The Office Fire Drill

I have been involved in Fire Drills before, but the Singapore version certainly proved quite different. Firstly, my office is on the 28th floor and by far the highest spot I have been resident in on a daily basis and secondly we had more than a weeks warning that the drill was actually going to take place and exactly what time. Really, this was never going to simulate a real situation based on my experience of human nature.

We arrived this morning and the normal parking garage entrance was closed with a trip around the block to enter via another entrance followed. The area around the offices were cordoned off by 08h00 and I made the fatal mistake to visit the loo only to find my entire team had disappeared to go and work from home. Nice one. Then the rest of the floor emptied half and hour before the drill was due to start. Nobody wants to walk down 28 floors of stairs but here is the thing, What the hell is the point then.

I did the only "reasonable" thing and took the lift down and went for a stroll in the shopping complex only to find every coffee shop and open restaurant packed to the hilt with the rest of the crowd I work with and the rest of the building occupant's for that matter. I am convinced the owners of the food establishments around our building was in on this one as the must have made an absolute "Killing" this morning.

After my casual stroll a fellow "stroller" from my floor pointed out that we must at least report at the gathering point and get our names recorded by the fire Marshall, so we headed that way. While standing around waiting for the fire Marshall one serious "Bomb" explosion (Shit, I nearly wet myself) went off and right in front of us a Double Decker bus had been blown up and was now in flames with thick black smoke towering above the scene. Part of the drill, people, as I discovered. Thumbs up for the touch of reality to the fire department and some excitement for the morning.

More shopping followed as we could not get back in the building. Absolutely fruitless exercise if you ask me. Well, there were actually people who did do the drill properly and hopefully they will help the rest of us sorry bastards when a real fire break out without those nice warnings.

Maybe we all need a reality check. Remember the people who rather jumped from the Twin Towers than burn to death? I do, so next time lets take a fire drill serious and not turn it into a shopping expedition. I guess it's human nature to always believe it can not happen to you and still it does as I know very well but that is a story for another day.