Odd experience at our older colo facility:
We were onsite in the cage when the building fire alarms sounded. I did what most reasonable persons would: figured it was a false alarm but put down tools and walked out the front door.
The datacenter's technical staff had a little trouble. They told us immediately that it was a test, and not to worry. But usually tests involve technicians from the alarm company and there was no service trunks outside. The techs continued to try to reach the facilities manager on the phone. A gentleman turned up claiming to be the building owner, and said the fire department was on the way. The fire department shows up, and the first question they ask is "What is this place?" When we explained it was a datacenter they asked for further clarification. In one of the most crowded datacenter corridors in the world, the fire department had no special training on dealing with datacenter fires, and didn't even know the buildings within their area. The fire department leaves after a few minutes. The alarm continues sounding for another 15 minutes before resetting on its own.
We later find out the issues was a false detect from an under floor smoke detector. Seems that some additional training in reading the fire panel and when to evacuate the datacenter might be in order for the DC operator. I was also a little surprised the fire department didn't inspect under the floor, or even walk around.
Leave a comment