Something absolutely insane happened today. I was inspecting a new condo downtown Montreal and in the moment I pressed the TEST button of the first smoke detector, the fire alarm in the entire building went ON. The supervisor began banging on the doors evacuating everybody, so I told him that I just tested a smoke detector, wandering how the frack they might be connected. He was dumbfound and called his manager, but in the meantime people were pouring out of the building and 3 fire trucks came. Later I found that there was a real situation in the other side of the building IN THE SAME INSTANT I WAS TESTING THE LOCAL ALARM. What are the odds?!? Thanks God I’m a calm man .
For first and last time I can write in my report: "The building central fire alarm system was tested.
“Satisfactory”.
Great story! Rather than testing alarms by pushing the button, which just indicated it has power and makes noise, you might want to verify the date on the back. Units over ten years old have been shown to have reduced sensitivity (takes loads of smoke before activation) and should be replaced.
