Building Alarm Blaring at Five AM!

In our one bedroom condo there are three small alarm speakers located in the living room, bedroom and den. About a week or two ago they were completing annual tests on the system. It is VERY loud with blinking lights and an ongoing loop saying there is an emergency in the building and to walk down the stairs to the nearest exit. We didn’t think we would hear it again for awhile - until five AM this morning. I was in a deep sleep and so very discombobulated when I tried to figure out what to do. I forgot to put my hearing aids in, got dressed having no idea what the temperature was outside, put on a jacket and took my phone. My husband was likewise getting ready too. When we headed to the stairwell we ran in to our neighbors and we trudged down to the first floor. Then we saw the fire engines pull up and the flashing lights which drove my brain crazy. We finally settled in at a table in the park across the street and waited for any sign of what was to come. Some of our neighbors were wearing their bathrobes while others had their dogs in tow. A few got in their cars and drove away to somewhere quieter. Then someone came by and said they didn’t find anything, and the alarm couldn’t be turned off?? So we wandered back inside and we sat on the balcony because the alarm is not so loud out there. Forget about sleeping. It finally was turned off and I crawled back to bed. I am not a morning person and now I am just exhausted. Luckily nothing egregious occurred and we are lucky to have a safety system in place. It would be nice to find out what actually caused the problem. It’s bad enough to occur at anytime. But at that hour it’s really uncomfortable. 

Fire Trucks and Smoke

It’s not the kind of thing you want to see outside of your house when coming home from a morning walk. We heard the fire engine sirens in the distance but got a bit nervous when they all started turning down the street that we live on. I had a feeling that it was our building out of all the houses on the block. And for one time I wish I was wrong - but I wasn’t. The circle drive had one truck in it with the ladder extended to the roof, and there were at least 15 vehicles of all sorts surrounding the house on both sides - and they kept coming. All the neighbors were out in the street looking to see what was going on. Of course I could only think of the worst, and wondered what we would do if everything burned to the ground. But I didn’t smell anything - a good sign! We finally reached the house and spoke with a few residents to learn what happened. The front door was wide open with many fire hoses ready to get turned on. Apparently the boiler room was smoking from some malfunction and someone happened to notice it and called 911. The big fans came in as the carbon monoxide level was higher than anyone could live to tell about. After about an hour or so things started to settle down and it was just a matter of clearing things away. The DC fire department was very responsive and communicative. It all could have been a lot worse. Thank goodness it wasn’t.