I was at home with my 1 year old when, all of a sudden, I hear a crazy alarm go off and a recorded robot voice telling me that there is a dangerously high level of carbon monoxide in the house and to leave the premises immediately! So, what did I do?
I grabbed my kid and my phone, dialed 911, and ran the f*#& outta there!
The 911 dispatcher sent the call to the Fire Department. As I was waiting on my front lawn, I started to get nervous. I kept checking my kid, but he seemed fine. I kept checking my own pulse, but it was racing from the sprint I just ran and the anxiety taking over. I knew carbon monoxide was odorless and colorless. Had we been breathing in that stuff for hours? For days? Was my new headache and nausea from the killer fumes? Exactly when was I going to pass out and/or die? All the horrible scenarios raced through my head and I started to prepare myself for the worst.
Within minutes, the fire department rolled up. No sirens. No excitement. Just 4 burly firemen jumped out and casually went inside. I waited outside, anxious to hear just how bad it was. About a minute later, one of the guys came out and told me to come inside.
"Ma'am", he said, "your alarm battery is dead, that's why the alarm went off".
WTF? No regular warning? No beeping, like in normal smoke detectors? Just a crazy robot voice telling me to leave the premises or I might die!!!
I apologized to the 4 firemen, but they were very cool about it. They even changed my batteries for me. I kidded that I know who to call the next time I need some batteries changed, but I don't think they appreciated the joke. They played with my kid until one of their badges poked him and he started to cry. Then they gave my kid a fireman sticker and took off.
The Costa Mesa Fire Department. Good people who are there to fight fires and save lives. Just don't call them when you need to change a battery. read more