Without fail, the fire alarm in the building where I work goes off every week, except for the time when there really was a fire on the sixth floor. Then it never went off. I am forever optimistic that, maybe this time, it will actually burn to the ground, and then the University could build a proper research building with functional plumbing, proper ventilation, and adequate electrical outlets. But it is always a boring old false alarm.
Except for today. Today, the building got hit by lightning. It was the loudest sound I ever felt, and of course, the fire alarm went off immediately. Eyewitnesses outside reported seeing a large yellow fireball in the vicinity of the roof. Unfortunately, the building is adequately grounded, thus it did not burn to the ground. We didn't even lose power. There was a minor explosion in a flourescent light fixture, which has filled the hallways with the dramatic smell of ozone.
The best part about fire alarms, aside from the fresh air, is the firemen. I like to sit on the brick wall across from the main entrance and wait for the firemen to pull up in their cute little miniature firetrucks. Perhaps "cosmopolitan" is a better term, but compared to the American behemoths, they look like little toy firetrucks. I don't know how the firmen can muster such enthusiasm on a weekly basis, hopping out of the cabs in all earnestness, full of gusto. Maybe like me, they are eternal optimists and belive that this will be the week when the building is really, truly on fire.
Which is ridiculous, because if it were, there wouldn't be any alarms.
About Me
- Author! Author!
- Chico, CA, United States
- Warning: I am prone to exaggeration and out right fabrication in the construction of an interesting narrative. Also, I have poor taste in clothes...
4 comments:
"The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire... maybe"
The legend, 'SUPER PUMPER ONE', has me giggling in a rather unbecoming schoolboyish fashion.
I am impressed your building was whacked by lightning and everyone is alive to tell the story! You know, I might do a spell and see if that aids the process of causing the building to burn down - altho, I would ensure that no people were there and the insurance policy was fully intact before casting such a wicked and evil hex upon the place. LOL.
You're quite right about the fire trucks. I almost burst an internal valve when I saw the size of the trucks over here. They are buildings on wheels. The cool thing about the American f/trucks is that they come in different colours - ours only come in red. If they were painted any other colour, no one would know what they were for.
it goes off more and more frequent now, which is annoying...there was a small explosion in the burger shop around broadway a while ago, a huge one in broadway shopping center today...what is it with all these accidents?
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