So I had a little excitement this morning. At 6:10 I woke up to the sound of my fire alarm screaming – literally – Fire! Fire! Fire!
Then it pauses for a minute a few seconds and repeats Fire! Fire! Fire! … and repeats through infinity and beyond.
I didn’t see or smell smoke but I threw on some clothes and then took each of the dogs out to the car. Then I quickly looked for the kitties in every room, but they were nowhere to be found. (Half an hour later, they are still nowhere to be found.) So I called the police non-emergency number and told them that my alarm was screaming fire but that I didn’t think there was a fire and asked what I should do. She said she was sending someone and I said please no sirens because I really don’t think there is a fire.
I grabbed a handful of KN94 masks and kept looking for the kitties (no success) until the fire truck arrived. The lead guy had a mask on but the other two didn’t. I pulled the masks out of my pocket and reached out my hand with the masks and said something like “please put on a mask”. The lead guy said “we have masks” and then I could see that one of the others had a mask around his neck and the other had one of those pull-up things that are pretty useless (aka gators). Lead guy said “Masks are on” and I was thinking “no they are not” but the other two pulled theirs up.
Anyway, so it’s still screaming Fire! Fire! Fire! as the 3 fireman walked in the house. “oh” one of them said, instantly understanding why I had called them. They asked for a step ladder and took the main fire alarm down but it wouldn’t reset – I am 5’3″ and have cathedral ceilings so I couldn’t have even reached it with a ladder – so they took it down and told me to have the unit replaced. I had the fire / CO2 carbon monoxide detector wired in the year of all the repairs when the tree hit my house, but I guess you need to replace the units themselves after 10 years. It’s been 8 years, but I will be calling about having new ones installed ASAP.
I still don’t know where the kitties were hiding, which is the most distressing thing of all because if this was a fire drill, so to speak, it would have been nice to know where they headed because they were not under the bed or in any of their usual spots.
It’s now 7 am and the kitties have finally reappeared, but no matter how many times I asked where were you hiding they are not spilling the beans. Miss Willow, who is my sensitive girl ,started to eat breakfast and then wandered away, still too distressed to eat.
So this is one way to get your heart pumping in the morning, but I much prefer the treadmill or the mini-trampoline.
Baud
Having never experienced a real fire, I’m of the view that fire alarms are a cure that’s worse than the disease.
I think I’ll drive my semi to the capital and park it there until the government repeals all the fire codes and restores my freedom.
SiubhanDuinne
Yikes yikes yikes! So relieved it turned out to be just a worn-out alarm ? instead of an actual fire ?, but why in the world couldn’t they decide to go off during broad daylight instead of the wee hours? Also relieved the kitties decided to reappear.
Pamper yourself today.
Kristine
Oy. Great way to start the day. Glad it was a false alarm.
I had the smoke and CO detectors hard-wired when I had the box updated in 2013. Both CO alarms went south a few months ago–no screeching, just periodic beeping that I would be able to disable for a couple of weeks after which it would not stop until replacement. I have regular ceilings so I was able to replace them myself. The smoke-only detectors are still operational, but I should switch them out for the sake of simplicity.
Those alarm screeches can be hard on pets. I always made sure the pups were outside when I tested, and even then they could hear them and get upset.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Be sure to honk your horn continuously and very, very loudly, so they’ll know you mean business.
MazeDancer
How scary. And good for you for being vigilant about masks.
Thank heavens it was nothing. But I often wonder what I would do about the cats in case of an emergency. Because they would disappear.
So far, my only solutions have been, if I can, open as many windows and doors as possible, and hope for the best.
zhena gogolia
Oh, how horrible. I’m glad everyone’s okay.
The last three times we’ve stayed in hotels (Philadelphia, Providence, and Cambridge) there have been (false) fire alarms in the middle of the night. It’s made me never want to stay in a hotel again. Thanks, pandemic, I guess I never have to.
I’m terrified of getting up on ladders. The last time our smoke alarms started beeping, my husband was away. I called our fire station and in 15 minutes a team of 5 guys showed up and replaced all the batteries. Nice to live in a small(ish) town.
CaseyL
Wow, mornings just the way I like them: heart pounding, kitties hiding, more adrenaline rush.
So glad it was a false alarm and the cats have re-appeared. One small suggestion: In the future, if this happens again but for real, leave some windows and doors open (regardless of weather) so the cats can escape on their own.
…and I see Maze Dancer has the same idea.
Scout211
I feel you, WaterGirl. We had all of our alarms replaced after their 10 year life. We decided to get the 10-year battery life smoke detectors installed because we have two extremely high vaulted ceilings that need an extension ladder to change the 9 volt batteries yearly. We had an electrician install them.
Well, within a month, we were responding to fire alarms. Being wired-in, of course if one goes off, they all go off. We shot up from a sound sleep in panic. It was in the middle of the night and (luckily) I was able to find the one that was a false alarm (it was a lower one, so I could remove it). The 10 year batter life ones continue to go off even if removed from the power source, so I had to figure out how to break the connection on the back of the alarm. It was a nightmare and we did not sleep the rest of the night.
This continued with two other smoke detectors. It was again, in the middle of the night and set off panic. We finally called the electrician to remove them all and re-install the kind with 9 volt replaceable battery back-up (still all are wired-in, required per code). We actually had to replace two of those, too, because they went off. But things have settled down with the 9 volt battery that has to replaced every 6 months.
But I currently have a form of smoke alarm PTSD. If one beep in the middle of the night signals a low battery, I panic and can’t sleep. It’s a nightmare all over again.
I called the manufacturer (Kidde) after the 10-year life ones set off the false alarms and they sent me 2 new replacements after they blamed me for “dirt” or other issues first. She had no answer when I told her one was up for less that a week.
I am convinced that the newer smoke detectors are are of poor quality and not living up to the quality of even those manufactured 10-15 years ago. Just read the comments on Amazon and other sites that sell them.
We are still trying to get over the smoke detector PTSD. I hope you don’t suffer from that after your nightmare. :)
/rant
wvng
Mighty glad it was NOT a fire. Reminds of the many times when our smoke detectors would go off in the middle of the night (2-3 am) because an Asian ladybug had crawled in and set off the optic sensor. Not as exciting as an alarm yelling “fire fire fire” but exciting enough.
trollhattan
Oh god, that adrenaline level will be spiked all day. Time for some manic housecleaning!
Too bad your cats don’t think “fire” means it’s treat time. Maybe start training them in case it happens again.
I didn’t know CO detectors had expiration dates, just like Twinkies, until one that we had to add at some point to pass a refi home inspection began yelling at us, only no words were uttered, just a shrieky tone. The battery isn’t the issue, you just chuck the thing and start new. Made sure the replacements are easy to reach and toss out the door with great force.
trollhattan
@wvng: We’ve had spiders web-up the innards of optical type smoke detectors and set them off. Bastards.
MattF
I’ve experienced two actual fires. One was in the grad student dormitory I was living in. The building was a repurposed 19th century infirmary and the fire was inside the floor between the first and second stories. The fire stayed localized because there were brick firestops inside the floor every six feet. They knew how to build safely back then.
The second one was in the large apartment building I was living in about 30 years ago. I did my usual ‘look down the hallway and sniff’ and decided nothing was happening. Then I looked out the window into a courtyard and saw flames leaping out of a window on the other side of the courtyard. So, yeah, an actual fire.
KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))
Yikes! That sounds like a not-good way to wake up today. And that’s a worrisome bit of data to learn about the kitties. Hopefully if there were a real fire they would soon head for the outside instead of the hidey-holes.
Dorothy A. Winsor
That’s exciting. Did they send the fire truck? I think they’re required to sometimes.
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: I am terrified that if I opened the doors they would run out and I would never see them again.
Obviously if there is actual smoke and fire in the house, that would be the better option.
Uncle Cosmo
Sometime in the 1980s when I was living in an apartment on Charles St in Baltimore I was awakened late in the evening by many sirens. I saw firemen attaching firehoses to the hydrant beneath my front window, so I got dressed & followed the hoses around the corner. They snaked up the alley to the church surrounded in flashing red lights one block east and one block north – and as I stopped and looked up at the church’s peaked roof, the flames burst through and engulfed over half of it. One of the most awesome and terrifying things I’ve ever seen. (NB the always-effective BCFD kept the damage confined to the church itself, which was gutted but rebuilt in a few years.)
Moral: Do not FA&FO with fire!
robmassing
My alarm is always a false alarm, and it drives the dog batty to boot.
Cermet
In the event of a real fire (i.e. smoke, especially) do not search the building nor go back in (searching for pets is what Firemen also do and do well). And if a CO alarm, just clear out unless you are beyond certain its false. Can’t smell CO at all.
WaterGirl
@Scout211: That sounds awful! It really is something else when it’s screaming FIRE! FIRE! FIRE!
Even when you don’t see smoke or fire the “flight” part kicks in.
I am scheduled for the electrician who installed them to replace all 3 (the smoke/CO2 and 2 just smoke).
I just called the electrician back to find out what brand they use and to ask whether there is a choice of high-end and low-end. Waiting for a return call.
Amir Khalid
Yikes! Glad to hear the kitties came back safe and sound. I suspect they all ran out of the house to escape the worst/loudest of the commotion.
WaterGirl
@Dorothy A. Winsor: They did send the fire truck, but thankfully they did not use the sirens.
WaterGirl
@Amir Khalid: The kitties were just hiding. But with the repetitive screaming of FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! there’s no way they would respond to me even with “who’s hungry?”
That is what I say every time I feed them and every time I can’t find one of them. They come running and they get a treat no matter what.
But even food doesn’t help with the screaming of FIRE. :-(
danielx
@Baud:
So it’s paid off and you can afford to have it sit? Lucky you!
Or are payments being covered by the BJ slush fund?
Jager
When we sold our old (1923) house up in the canyon 3 years ago, I replaced all the fire detectors. I put new batteries in them and somehow had one leftover, a mistake on my part. I left it on the kitchen counter and forgot about it. We moved into our new house. A year later. I heard a low battery beep at 2 in the morning. The dog and I check all the detectors in the new house, they’re fine. I’m still hearing the beep. I sat down in the dining room, and listened, and listened. Anze the Dog, nervous as he can be, is staring at the wine cabinet. Sure as hell when I opened the drawer in the cabinet, there is the fire detector beeping away. I took the battery out of it and we went back to bed. My wife had no explanation of why she put the damn thing in the wine cabinet.
Lyrebird
As the incomparable
@SiubhanDuinne said:
schrodingers_cat
Did you have a humidifier running by any chance?
trollhattan
@Jager: Like premiere cru Bordeaux, fire alarms have to age before
openingsmashing. Your wife knew this.Leto
Oh man def scary, and glad you and the kitties are ok! I’ll second the Enforcer’s recommendation: pamper!
RobertB
Back when my daughter was 3, my wife and I were up at 3 AM, running hot water to make steam for my daughter’s croup. The steam set off the fire alarm, which was wired to the security system. The security system folks call us to to see if it was real, but we didn’t answer it in time, so they call 911. By the time we called the security people back it was too late, and we could hear the fire truck coming to our house. The firemen took the false alarm pretty well. “Better that than a real fire.”
Sis
So glad it was a false alarm!!! When my parents’ alarm wouldn’t stop for hours and hours (they knew there was no fire) my mother finally called the manufacturer for help.
My mom: The alarm has been beeping and beeping, and we can’t get it to stop.
Condescending manufacturer lady: I think you mean that your alarm has been chirping.
My mom: Seethes while asking for assistance in so-polite-she’s-rude tones. Gets no practical advice.
It turned out that it was not the fire alarm after all but the carbon monoxide alarm, which they’d forgotten they even had, but my mom is to this day understandably irritated at the customer service manufacturer lady.
Jager
@trollhattan:
She sure as hell drinks enough of it, so yeah.
wvng
About 25 years ago, during my ten year period in electrical contracting, our company did the electrical work on a new sorority/fraternity building at James Madison University. It was built because the fraternity kept trashing houses they rented off campus (filled a basement with sand for a beach party) and the school decided to bring them on campus so they could be “contained.” Their first night in the brand new facility, they, of course, threw a party. They brought a motorcycle into the building, and did figure eights in the common room, which filled the facility with smoke, which set off the fire alarm system. So, of course, they ran through the building pulling all the detectors off the walls, causing $10,000 damage in just an hour or so. I’m sure their parents paid the bill.
Obvious Russian Troll
Our file alarms seem to go off at random for about a week around the time the seasons change and then stop. Drives me batshit.
Doesn’t seem to be related to the individual alarms, either, unless they’re *all* bad.
WaterGirl
@Jager: I have a similar story with my dad years ago. He kept hearing beeping but he couldn’t find it.
I was visiting and you have to be vigilant because the beeping can be tricky, but I was able to finally able to track it down to a particular room.
Finally, I found it in his dresser. When he moved he didn’t need it anymore, so it was in the dresser drawer. Happy to have found it!
SiubhanDuinne
@Sis:
Seriously? Your mom has been coping with an annoying and worrying sound, calls the manufacturer for help, and the lady on the phone decides this is the perfect time for a lecture on the distinction between a magazine and a clip? SMH.
WaterGirl
@schrodingers_cat: No humidifier.
But the stove clock was flashing so I think we either lost power for a second or there was some sort of power surge.
Maybe in the long run it was a blessing – I had thought I had the 10-year smoke detectors but they were 7-year, so they were 18 months overdue for replacement.
RaflW
My combined Fire-CO alarm in the living room failed after 7 years. The bedroom fire-only alarms are still OK, but I need to dispose of the LR unit and replace it, but I’ve been putting it off (I know. I know! At least the bedrooms are alarmed, and the only CO-risk thing is the gas fireplace in the LR).
Anyone have brand/model suggestions for a combined unit? First Alert has huge marketshare, but that’s what crapped out three years early.
WaterGirl
@RobertB: Yeah, a few years ago I had mine go off 3 different times just after I got out of the shower. It turned out that my water heater was old and something was happening to set it off. Not every time, but after FIRE! FIRE! FIRE! after 3 showers I said fuck this shit and I got a new water heater. :-)
Problem never happened again.
Ohio Mom
If I am going to fry hamburgers on the stove top, I first position the step stool and broom under the smoke sensor. Other than the battery needing changing, that is the only time it goes off.
I try to convince myself it is reassuring that it responds to smoke but somehow I only feel annoyed.
On the fire department (in another lifetime I did a college internship in the City Audit department which was reviewing the Fire Department): yes, the engine (aka the pumper) always goes out. It has a large water tank inside to allow a firefighter to start putting out the flames while their coworkers attach hoses to the fire hydrant (which can take time).
The ladder truck only goes out if it is needed (no need for a truck for example, for a car accident).
WaterGirl
@wvng: First house we rented after the dorms in college was an old 3-story 9-bedroom house. With carpeting.
We had a water fight in the house, with hoses being sprayed all over the first floor of the house!
The things you do when you’re young.
SiubhanDuinne
@wvng:
O/T, although reading about the asshole frat bois reminded me, here’s a little tale of someone who’s not only an asshole but an incompetent asshole. It’s pretty funny, in its own incompetent-asshole way.
https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/mobile/threat-against-ottawa-police-headquarters-made-to-police-in-wrong-ottawa-1.5773353
trollhattan
@wvng: Think I saw that movie. :)
My university had a Greek row and the frats competed for “worst imaginable” to the point that after I graduated, one was decertified by the national chapter. Imagine being so out of control that you’re an embarrassment to the rest of the out of control dudes.
It wasn’t even the mostly football frat.
trollhattan
@SiubhanDuinne: Lordy, hilarious.
“Attention all units, be on the lookout for semi trucks with Canadian plates.”
Scout211
In a related question, has anyone else had a hard time finding 9 volt batteries with good expiration dates?
The smoke alarm manufacturers are now recommending changing the back-up batteries every 6 months now, instead of 12 months (at least Kidde does). They also recommend installing batteries with at least a 5 year battery life. I’ve been having a difficult time finding 9 volt batteries with at least a 5 year expiration date. Is there a supply chain issue?
We get all our batteries at Costco and still do, except for the 9 volt. I picked up a pack of AA batteries at Costco with a 2033 expiration date yesterday. Every single 9 volt had an expiration date of 2026, way too short for the smoke alarms. I’ve checked other stores and I can only find 9 volt batteries that have 2025 or 2026. I did find a store brand at CVS with 2027 and purchased them but I prefer the name brand ones, if I could find them.
Anyone else having this problem?
Ruckus
WaterGirl
Sorry about your early morning alarm party. Glad it wasn’t far worse.
@Baud:
Having the condo complex where we lived once upon a time erupt in flames, I will gladly have a fire alarm, warts and all.
This was a multi building, multi units in each building place and several of the buildings were still under construction. One of the security guards seems to have been a bit disgruntled about his employers and set the fire, which of course spread to almost all of the units that were in the stick and air construction phase. Many fire trucks, lots of water, lots of damage, everyone out in their 2am finest stages of dress, with very few of the occupants actually knowing each other yet, I think we’d lived there less than a month.
Welcome aboard, enjoy your 2am meet fest with your new neighbors….
RepubAnon
@CaseyL: There are now cat collars with tracking devices included. Useful if alarms go off
Ruckus
@Scout211:
In my neck of the woods Target has removed the battery display cases they used to put in the middle of the main aisle. And the battery display that exists now is rather bare. I’d bet that none of the batteries are made in the US, all in the east so with all the shipping, or lack thereof that has been going on from the far east I’d imagine a lot of shortages of some items.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Yes, Energizer brand 9V lithium batteries are much better than their standard alkaline counterparts.
https://www.amazon.com/Energizer-Ultimate-Lithium-Batteries-2-Count/dp/B01684J7P0?th=1
They won’t swell or leak, either.
delk
I used to live across the street from a firehouse. The firehouse dog was so sweet and had his own social media presence.
RIP Freckles
SiubhanDuinne
@trollhattan:
For those who didn’t click through, the best part was this:
zeecube
Did you try the electric can opener trick?
We had a similar experience where I could not locate the cat. Eventually discovered he had created a safe space by clawing through the bottom of the bed box spring and crawling up there.
JustRuss
Does that imply you have a single detector that detects both smoke and CO2? Friend of mine pointed out that’s kind of useless, CO2 is heavier than air so you’ll be dead before a detector on your ceiling goes off. I’m no expert, but makes sense. I have a separate detector for CO2, mounted about a foot above the floor.
Scout211
@trollhattan:
I saw lots of batteries on Amazon, but I couldn’t find the expiration dates on any of them. Some of the commenters complained because the 5 year shelf life was only 3 or 4 years by the time theirs arrived. I hesitate to purchase them online because of that but I’ll look for that type of battery in the stores. Thanks..
ETA: I just researched it a little and the manufacturer wrote that lithium batteries can be used in smoke alarms but aren’t recommended due to the short low battery period in them.
I just found on the Kidde website that they are selling a 2 year battery life Kidde alkaline battery. Hmmmm. I may try those. Kidde 2 year battery
no comment
In the late 90s, I was renting a house along with roommates. One roommate, her friend, and I decided to grill hamburgers in the back yard. The friend had a portable grill she brought with her. It had the tiniest propane tank I’ve ever seen — maybe a third or fourth the size of a standard grill propane tank! The hamburgers were just done when someone realized that the tank was leaking. Roommate told me to call the fire department, but not the emergency number. I either couldn’t find the phone book or forgot I could look up a non-emergency number there. I called 911, told them it wasn’t an emergency, but that we had a leaking propane tank. Well, they sent the firetruck — sirens blazing — out to the house. We were in the front yard, eating our hamburgers, and neighbors were outside curious as to what was going on. All this drama over a tiny propane tank, that probably ran out of gas before the firemen arrived!
Ruckus
@Sis:
When I have an asshole customer service rep, I change my speaking language to asshole, which is what they actually understand and are conversant in. Plus if their supervisor hears them that usually helps in the overall matter. And as I’ve called them for assistance with their product and they are being and speaking asshole, I feel they don’t deserve any better. It isn’t a good system but when your options are limited it is actually nice to know that it sometimes gets through their asshole brains.
Almost Retired
OK, WaterGirl, I’m going to take this story at face value. But are you sure you didn’t just stage an “incident” to get three hunky firemen to show up at your house for breakfast?
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: That’s happened to us, too. In fact, Pal D has pretty much disabled all of the smoke alarms at the Mountain Hacienda, precisely because of their tendency to go off needlessly at wee hours of the morning. I’m not too thrilled about that as a permanent solution to the problem, but then I’m not the one hopping up on ladders to try to deal with them at 3 in the am, either, so…my vote doesn’t count as much as his.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Ruckus:
Its a very special, specific language. You have to be fluent in it in order to get the proper engagement out of it.
Feathers
Update on the delayed Olympic figure skating medal ceremony.
It was the Russians, it was doping. All current information is coming from Russian sources. Tragically but not surprisingly, the victim is 15 year old Kamila Valieva. The substance being alleged is a medication for congestive heart failure, which increases blood flow and stamina. She is under 15, and thus a “protected person” so penalties will be lighter than they would have been, and her support team is supposed to be investigated. Sadly, very important and powerful in Russian figure skating are already throwing her under the bus, slandering her moral character.
Eteri Tutberidze makes Bela Karolyi look like a piker. Her system is known to be abusive and wear out skaters bodies by 17. What kind of doping would figure skaters need? Well, probably none of you allowed them to eat. (One 16 yo skater was praised because she was full after a dinner of two shrimp.) Skaters are not allowed to eat or drink on the day of competition. If they have a swig of water, they are required to spit it out. There is video of a skater at a Russian internal competition coming off the warmup about to collapse, being given something via inhaler and then skating her program without any signs of her earlier difficulties.
What is making me spittingly furious is that NBC is just as complicit in this as it was the Karolyi situation. They have been playing up the Russians and their “technical revolution” in the sport, ignoring all the evidence that it was coming at the cost of young women’s bodily and mental health.
The beautiful young Yulia Lipnitskia of that Schindler’s List program in Sochi? Her career ended not long afterwards when she checked into an eating disorder clinic. NBC shows the clips talking about the wonderful Russian ladies, but never does a “Where are they now?” We know why.
J R in WV
Many years ago we had a gas outage while it was -20F cold, all the hot-water heat pipes swelled and broke, although the hot lamp I put in the furnace kept the iron boiler from breaking. Anyway, I had built the system, so I started replacing copper. I managed to set the utility room behind the kitchen on fire… it spread unbelievably fast.. I had 3 fire extinguishers, a medium one, a smaller one, and a glove box sized one.
Was trained in the Navy as a firefighter, so kept my cool, grabbed the larger one, which went Spewt for about 1 second and stopped, out of gas, second one, smaller, didn’t even spit. Tiny one by the stove worked. I started pointed at the ceiling (totally engulfed) and walked the length of the skinny room, then down the wall where I was soldering pipe to being the mess. Nearly all out!
Then as I looked around, panting, tears from smoke and dry chemicals, I see paper bags of butter parts on top of the shelves are still on fire, spray them V briefly, out. I stumble back into the kitchen, full of smoke and fumes, lean on the counter, panting. Think to myself, we have total house insurance, way more than the old dumpy farmhouse was worth… I could have let it go and made bank!
Then I took the tiny device that saved the old house out onto the back porch to see how close I came to using it up… 2 seconds more of spurt. That was it. That close. Can’t believe that tiny glove box sized fire extinguisher put that whole utility room fire out. Amazing! This was in about 1980? I’m bad to remember dates, but that long ago kinda.
Dry chemical fire fighting is the bomb, if you know what I mean. Great tool.
Here today, the furnace is acting really screwy. Glad it’s near 50 today.!!!. Called the contractor agency that works on our stuff now that I’m too old and feeble to do it any more, probably tomorrow or the next day. If I turn it off, wait a few minutes, turn it back on, it will work again for a few hours… gotta be a computer controller card… what a pain !!
Going to hospital soon. Have done some major cleaning, laundry, Wife’s underthings to take to her. Need more giant construction trash bags… We’re both old and somewhat disabled, so things can get away really quickly with the dogs enjoying tearing up trash as an olympic sport…
I want to thank everyone for expressing their concern over the past few days. Now she is getting assessed to be sure she can stand the surgery, cardiac work up today, etc. From Toenails to the topknot of hair, she’s going to be the most fully inspected near jackal in history. You all jackals take care, be safe, wear your fucin’ masks!! I know you do, but so many don’t. the hospital is a disaster zone. I’ll talk more about that later.
dearmaizie
Under any bed. And that’s my nightmare about fire too. I’d never be able to get the cats out.
Benw
Scary morning, WG!
Hudson is our first pet that I couldn’t pick up and carry out of the house, especially if he were panicking. I worry about it sometimes.
trollhattan
@J R in WV:
Quite the tale!
Our extinguishers have never been serviced and I’ll bet dollars to delicious donuts they won’t work if needed. Hmm, what to do…
Continued best wishes to the missus!
p.s. What are “butter parts?”
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: If my intent would have been to attract at hunky fire fighter, I would have cleaned my house before calling in the alarm!
WaterGirl
@Benw: Yeah, that’s why I never got a golden retriever. I have to be able to pick up all my guys in case of emergency. Bailey, Tucker and AC all weighed in at about 40-45 pounds.
oldgold
I experienced a fire/explosion that burned my home to the ground. In part, because of a screeching fire alarm, I escaped with my life – barely. As a consequence, I have stopped cursing the occasional 2:00 AM false alarms due to low batteries.
WaterGirl
@oldgold: Holy shit!
Chris T.
The standard CO-alarm lifetime is 7 years. Some chemical or something wears out and you have to replace the entire thing, yes.
(Note: it’s CO—carbon monoxide—not CO2, carbon dioxide. CO binds tightly to hemoglobin and makes it impossible to get enough oxygen.)
Cathie from Canada
So glad to hear everyone is OK.
Fire alarms are so scary — I guess that’s the idea, isn’t it. But scarier still not to be able to find your cats — upstream someone mentioned their cat making a hole in the bottom of a boxspring and that sounds just like a cat, doesn’t it.
We have a couple of battery alarms and one of them is out of my reach – I’m thinking now it might be a good idea to move this one down so I could disable it myself if need be.
WereBear
Ever false alarms are alarming. I also try to keep track of the cats’ spots but I also know they have secret ones.
CaseyL
I hesitate to share this, in case someone from my insurance company is reading ? but I removed all the smoke alarms in my house after realizing that ANY LITTLE THING will set them off.
Cooking something on the stovetop? Beep beeep beeeeeep.
Taking a shower? Beep beeep beeeeeep. (With me yelling “It’s just steam, you idiot!” at the ceiling.)
You know what didn’t set them off? Cigarette smoke. I’ve been a vaper since 2012, but there was a time I was a 2-3 pack a day smoker. House used to fill, and I mean fill, with cigarette smoke. Nary a peep from the smoke alarm…
mrmoshpotato
@Jager:
It was tense and wanted to unwind.
raven
Our neighbors up the street had an electrical fire last month and lost thousands of books and irreplaceable family letters and photos. The are both writers making it even more awful.
xephyr
I’ve lived in my home for 33 years, ample time to become familiar with all it’s aspects and idiosyncrasies. Even so, my cats have on occasion managed to find hiding places I didn’t know existed.
Soprano2
Glad it wasn’t a real fire, just a bad detector. When we went to Little Rock back in 2014, some young male idiots started fighting in the hallway of our hotel. One of them had the bright idea to pull the fire alarm (it was around 1 a.m.). It was one of those new ones that will literally drive you out of the building because you can’t stand to listen to it. I don’t think we actually evacuated, because they got it turned off pretty fast, but it was a harrowing experience. The funniest thing was that the police station was right across the street! I think the idiots all got arrested and thrown out of the hotel – evidently it was a going away party for a guy who was going to Marine boot camp.
raven
@J R in WV: Aren’t all seaboard swabbies firefighters?
MisterDancer
We have friends who had to deal with 3 cats after a tree dropped on their house. That was something I hope and pray I never have to deal with; I would be beside myself trying to locate all my wee ones!
WaterGirl
@Chris T.: I knew it was carbon monoxide and I hesitated as I typed CO2 – anyway, I fixed it in the post, thanks.
When I was in high school, my mom either called or got a call from her best friend who was making no sense at all. My mom drove over, and it turned out that the the best friend and spouse were nearly dead from carbon monoxide poisoning. Go mom for saving their lives.
mrmoshpotato
@SiubhanDuinne: What a dumbass. I hope they charge the little shit.
WaterGirl
@MisterDancer: Not sure if you were here in 2013 when the huge tree fell on my house. The whole house shook and the kitties scattered from where we all were in there living room when it happened – but they ran to the part of the house the tree hit!
Happily, that time, I was able to wrangle them into a single cat carrier and put them in the car before the fire department arrived. They are older now, with better hiding places, I guess.
Sis
@SiubhanDuinne: Yep. She was not amused. :) She’s pretty sure it had to do with her age being evident in her voice over the phone.
Sis
@Ruckus: Good plan! My mom’s clipped tones are her version of that. :)
Starboard Tack
@Chris T.: My current smoke alarm has a lithium battery that’s supposed to last the life of the sensor.
mrmoshpotato
What a fun wake up call!
I would prefer to get woken up by a 4AM earthquake again.
Mike Furlan
“I still don’t know where the kitties were hiding”
One of my two cats, not small at 14 pounds, found a hiding place in a motel room. Platform bed, no space underneath. I assume it must have crawled inside of the reclining chair, there was no other possible place in that one room.
The other cat was hungry, and stayed in sight, pestering me for food.
Scout211
We had our home refinanced in 2012 and had to get an appraisal. By that time, California changed how real estate transactions were done and now required independent appraisers. Our appraiser told us that they are not allowed to contact real estate agents, loan officers or the seller or buyer prior to releasing the finished appraisal (except to schedule an appointment). The appraiser saw our one carbon monoxide detector and was relieved. He said that he was required to end the appraisal if there was no carbon monoxide detector in the house and still charge full price for the appraisal. We would have had to get another appraisal and pay for that as well. So that carbon monoxide detector that we picked up at Costco saved us quite a bit of frustration and money.
trollhattan
@Starboard Tack:
Same with our latest CO alarms, lifetime battery. Plus they’re far smaller and have status displays.
With gas water heaters, gas furnaces, gas range we’ll never not need them.
trollhattan
@Scout211:
Spouse is a mortgage broker and while I’ve lost count, believe we’re on loan #7. So the appraisers all have us pinned on Google Maps. “CO alarms?” “Yep, here and here.” “Smoke detectors?” “Yep, here, here and here.”
I know the drill.
mali muso
Glad to hear that it was a false alarm! My 4am wake up this morning was due to a migraine headache that I still haven’t completely managed to shake. Blergh.
WaterGirl
@mali muso: I think maybe I got the better ed of the available early-morning wake-up calls! Sorry to hear about your migraine.
I had one *once* as a reaction to something I ate at a potluck. I couldn’t even drive myself home, and I had to be in a room with no light for the rest of the day.
Reverse tool order
I have concerns over responses to active fire & carbon monoxide alarms I’m reading. Specifically, risk assumptions in taking time & actions other than getting out quickly such as opening windows & looking for pets.
Thinking seems to be “this is (or probably is) a false alarm, therefore I can afford to take increased risk for my pets.” Have you thought thru the several assumptions you’re making? Perhaps you are unconsciously influenced by the faked & inaccurate entertainment images of being in a fire.
This is one of those low frequency x extreme consequence situations where you do not know for a fact whether it’s a false positive or a true positive. Just think through how much risk you should take.
Lastly, combustion rates are sensitive to a lot of variables, including oxygen supply and convective heat transfer. Opening windows might be a bad idea in case of a fire. I don’t have special knowledge of structural fire but do have some working familiarity with fire behavior.
I have to go out and do actual work for a while right now.
Anonymous At Work
When it comes to gators, the pull-up things used to keep warm/cool outdoors, I’ve told people, “No, that’s not masked, it doesn’t work to stop COVID at all, here’s a mask instead.” Cable guys came to upgrade from satellite to fiber optic at parents’ place and that was the message. No entering until N-95 on face.
Don’t be afraid about that shit. They are professionals at breathing in hostile conditions, so a mask won’t hurt them (nor anyone else but at least they can’t claim to be afraid of elastic and paper).
MisterDancer
@WaterGirl: I was around! It didn’t leap to mind as my brain can barely recall 1 year ago, much less 7+, sadly :(
raven
@Reverse tool order: There’s no fucking way I leave my dog.
BigJimSlade
Glad it wasn’t a real fire!
The first night we moved in here (10 years ago, almost to the day!) – we were so exhausted after doing all the moving – at 1:30am a smoke detector in our bedroom started beeping due to a low battery. Up in the corner of an angled ceiling about 13 feet up. I suddenly understood why people find alternative uses for shotguns, not that I have one. Fortunately we had an extension ladder…
NeenerNeener
Oh crap, the smoke detectors in my house are 16 years old. I’ll see if I can find somebody who has time to replace them this spring. If I ever build again I’m going to have them mounted on the wall instead of the ceiling. They still have to be 12″ from the ceiling, but with a 9′ ceiling they would be at 8′ and easier to get at.
Reverse tool order
@raven: Yes, that’s very likely fine & I would too. Taking the time to find & herd scared cats or go around opening windows is imprudent in my opinion. Circumstances matter too, like if the alarm is in a distant part of the house with nobody near there is more time. Worse cases are possible too. I’m advocating for thinking hazards through a bit in advance over unthinkingly reacting in the event.
Not advocating for being a scardey cat either. We all take risks every day, not-so-consequential to very consequential. Also known as living, despite how that eventually turns out. That has to be, and is, OK.
Vtgtg
@JustRuss: carbon monoxide is roughly the same weight as air: carbon monoxide’s specific gravity is 0.9657
WaterGirl
@Vtgtg: So does that mean that a carbon monoxide detector that is close to the ceiling would still detect the carbon monoxide?
SteverinoCT
I have an electric house: heating, stove, water heater, dryer, etc. Therefore I haven’t bothered with a CO detector. Should I rethink that?
I burned some popcorn and that’s how I discovered my smoke detectors didn’t work; overdue for replacement. While changing them out, I also discovered they were not on the same breaker as the hall lights and outlet. Guess how I found out…
Reverse tool order
Carbon monoxide is a product of partial fuel combustion, so no fuel burning = no carbon monoxide worth detecting in house air. It does not strictly stratify in air like oil does over water, it mixes quite a bit in air.
Burning a little popcorn or whatever will not be significant for carbon monoxide or dioxide production, just smoke and stink. And the smoke detector going off. One good time to stay and fight and open the windows.
You want easy access to the CO detector & it’s buttons, so not at the ceiling or floor. EPA recommends mounting at 5 ft (1.5 m) above floor.
The Pale Scot
My parent’s house had the kitchen redone. Due to local rules that required upgrading smoke detectors during “major” renovations, the contractor installed crap, just like the rest of his work. Within months they were all going off at random intervals. I called the outfit that I found to replace all the fucking ductwork the year before because their AC guy was a fucktard who just wanted to sell units, result being that ducts looked like the were coated in the same shit that got Jody Verrill (Creepshow 1982). They replaced the hookups and the detectors, haven’t had a problem since.
Smoke detectors use a radio-isotope (Americium) to create a flow of Alpha particles between 2 nodes, smoke interferes with this and then it goes off. Circuit boards plus radio-isotopes requires good quality control, installers that know what they are doing, priceless.
For anyone in the Charlotte county FL area, Boyd Brothers does good work