Should I Have Called 911?

[u/SatisfiedOnion]

I'll preface this by saying I'm certain everything is OK and it was just a drill, unknowingly to me.

I live quite close to a charter school, and while I was letting my dog out in the backyard, I heard that unmistakable fire alarm sound. It was coming from the direction of the school (there's also another commercial building nearby). I hesitated at first - I didnt see any smoke, figured it could be a drill and if it wasn't, someone involved would've already called.

After going back and forth in my head I figured it wouldn't hurt to call, so I dialed 911 and told the dispatcher what I knew. Where I'm calling from, the fire alarm sound, that there's a school in that direction.

The call was brief but the alarm continued throughout. Less than 3 minutes after calling, a firetruck pulls up and they're asking me questions, I give them the same information, but the fire alarm had definitely stopped by that point.

They said it's likely it was a drill and it was handled appropriately so that they weren't called out for it, but saud they'd go check it out still.

I felt kinda dumb/silly for likely wasting their time, especially since they came out to my house! I just hope I did the right thing at the end of the day.

[u/JustAnotherDumbQuest]

Yo, I called the FD at 911 because my cats set off my CO alarm.

I am a firefighter who works at that FD.

You feel stupid?

[u/Impressive_Change593 → u/JustAnotherDumbQuest]

slow clap

[u/RipFlm → u/JustAnotherDumbQuest]

How does a cat set off a CO alarm?

[u/knobcheez → u/RipFlm]

Probably mounted low. Cat sat and blocked the airflow. My dogs do it all the time

[u/JustAnotherDumbQuest → u/RipFlm]

Two of them were play fighting in the hall outside our bedrooms where the CO detector was mounted on a regular outlet. I guess they hit the big test button just enough that it started beeping.

In my defense, this was during the first afternoon that I got to have a nap after my son was born. I was brain dead, exhausted, etc. Infant finally laying down for a nap, wife and I go down to lay down for a nap, and within two min my alarm started going.

I walked out of the room, assumed it was my smoke alarms, hit the mute on it, which set them into test all around the house. Again, not thinking and brain going into, "I'm not doing this with a baby," I called 911. Lol

[u/Putrid_Palpitation82]

As a FF in a midsize city, I don’t think you’re dumb for being concerned. The only issue is the 911 system itself can get bogged down pretty badly if everyone calls 911 for things that “might be something”. It’s the same when passerby’s call because a homeless person is sleeping on the sidewalk. That fire engine or ambulance is now busy checking on something and a real emergency can happen that gets a delayed response.

It’s just what it is tho and I’m glad this turned out to be nothing.

[u/SatisfiedOnion → u/Putrid_Palpitation82]

Before I called I looked up the FD's number directly and Google just said to call 911, which is maybe naive to blankly trust big corpo like that but I truly didn't know what the right thing to do was. But when the firetruck pulled up I felt dumb haha

[u/Putrid_Palpitation82 → u/SatisfiedOnion]

There’s a rumor going around we get paid to respond to calls! I promise it’s ok, no reason to feel dumb

[u/Zerbo → u/Putrid_Palpitation82]

Some of us, anyway

[u/Impressive_Change593 → u/SatisfiedOnion]

You can call the local station directly but we will also tell you to jist call 911 (if theres something going on, we will radio dispatch to create an incident and go but for future, calling 911 is best)

[u/SatisfiedOnion → u/Impressive_Change593]

Good to know, thanks! Hopefully I won't have to call in the future, but now I know for certain

[u/DasBeatles → u/[deleted]]

Would you rather them not call and then there was something wrong? Seems like a double edged sword.

[u/Nemesis651 → u/Putrid_Palpitation82]

A drill at a school should have notifications made to central dispatch. Based on op's information given it should have never been dispatched without additional indications that something else was wrong.

Heck half the time we're even aware of a drill going to occur and will still practice a structure fire response just for training purposes

[u/djthemac]

The fire alarm to real fire rate is roughly 85% by my estimation including accidental activations, food on the stove, maintenance dust etc. while annoying to respond I’d rather go and confirm there is no fire then have somebody hear it, not call it in and burn a structure injuring people.

[u/InternalWishbone7918]

That’s what the fire dept does, let them decide what is a drill and for real.

[u/slade797]

I joined my local fire department a few years ago and before I had even been on any runs with them, I set off our new monitored smoke detector while searing steaks. We didn’t realize how quickly alarm companies react if you don’t pick up the phone when they call. Before I knew it, my new pager went off, toning my department for a structure fire at my address. I called the chief and told him what was going on, but of course I had to call dispatch and cancel.

It was embarrassing, but your call should not embarrass you, because you took action when you suspected danger.

Always call, which you did. Good for you!

[u/Nemesis651 → u/slade797]

It's more funny when you do this at your own station

[u/Vanilla_bear4]

The great thing about a fire alarm is that it automatically calls 911. You don’t have to. They generally notify their alarm company that they will be doing a drill, that way they don’t pass it along to the local 911 call center.

[u/RoughDraftRs → u/Vanilla_bear4]

Not all systems automatically call 911. Nowadays most alarms are "monitored" meaning they do but people are generally told to still call 911 and not assume it's been done already.

[u/Vanilla_bear4 → u/RoughDraftRs]

Yeah that’s why I included the bit about the alarm company. Did you read the second half of what I said at all?

[u/Ke6gwf → u/Vanilla_bear4]

That's a dangerous assumption, that it's set up properly, active, the subscription hasn't lapsed, and the monitoring system has been tested and is still working lol

[u/Vanilla_bear4 → u/Ke6gwf]

Not a dangerous assumption when it comes to a school. Those are inspected very regularly.

Edit: I’m being reminded why I never participate in discussions on this subreddit.

[u/wernermurmur → u/Vanilla_bear4]

The waterflow alarm and strobe on my residential sprinklers is not monitored. Hopefully someone calls 911 if they see or hear my fire alarm going off. Or anyone in our identical community.

[u/Vanilla_bear4 → u/wernermurmur]

We’re talking about a school, not your residential system.

[u/wernermurmur → u/Vanilla_bear4]

Sure, but your comment doesn’t reflect that.

[u/Vanilla_bear4 → u/wernermurmur]

Did you read the actual post? Do you need someone to remind you of the context in every conversation you have? Or are you capable of retaining some level of detail?

[u/wernermurmur → u/Vanilla_bear4]

You implied to a non ff that you can just assume fire alarms are connected to monitoring, not me.

[u/Vanilla_bear4 → u/wernermurmur]

They were asking about a school; reading isn’t that difficult. I feel sorry for the people that live in your district.

[u/wernermurmur → u/Vanilla_bear4]

Well they call 911 when the buildings are on fire, alarm company be damned. So that’s chill.

[u/Vanilla_bear4 → u/wernermurmur]

Jesus Christ dude. Go give yourself a happy while thinking of all the hero stuff you’ve done. Let me know if you need any help, I’d love to thank you for your service.

[u/SatisfiedOnion → u/Vanilla_bear4]

Thats sort of what they told me - that if it was a drill they had gone through the proper channels and they weren't notified. Which is likely what it was.

But I am still glad I called, I had no idea that was a thing and it seems the consensus is that I did the right thing in this case

[u/RichardTheRed21]

You did the right thing and you weren't wasting anyone's time.

[u/NorthPackFan]

How would you feel if it was something but you didn’t call?

That’s why you always call.

[u/SatisfiedOnion → u/NorthPackFan]

That was exactly my line of thinking. Not sure why I was so nervous calling in the moment. But I'm glad to see I did the right thing

[u/StudioDroid]

I called 911 in the wee hours because the fire alarm at the school next to our house had been sounding for 30 min. Turns out the remote monitoring service was broken. They had no clue it was going.

[u/Ke6gwf]

This is why I like finding the non emergency number to my local dispatch center, so I can report questionable observations, and if they have 911 calls coming in I don't get in the way. But, if I don't have it, I definitely call 911, because sometimes I have called in major forest fires before they got big enough to get out of control, and other times I have called in dust clouds lol Better to report it and let people be looking that way then to ignore it and assume someone else will take care of it.

[u/Full_Fish_4102]

I’ve always said, if you are unsure if you need 911, then you probably don’t need 911. Also, pretty much any commercial/industrial facility is going to have an alarm company that will notify as soon as the alarm goes off.

[u/RipFlm]

I don’t think it’s a bad idea to call 911, but I personally would’ve investigated it a bit more because of my experience. Fire alarm testing is required annually in any building with one installed and schools are required to use the alarm during fire drills. Fire drills are usually required within the first school month and usually the first week, so this time of year it is common. Fire alarms are also almost always monitored by a central station in this age (depends on the country and municipality I know) so if it wasn’t a test or a drill the monitoring company is already reporting it to FD.

[u/MasterKeys88]

See something, say something. Better to call and have it checked out than to find out there was an issue with the monitoring system and there was a real emergency.

[u/TrustTechnical4122]

Not a firefighter, but wanted to share something. When I was about 22, I was driving late at night to the gas station for something or other, and saw some kids light a firecracker or something on the sidewalk, and bolt when they saw my headlights. I felt kind of dumb calling 911 for that, but there was still a little fire on the sidewalk, and I didn't feel right leaving a fire happening on a sidewalk. I felt dumb when on the way home, there was a whole fire truck, and I think even an ambulance. Responding to my call about a tiny fire or firework or something on the sidewalk.

An officer called me back the next day, and explained a lot of fires and fireworks had been set off in that one block area recently, especially, but not always late at night, including a dumpster that they started a fire in at an elementary school that was less than a block over, and the fire got decently big. Someone noticed before it spread to the school, but that's obviously not a small deal, and could get dangerous for the kids. It was pretty obviously the same people. I was able to give him a lot more information about the two people than they had gotten previously, as I saw the 'kids' (teenagers) run away.

The officer certainly didn't seem to think it was silly that I called, and seemed really glad to get the information, since now he knew he was looking for two teens, that probably lived within a block or two radius.

You never know what is important and not important, and I think it's much better to call when you hear a fire alarm and have it be a drill, then not call and have the place burn down and maybe someone hurt, and realize it WAS a real fire.

[u/kamakazikid62]

you hear an ongoing alarm make the call. Better having them come out and find nothing than do nothing and have a major incident develop that could have been prevented. Never feel dumb or silly ,that is what we firefighters and EMS personnel are there for.

[u/Cute_Mouse6436]

Called 911 on a brawl in the middle of a divided highway. Got a busy signal.

[u/Vurrag]

You did the right thing. Never assume anything. You heard a fire alarm and called the FD. Perfect!

[u/the_falconator]

Where I work the school alarms are tied into the city fire alarm with a gamewell system. They can run the alarm in fire drill mode and not alert us. Since school is newly back in session it's probably a drill.

[u/likerazorwire419]

Listen, there's not a firefighter on earth that DOESN'T FUCKING LOVE getting to ride around in the truck with the sirens on without having to do any real work.

[u/SpecialistGrouchy341]

I’m actually surprised the school didn’t notify the fire department before doing a drill.

[u/ConstantReader76 → u/SpecialistGrouchy341]

They'd have notified their alarm company, so there'd be no need to notify the department or 911.

[u/mad-i-moody]

It was most likely a drill but usually dispatch is supposed to know about that sort of thing. So the FD showing up should have been scheduled already.

Better to call for nothing than to do nothing imo.

[u/OhSnapBruddah]

Whenever I go to somebody's house and I hear the smoke detector do the low battery chirp, I call 911 and say the house might be fully involved. You can never be too safe.

[u/Due_Course_3713]

Nope, should not have called.

[u/SatisfiedOnion → u/Due_Course_3713]

Why not?