Hi Everyone, Sorry for the long email, but I cannot make it any shorter :)
Been in Telehouse West a couple of nights ago and I was (un)fortunate enough to be caught in the middle of a nice fire alarm at 02:00. As I was zoned in replacing a router, I realised (not sure how it's been on) that there is a funny noise in the suite somewhere on the top floor in THW. I was with another engineer on site, and we both started to talk about this funny noise, and after standing up we could hear something that resembled a fire alarm noise and we decided after about 5 minutes that it was not a drill. We went out of the suite and finally we could hear the message clearly, asking us to evacuate. Going down the stairs (as the lifts are not supposed to be used for obvious reasons) we did not see any staff or anyone trying to see what was happening. We finally made it to the Telehouse Service desk, where the alarm noise was barely audible. Looked at their screens and there was no alarm anywhere to notify them about it, and they all had earphones on and did not even see us getting there. We told them about the alarm (this is about 15 minutes after we heard the funny noise) and that is seems to be only in THW. At this point, one of the engineers removed his headphones, and asked us if we need help. :)). So we repeated this again. Another engineer removed their headphones, and grabbed a high vis jacket and then asked the other Telehouse engineer to send that SMS. Then he proclaimed loud and clear: "I am in charge here. We need to evacuate the building", but only the two of you because you are the only ones in THW. Finally we followed him outside, and we waited there for around 45 minutes while someone allegedly checked the fire alarm. My question is, should I report this incident to Telehouse? Am I being to paranoid for thinking that Telehouse West could have burned calmly for 15 minutes or more before anyone would have not anything? Is it ok for onsite engineers to be sitting at their computers with ear phones on and no visual alarms on their NOC screens? Catalin
