Another fire story. In one of our buildings, we had a breakdown in training. The security desk had a mini fire panel. The new guards were told that if any of the lights came on, to call the Building engineer. Actually, if the one red light came on, they were to call 911 and notify a supervisor. So, when the red light went on and panel read:"Fire in the penthouse", the new guard called the engineer, then went upstairs, as the engineer told him to. The guard didn't find anything. When a secretary asked him about the alarm, hetold her not to worry. (By the way, it was a Saturday morning). When the guard went downstairs, he saw the fire truck pull up. (The alarm company had done it's job.) , the guard put a call out on the radio. Luckily, I was two minutes away. That day, there were only three firefighters on te truck, no Captain, which is unusual for Houston Fire Department. I gave the senior firefighter instructions to the penthouse, along with passkeys,and more. Still, he got lost three times. Violating protocal, I went up on the elevator with them to the roof. When we got there, we found the elevator equipment room fully ablaze. The senior firefighter actually asked what to do. I replied: You can put out the fire, for starters". Come monday, my boss asked what happened. As she looked on with horrror, I told her.I finished with, "Any second now, thebtaining supervisor willl call, asking why I've called a training class for this morning". Sure enough, one second later, he did.
|