcorn bursts into flames.
And the alarms go off.

What is really amazing to me, is that I've heard people who work for other companies in the building, will refuse to participate in the annual fire drill.
Not only is it a $1,000 personal fine to the individual. You have to go to court and stand before a judge.

Anyway, this fire drill went really well.
And the Floor Monitors and Assistants are getting lunch on Friday for helping out.