(no subject)
The most interesting thing happened the other day. It was right after class, up on the top floor of Bradfield Hall, and I had hung around for a few minutes because class let out early, and I was in no rush to get to COMM. My COMM class is on the other end of the complex, which is comprised by the old Plant Science Building, Mann Libe, the lowrise Emerson Hall, and Bradfield Hall, the highrise. To get to COMM, I usually just cut through the buildings, since it's more convienient that way. There are five meteos in my class, all male, and two had already left, so I hung out and chatted with the other two while waiting for the elevator.
As we were waiting, the fire alarm started to go off. The alarm is a high-pitched scream, and of course, when the alarms go off, the elevators shut down. So, although we were a little annoyed, Bryan, Harrison and I began to take the stairs down from the eleventh floor.
As we headed down, we were joined by faculty, lab techs, and a couple of students, so the staircase became rather crowded. But as we passed the fifth floor, the air heated up noticeably. We blew it off, thinking it was just because of the number of people in the stairwell. As we made it past the fourth floor, Harrison claimed to see smoke billowing in through the door. Bryan and I told him he was seeing things. After all, it was prob'bly just a drill.
So as we get down to the second floor and take the byway to Emerson, the buildings have totally emptied out, but the air is very hot. We ignored this. Bradfield does climatic studies and agronomic studies, maybe someone left one of the labs open. We started passing through Emerson and glanced out the window. Fire vehicles and emergency personnel were racing up to Bradfield as people spilled out the emergency exits. It was as we watched this that we realized what was actually happening.
There was a real fire in the building. A real, honest-to-God fire. And here we were, so used to drills, that we ignored it and brazenly cut through the comples even though one of the floors above had apparently caught fire. Over in PlantSci, the alarms were not activated, but people could be seen scrambling away from the corridor leading to emerson. We were the only ones left in said corridor, and it remained that way until we went down to the bottom floor, where we went to class.
Luckily, the brick structure of Bradfiled kept it contained, and it was a minor emergency, so the fire was put out and people were allowed back in within the afternoon. But I don't know what worries me more- the fire, or the fact we're so used to drills that we treated it as a drill, ignoring most of the warning signs.
As we were waiting, the fire alarm started to go off. The alarm is a high-pitched scream, and of course, when the alarms go off, the elevators shut down. So, although we were a little annoyed, Bryan, Harrison and I began to take the stairs down from the eleventh floor.
As we headed down, we were joined by faculty, lab techs, and a couple of students, so the staircase became rather crowded. But as we passed the fifth floor, the air heated up noticeably. We blew it off, thinking it was just because of the number of people in the stairwell. As we made it past the fourth floor, Harrison claimed to see smoke billowing in through the door. Bryan and I told him he was seeing things. After all, it was prob'bly just a drill.
So as we get down to the second floor and take the byway to Emerson, the buildings have totally emptied out, but the air is very hot. We ignored this. Bradfield does climatic studies and agronomic studies, maybe someone left one of the labs open. We started passing through Emerson and glanced out the window. Fire vehicles and emergency personnel were racing up to Bradfield as people spilled out the emergency exits. It was as we watched this that we realized what was actually happening.
There was a real fire in the building. A real, honest-to-God fire. And here we were, so used to drills, that we ignored it and brazenly cut through the comples even though one of the floors above had apparently caught fire. Over in PlantSci, the alarms were not activated, but people could be seen scrambling away from the corridor leading to emerson. We were the only ones left in said corridor, and it remained that way until we went down to the bottom floor, where we went to class.
Luckily, the brick structure of Bradfiled kept it contained, and it was a minor emergency, so the fire was put out and people were allowed back in within the afternoon. But I don't know what worries me more- the fire, or the fact we're so used to drills that we treated it as a drill, ignoring most of the warning signs.