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/Texfire]

Like many others said, they were in the wrong. Their job is to respond when a member of the public thinks there might be an emergency. It's right there on the tin.

If you had disabled an alarm that wasn't yours, without knowing the cause of activation, you would have been in the wrong. Additionally, IMO they were wrong to pull the battery without following up with a member of the facility staff. They disabled a detector on a residence. I was always really reluctant to disable an alarm system without notifying someone, for legal liability reasons if nothing else.

And most importantly, they were wrong to try to make you feel shitty about doing the right thing because they were having a bad day.

I wish I could talk directly to their Captain. I would tell them, "Cap, I retired after 23 years on the job, and you and I both know this call was BS. But your guy vented his spleen on a member of the public. I'm talking to you so you can handle it how you deem appropriately. I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt that he's not regularly sabotaging your Department's PR budget. But I hope you're going to remind your crew about professionalism and not squandering opportunities to be the good guy to members of the public who vote when you want to unionize, or request a bond election so your upside down pension fund can be augmented, or a new apparatus purchased. He had one chance to make a good impression on a member of the public, and blew it."

[u/the_falconator → u/Texfire]

It's not a staffed apartment complex. They disabled it and informed the tenant and informed them to inform their landlord. They were not wrong to do that.

[u/Texfire → u/the_falconator]

There isn't any of that in the original post that I was replying to. They showed up, pulled the battery, chastised the OP and left.

[u/the_falconator → u/Texfire]

You said they were wrong to pull the battery without a member of the staff present. There is no staff just the tenant.

[u/Texfire → u/the_falconator]

If you read again, they disabled a detector on a garage apartment behind the OPs 4-plex. Giving them the benefit of the doubt,maybe they left a notice on the door of the residence, but that wasn't stated.

Either way, the interaction was poor and a teachable moment for that firefighter and crew.

[u/the_falconator → u/Texfire]

I read it as it was part of his 4 flex in the back since he said he left a message for his apartment manager.