It was the first lab for the summer and the students were so engrossed in finishing the experiment as early as possible. Well, they were just half an hour into the experiment! And I, as usual, was enjoying teaching a lab course (more than the stressful recitation). It was a course I had taught before, and I had an air of confidence around me.
The experiment that day involved the analysis of effect of temperature on acid-base reaction. The Teaching Assistants (TAs) including me had in their hands what we called a ‘striker’ used to light a burner. It was my favorite asset in the lab, and I went around revolving it in my hand. Through the experiment, I lighted a few of the students’ burners and suddenly we heard an alarm in the lab. Within seconds, the building’s fire alarm went off. Great! That was a good start to a course! I checked through the lab to make sure we did not start a fire. We did not. As everyone, we had to go out. We sent out the students and cleared the building. It was always a wonderful sight seeing so many people standing across the road all worried about the experiments they left, the laptops which were open, and of course, unfinished coffee!
Siren. The fire engines were here. The fire personnel shuffled in and out, and about forty five minutes later, we were let in. Obviously, there was no great fire in the building. There were four other TAs with me and we were thinking about coffee as Starbucks was close. I had Caramel Macchiato in mind, but we thought so long that it was now time for us to resume our duties. We were back in, and the experiment which should have ended in one and a half hours was now into its second hour, and finally got over after three and a half hours. Hmmm, I wouldn’t mind a fire alarm once in a while, but it was not destined to be so…
The very next week, there was another alarm, again during my lab! But this time, I did not have a striker in my hand, and we were using just ice! We evacuated the building, and this time, we didn’t think much about coffee; we went straight to the coffee shop exiting the building! But instead of the caramel macchiato I bought an iced Venti, the day’s special. As we returned, we had guesses on how many fire alarms we will have in the forthcoming labs we were teaching. The call back in was quicker this time, and I just had the time to finish my coffee. This experiment was longer. One team was held up in a step: “God is not looking at me today” she said. “I’m sure he’ll turn around soon” was my reply. They finished it fifteen minutes late.
Both these incidents were not drills, as the fire engines would not be there just to make the drills realistic! Fire alarms are good, but it is how sensitive they are that matters. Even then, I would not blame my school’s fire alarm, because the one in my apartment is worse: it shrieked for my cooking!
When we guessed numbers the previous week, we had no idea it would actually occur. How often will one expect a course to be disturbed by a fire alarm in the first two weeks? It was just the fifth experiment in the course, and already the third time we had to evacuate the building because of a fire alarm!! “I enjoyed the break” said a student after returning in. This was today.
We experienced the Elements of Fire: fresh ‘air’ outside the building, re’fuel’ed ourselves with a coffee and ‘heat’: we burnt a few calories teaching in the lab!
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