Firefighter told me I shouldn't have called.

[u/PhilosopherFull819]

The smoke detector was going off from the car port underneath the garage apartments behind the 4plex I live in. I walked outside and saw no smoke or fire and found the detector. I mulled over reaching up and disabling it myself but I opted to err on the side of caution and report it. A truck pulled up minutes later and I showed the guys what I saw. The tallest one reached up and pulled it off and took out the battery. Another one got angry and said that I should "grow up" and "feel embarrassed" for calling. To which I replied I didn't want to turn off the alarm without confirming there was no danger that I couldn't see myself and thanked them and told them to have a nice day and they left. I imaging he was stressed and tired but can't help feeling like I did something wrong.

[u/Revolutionary_Ad7405]

Like 90% of the calls I go on total are things I personally would not call 911 for, but that’s the way of the world. Never hesitate to call. We never say to the caller not to have called, even when you get a call for trouble breathing and the caller is standing in front of his house with a small bag because he has to see a Dr at the hospital and doesn’t have a car and won’t pay for an uber. The ambulance transports, we shake our heads, but never respond to the caller.

[u/fioreman → u/Revolutionary_Ad7405]

Never hesitate to call. We never say to the caller not to have called

Can't say I agree with this part. I don't know what kind of call volume your department has, but there are absolutely a huge proportion of calls that should not have been made. 911 is not an infinite resource.

[u/Revolutionary_Ad7405 → u/fioreman]

I am in a major city department. My engineer does 3k plus per year and we are lower midrange.