The smoke alarm just went off at our house in Waikanae, so we’ve had to call the fire brigade to come and investigate.
Chances are it’ll be a false alarm – although of course I’m terrified it’s real and it’s my fault for doing some dumb thing like leaving the stove on or something – am already awash with guilt. It’s a volunteer fire brigade up there, and they’ve warned us a false alarm will cost us $1500! I seem to remember that’s the same fee they charge Wellington Hospital for the same thing. I guess it must be a flat rate for everyone.
Oh well – if the house is on fire then Thank Goodness they’re on their way – and if it isn’t then we can think of it as a donation to the local volunteers. Trusting, of course, that it wasn’t one of them that started it. Isn’t it a regular event that arsonists are members of the local fire brigade? And on top of that, to make money out of it…rude.
Of course, what we need to do is to get to know our neighbours better. Although, most of them are fairly elderly up there. You’d need to be able to rely on them hearing the phone, answering it, and then being able to make their way outside fairly promptly to check our house isn’t mid conflagration. I wouldn’t expect them to put themselves in danger, although a little fire extinguisher or hose action would be appreciated, obviously. I won’t approach the Jesus freak across the road, though. He’s likely to just shrug and say it’s God’s will, which wouldn’t be particularly helpful in a crisis.
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False alarm
