1. Get to know your neighbors, so that when their apartment fire alarms start going off and it's filling with smoke and they're not home, you can call them and urge them to come home.
2. Immediately call 911 if the fire alarms are going off and your neighbors aren't home, so your apartment doesn't burn down.
3. Police officers in Cedar City obviously have nothing better to do with their lives, so when a call goes out for the fire department, seven or eight cop cars show up too.
4. The Cedar City fire department takes their dear sweet time getting somewhere when it's just a call about fire alarms and smoke. I sure hope that when there's a call for an actual fire that they hurry their little butts up and get there.
5. Don't leave beans on the stove to soak while you go and run errands.
Now here's the full story: Trevor and I had just sat down with our pizza rolls to start watching Agents of Shield on Hulu, when our neighbor's fire alarm started beeping. Fire alarms are so obnoxious and loud, and we expected our neighbors to turn it off. Instead it kept beeping, which made us a little concerned. We walked outside and knocked on their door, hoping they were home and just struggling with turning off the alarm. Nope, no answer. Trevor tried the door to see if maybe they had left it unlocked, but it was deadbolted. We came back into our apartment and sat down, wrestling with what to do next. Trev was all for calling 911 right then and there, but I thought maybe the alarm was just malfunctioning with a dead battery. We decided to keep eating and watching Agents of Shield when we heard the second fire alarm go off in their apartment. Something was definitely wrong. Trev first tried calling our managers to see if we could just get somewhere into their apartment to fix the problem, but management didn't answer. Trevor called dispatch next; he said that it wasn't a serious emergency, but "our neighbors fire alarms were going off, they weren't home, and we didn't know what to do." Dispatch told him they would let the fire department know and if anything changed about the situation to call back. I decided to go outside to watch for our neighbors to come home and to watch for the fire department to show up. It smelled awful outside. Indeed, something was burning. All of the windows were fogging up with smoke, too. I let Trev know and he called dispatch back with the update. Two firemen finally showed up after six minutes (after I waved them down because they kept driving up and down the street looking) and followed me to our apartments. They started messing with the windows, checking the door, trying to figure out a way in. "Don't you know your neighbors?" the nice fireman in the beanie asked us. "No, we are too busy with work and school," I responded. "We already tried calling management too, but no one answered." After a couple of minutes of trying to get into their apartment, the other fireman radioed for the big firetruck to come. Then came the seven or eight cop cars, all full of (douchebag) cops who asked us the same questions. "Who are your neighbors?" "Do you know them?" "Have you called your landlord?" "Have you tried the door?" The big firetruck finally showed up, and all of them were deciding whether to break down the door or the window when our neighbors showed up. The poor guy ran to the door and opened it, and the smoke came pouring out. A fireman rushed inside and grabbed a pot off the stove and brought it out to the snow. Our neighbor's wife was right behind him. She started shaking as she took in the scene of all the cops, firemen, flashing lights, and smoke. She bent over, trying to breath. Come to find out she's six months pregnant. A officer asked if she could come into our warm apartment, away from the smoke and cold. The poor little thing, I felt so bad for her. They had just left to run some errands and she left some beans soaking on the stove. Obviously soaking the beans went totally wrong and they started burning, hence all the smoke and the smell. Both of them were so grateful towards us for saving their apartment and for calling the fire department. The firemen commended us too, saying it could have been a lot worse had we not called. A fireman pulled out a large ventilation fan to pull some of the smoke out of their apartment, and we knew our job was done. We said good night, wished the firefighters happy holidays, and came into our apartment.
So, there's our brownie points with God this lovely Sunday. We didn't let our neighbor's apartment or our apartment burn down, and we gave the firemen and police officers something to do. Go us. (:
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