r/Firefighting • u/PhilosopherFull819 • May 29 '25

Ask A Firefighter Firefighter told me I shouldn't have called.

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.

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u/the_falconator Professional Firefighter May 29 '25

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.

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u/Texfire May 30 '25

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.

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u/the_falconator Professional Firefighter May 30 '25

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

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u/Texfire May 30 '25

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.

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u/the_falconator Professional Firefighter May 30 '25

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.