So, I get home from work a bit late today, 5 PM to be more exact. As I pull into my parking lot, I hear a cacophony of high pitched squeals and beeps. Annoyed though intrigued, the sounds seemed familiar. As I get closer to my apartment door, I realize almost simultaneously that the sound is coming from my apartment and is the sound of six smoke detectors going off at once. Can someone cautiously bust into an apartment? I did just that. No smoke. IRON ON AN IRONING BOARD! But it was cool and non-burning. RUN UPSTAIRS. Nothing. W h a t t h e h e l l . . .
The usual way to get the damned smoke detectors is to find the one that is being set off and then flagellate a large cloth object (usually a bath towel) in its general direction. No smoke means no amount of flagellating will help. By this point, I am almost completely deaf. The sound is so much, I cannot even tell where it is coming from any more. All of the detectors are on the same circuit, so I started disconnecting them one by one. Being just under 6 foot tall, the detectors were *just* out of my reach to be grabbed down and disconnected. Damn it all, I just started ripping them down cautiously (again, if possible). I got 5 of them (the sixth was already disconnected) but the sound continued! I was so deaf that I couldn't tell if the ones I had just removed and tossed to the floor were still sounding or if there was a hidden detector, or if the sound was all in my head. After an eternity of going nuts, the detectors timed out and the silence was deafening.
None of my roommates were home, there was no smoke, it made no sense. Thinking of how great my luck is, I knew that if I left all of the detectors disconnected there *would* be a fire. Replaced the two downstairs: no problem. Replaced the one in the upstairs hall: no problem. Replaced the ones in the other bedrooms: no problem. Replace the one in my bedroom: FUCKING DEAFENING CACOPHONY GETS REVENGE. You know that little confused path that people comicly take when they don't know where to go or what to do? You know, rush off in one direction, quickly reverse, spin around in a circle then just charge forward? I did just that, in my own room, in my own apartment. Ripped down the detector in my room and the sound stopped.
All of this chaos because a single smoke detector isn't working properly. I still can't hear right.
The usual way to get the damned smoke detectors is to find the one that is being set off and then flagellate a large cloth object (usually a bath towel) in its general direction. No smoke means no amount of flagellating will help. By this point, I am almost completely deaf. The sound is so much, I cannot even tell where it is coming from any more. All of the detectors are on the same circuit, so I started disconnecting them one by one. Being just under 6 foot tall, the detectors were *just* out of my reach to be grabbed down and disconnected. Damn it all, I just started ripping them down cautiously (again, if possible). I got 5 of them (the sixth was already disconnected) but the sound continued! I was so deaf that I couldn't tell if the ones I had just removed and tossed to the floor were still sounding or if there was a hidden detector, or if the sound was all in my head. After an eternity of going nuts, the detectors timed out and the silence was deafening.
None of my roommates were home, there was no smoke, it made no sense. Thinking of how great my luck is, I knew that if I left all of the detectors disconnected there *would* be a fire. Replaced the two downstairs: no problem. Replaced the one in the upstairs hall: no problem. Replaced the ones in the other bedrooms: no problem. Replace the one in my bedroom: FUCKING DEAFENING CACOPHONY GETS REVENGE. You know that little confused path that people comicly take when they don't know where to go or what to do? You know, rush off in one direction, quickly reverse, spin around in a circle then just charge forward? I did just that, in my own room, in my own apartment. Ripped down the detector in my room and the sound stopped.
All of this chaos because a single smoke detector isn't working properly. I still can't hear right.