Strata Unit Fire Alarm Triggered. What Should I Do as Ground Floor Unit Owner

Was around mid day just now. Smoke alarm triggered.
Family with newborn and 1.5yrs old sleeping.
Happened to be Off work so I was sleeping too when it happened.
I woke up and walked out through the side door, guessing it was more a false alarm but still wanted to walk out and check around the building.
The top floor unit owner who’s also the secretary of owners Corp then came storming my front door. He then yelled and said you guys should try to mute the alarm at your door step (there is a smoke alarm in each unit, one for ever two unit behind one fire door, and one in the common area for each floor) and I think they are all linked. I said look I don’t even know what’s going on. I went outside to look around and no ones out there. And I checked around the building to see no smoke was visible from outside. And here you are storming my door. He repeated you should try to mute the alarm at your door step given there is no smoke. Then this is where I might be at fault due to ignorance but I said I really don’t know what’s going on. I went out to check. If there are certain steps that you expect me to do to the smoke alarm outside my unit at my door step (common for two properties) then you should at least communicate prior. He said don’t go black and white with me. I didn’t think quick enough to say I just didn’t know what to do except to mute my own units alarm and evacuate. Then he went on to explain we are in a small block so we need to help each other out and see how he was coming down (from his top floor) to each floor to see what was the cause. I explained to him I was taught to evacuate first, make sure it’s safe before entering the building which I did. He then accused me of being selfish. I told him that look it’s not about being selfish. At ground floor without knowing what’s happening, I don’t think I’m comfortable going up to do what he did ie go to each floor and find out which was the smoke alarm unit that was triggered and giving false alarm. The first response should be everyone evacuate first. He then said I’m a selfish person because this is not an office building and our response should be to help each other.

Now I’m not saying I’m right. I hereby acknowledge I have limited understanding of fire safety and what to do during firm alarm. Please enlighten me. I’m still of the view we should evacuate first and reassess. There should be no rush to find the false alarm in that instance.

Let me clarify. I was trying to control my temper throughout the conversation. He started smiling sarcastically when I said I shouldn’t be going up as first reaction. He then walked away saying I’m a selfish person. I did raise my voice to defend my view about fire safety but he just brushed off my view. He ended up yelling saying I’m a selfish person. I just wanted to equip myself with the knowledge of what’s right and wrong. If I’m wrong I will apologise to him and learn from this. If not. I’m gonna go to the top floor and start yelling back because as I’m typing this, just about one hour after the incident I’m still shaking in anger.

Comments

  • +5

    cool story

  • +4

    So… you had an argument?

    I get that you really wanted to get this off your chest, but move on. It's a simple argument.

    I just wanted to equip myself with the knowledge of what’s right and wrong.

    Even if you're right, he believes he's right. You can't just use the defence of "but the internet says I'm right". Doesn't happen. People are stubborn.

    • I’m being accused of selfish.
      I don’t regard myself as a selfish person
      If someone in the building (myself or me secretary) is having the wrong idea then being a selfless person it needs to be brought up and corrected.
      I don’t want this to repeat and being yelled again

      • +3

        "You're wrong"
        "No I'm not"
        "Yes you are"

        Where do you see this argument going?

        In the great words of Elsa: "Let it go, let it go"

        • Maybe disregard the argument
          And say

          During a fire alarm
          What’s should be the first response

          Is there ever a scenario where you go up instead of down for a ground floor person

          • +4

            @aboogee: You get yourself and family out of the building.

            Also it's not your place to mute an alarm.

        • Father of daughters? 🤔

          • +1

            @[Deactivated]: Which part lol the pointless arguing or Frozen? :P

            • +1

              @spackbace: Quoting Elsa from Frozen = 1 daughter

              Pointless arguing = you need at least daughters for that one

              Hence the "father of daughters" :P

      • +8

        You're completely in the right in that under absolutely no circumstances should you, as a private individual, mute a fire alarm.

        At the same time, your problem that you want advice for is that someone thinks you're selfish. FFS get over it.

        as I’m typing this, just about one hour after the incident I’m still shaking in anger.

        Get a hobby? It's 12:30pm on a weekday and you apparently have nothing better to do but stew over an argument you had in the morning.

        • My apologies now that I calmed down I will not go yelling.
          I just wanted to know what the right response should be
          I’m not born and breed here. Where I came from fire alarm was not a major thing. So didn’t have much knowledge. Only learned about fire safety and evacuation etc from work here.
          I just want to know, from everyone’s unbiased view what should have I done.
          Ironically he was from my own country too, only 30yrs older and came much earlier. He might be expecting me to act based on common sense which I can’t cuz I don’t know more than what I’ve learned at work.

        • +4

          Lol hobby now is to change nappy three time a night for the new born. And keep the wife happy.

          • +6

            @aboogee: Oh that sounds like it should keep you busy enough. Yeah don't mind the neighbour/strata manager, they're completely wrong. Fire alarms do have false alarms but:

            1. False alarm and you do nothing, people get annoyed for a while.

            2. Real alarm and you turn it off, someone might be sleeping and bad things happen.

            I'd rather (1) every time.

        • +4

          You're completely in the right in that under absolutely no circumstances should you, as a private individual, mute a fire alarm.

          Could not agree more. Sure, false alarms can be annoying, but the danger when an alarm is prematurely muted is significantly worse (here's a good example of how long it can take for smoke to appear, how long it takes for the alarm in another room to go off as typically only 2 alarms are in a residence, and how many seconds after the alarm finally went off before the room was guttered).

          Leave assessing whether it's a false alarm to professionals.

      • +2

        I would have thought it would have been more selfish to have muted the alarms, potentially risking someone to severe injury or death if they did not get alerted to a fire.

        You are correct in evacuating. If you have no knowledge (eg not a building warden etc) then leave it up to the professionals when they arrive. Thats what they get paid for.

        Also please learn paragraphs or structure your post better

    • I think OP should mention the word "selfish" a few more times…..

  • +1

    You're 100% correct IMHO.
    Never assume that a fire alarm is a false alarm!
    Going upstairs, thereby putting yourself at risk of being cut off from escape, as well as impeding those evacuating, is mental until it can be safely evaluated that the alarm is a false alarm.

  • +2

    How old are you ?

    • +2

      32….. yeah I’m not getting where this is heading except I fail at anger management and have to resort to ozb to rant. Haha.

  • +2

    Situations like these are why I don't like to get to know my neighbours, especially in strata living and particularly in Sydney.

    In future OP, a succinct 'Piss off' will suffice. Your attempts at civility were ignored so just fire back and slam your door.

  • Yeah if your looking for a right or wrong, you evacuate… with or with out training that is mostly common sense and also far more helpful as you will alert others and services in doing so.
    Some advice for altercations like that, don't get so angry it makes you shake, more if you can shake it off. You are right in assuming common area things shouldn't be touched unless expressed, so it sounds like your ok and not selfish just this secretary has lost his beans. You would be better talking with him now the alarm isn't blaring or emailing just explaining you would like to know more or see some info if this happens in the future. Invariably there will be nothing written you have to do xy or z to common area fittings or alerts ect. So if he says anything it'll be just talk. If there is something written then you are better prepared for you and your family.
    Good luck

  • +3

    Test alarm at 12 midnight tonight to make sure it is still working

    • Just making sure it works just as well in darkness.

  • +2

    So you evacuated and left the baby sleeping? Maybe you are selfish.

  • +1

    Maybe he already knew it was a false alarm ( no further investigation required ) and just wanted to get the sound off as fast as possible in his Big Boss Rooster BBR style lol :)

    Confront him and get the drill for fire safety that surely if he is the BBR he needs to provide to you for the safety of your complex . If he doesn't give you that info in a civilized manner continue your happenings here for the next step :)

    BTW if he didn't have the info it was a false alarm he basically putting everyone life at risk so in some kind of subtle manner try to get that find that answer for your incident .

    • +2

      I don’t know how one can determine so quickly it was false alarm.
      It’s not like it’s a modern apartment. It’s a 35yo building with no central monitoring. And I don’t know if there is any more intelligence in the smoke alarm system that will tell you it’s a false one.
      And that’s why I told him I wasn’t comfortable doing what he said he was doing (push the temp mute button and if it doesn’t go off then remove the unit from installation) given
      1. I don’t know how these smoke alarms are linked and operate
      2. I can’t even confirm if it’s false alarm and I don’t want to be acting smart by inadvertently crippling part of the system by dismantling stuff as I like.
      3. Until I know it’s safe, I’m not going UP

      At that point he started saying I’m a selfish person

      Oh well.

  • +1

    Better to be selfish and alive, than not selfish and dead?

    I still don't understand who/what triggered the smoke alarm?

    • Op vaped under the smoke alarm XD XD

    • +3

      Spoke to the contractor who installed.
      Pointed out straight away, due to background noise, that dust from construction will trigger smoke alarm.
      Unit above is renovating. So smoke alarm was triggered.

      I don’t mind doing the right thing.
      Point is after talking to him I don’t know what’s right.

  • +2

    Isn't the fire alarm outside your apartment in the common area? Therefore it's not yours and you're not going to touch it, body corporate and fire men can deal with it. If you didn't trigger it, it isn't your problem. Oh and you seem to have an angry idiot living above your so just ignore them next time.

  • +1

    I have a standard rule - I acknowledge "authority" to the same degree that the claimant accepts the responsibilty that comes with such a claim.
    e.g: In Adlaide, we have a metropolitan fire brigade. These people enter burning buildings and dangerous situations to save life and prevent damage at great risk to themselves.
    On http://www.mfs.sa.gov.au/site/community_safety/home_fire_and…
    they instruct that:

    "Never re-enter a building until the all-clear is given by the Fire Service."

    You would have been quite entitled to phone the local brigade and report the alarm, then followed their advice.

    The self-appointed warden could have then explained his decision to start advising others to interfer with the safety equipment to them.

  • Depending on how your building fire system is wired up I can't see how it's your problem.

    From what you've mentioned about smoke alarms. It's likely the one outside your unit entry door is linked to the whole building and would set off the whole building.
    Any internal smoke alarm generally speaking wouldn't do this.

    Also if it's the building fire alarm going off muting the alarm won't stop the fire brigade from coming. They would already be on their way before you mute it, false alarm or not.

    As far as evacuating. Any Firemen I've ever spoken to always say to evacuate as you can never be sure if it's a false alarm or not.

    • Sorry
      Can I ask as I don’t know much about alarms in Australia
      Don’t know (and don’t think) that our fire alarm system is linked to fire brigade
      I am of the opinion that it’s a standalone system intended to get people to evacuate. Don’t know if it’s so sophisticated that fire brigade gets alerted.
      Unless you’re saying it’s mandatory. Ours is a 35yo building and the alarm system was retrofitted 2-3yrs ago as part of the council requirement?

  • +1

    Fire - exclamation mark - Fire - exclamation mark - help me - exclamation mark. 123 cavendon road. Looking forward to hearing from you. Yours truly, Maurice Moss [sigh of relief]

    0118 999 881 999 119 725 3

  • TLDR

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