The fire alarm went off in our building today. Thankfully it wasn't so loud and alarming as some I've heard, so the sound itself didn't bother Katie. I didn't smell any smoke or feel any heat, but as it continued for more than just a couple minutes (as it might if they were testing the system or something) I decided we should be better safe than sorry and we left the building. That's when Katie's alarm went off. The alarm was much louder in the hallway, and the fact that we were actually leaving our home and getting out of the building was very unsettling to her. When we got outside there didn't seem to be anything visibly wrong. Very few other people had come out. I was going to call the rental office and see if they could tell us if it was a drill or something, but quickly realized I'd forgotten my phone inside. We instead drove over to the office and went in to inquire.
The lady there said someone had seen one of the electrical boxes smoking and called the fire department. Just then a maintenance man comes running in looking for a key and says, "They've got a fire over there! Have you called the fire department?" So clearly this was no drill or test, there was an actual fire and we could not return home. When Katie heard this she really started to panic. The fact that we were out safely wasn't enough, she was terrified that our apartment would burn up with all of our things in it and she was very upset. I held her and tried to reassure her that everything was going to be ok. It had to be a fairly small fire and they were already on top of it, so I was pretty sure we wouldn't suffer any damage. There was no smoke to be seen or anything. But the idea that it was there at all, in our building was just too much for her.
We decided to go to her favorite new library to wait it out and distract her. I really wished I'd grabbed by phone to let my mom know what was going on and to find out when it was safe to come back. But I checked an hour later and it had been given the all clear, so we returned to an undamaged apartment.
