Rude Awakening

At 2:22 this morning we were awakened to the blaring caterwaul of our apartment's fire alarm. The system is well designed to emit such an obnoxious high decibel noise that it would be impossible to ignore it and remain snug in one's bed. We dressed as quickly as we could considering our just-awakened-in-the-middle-of-the-night brain fog.

Out into the cold we went to stand in front of the building with 100 others in the frigid night air. Although we were well bundled up it was not too comfortable out there where the temperature was about 30 degrees fahrenheit.

In a few minutes several fire trucks arrived, sirens sounding and lights flashing. The firemen are impressive in their large protective gear, one carrying the hatchet in case they need to free a fire hose from its glass casing. Their march is swift and purposeful. Apartment managers scramble to find keys needed by the firemen and we wait while they checked every apartment.

Finally after 40 minutes of "chilling" our heels we were given the okay to return to our beds. I was happy to discover that even in 40 minutes time my side of the bed was still warm as I had left the covers on top to hold in some heat.

It's difficult not to be annoyed by such an interruption in sleep. The last time our fire alarm went off was on our anniversary in 2006. That was also a middle of the night adventure. We have endured quite a few fire alarms in the two decades we have lived at this apartment complex. Most of those were mid-sleep.

Why do you suppose there is such a high proportion of alarm firings in the middle of the night? It seems there are pranksters who think it's fun to yank a fire alarm pull and wake everyone from their beds. I personally did not think it was so much fun.