WHAT Do I Do?!!
The clock at the firehouse reads 2:46 am. We just pulled the engine back into quarters after responding to an accident on the expressway. The address is right around the corner from the firehouse and it only takes us 1 minute to arrive. The call is for a water leak, 78 Martin Street, Apartment 6.
We walk up the front steps to be encountered with a frantic young woman, possibly in her mid-20’s, crying over the fact that water has filled her bathroom floor, leaked out into the hallway, down the hall and onto her living room Persian rug. “My rug is being destroyed,” she shouted at us, forgetting that the rest of the young adults living in the condo association were fast asleep. “Please, Please, Please, make it stop.”
“Ok Ma’am, we will get to the bottom of this.” We walked into the bathroom to find that the pipe leading to the bathroom sink had burst and was pouring water into her apartment.
“Oh, this is easy,” I thought to myself as the firefighter on probation bent over to shut the water off at the valve. A couple of turns…that was it. The young woman sighed in relief as the water stopped and then went frantically back to drying her rug with towels.
As we were leaving the apartment, I thought the woman could have saved herself a lot of aggravation and damage to her apartment if only she had known how to shut off a valve.
This type of scenario - where individuals are unsure how to react in an emergency - repeats itself over and over again….almost every time I go to work. During my ten years with the fire department, I have observed that people very rarely know how to respond appropriately. Or sometimes, they do know what to do but they are so panicked, they freeze up.
Other examples are homeowners not knowing where shutoffs are for utilities. They are clueless on the operation of their smoke and carbon monoxide detectors…..OR, even worse, they don’t have the detectors.
When the fire department responds for individuals living in rental units, they very often do not know who to call or who is responsible for the upkeep of their apartments. The blame could be on renters or on the landlords who do everything to shirk their duties.
The most dangerous and scary situations are in high-rise buildings with dozens and sometimes hundreds of people living in the building. The “manager” meets the fire company at the door and his or her first words inevitably are:
“This is my first day.”
“I don’t know if we have an evacuation plan.”
“I have no training in reading this alarm panel.”
“No. I do not know who is the qualified personnel for the building or how to call them.”
If you live in a high rise building like this, hold your management accountable. Ask for an evacuation plan.
Make sure you know what to do in an emergency! Plan ahead so you are prepared on the appropriate actions and you feel confident executing them!
If you are a homeowner or if you rent an apartment, be familiar with emergency protocol and how to be responsible for your safety and the safety of those around you. There is too much at stake to rely on someone else.
