{"id":613,"date":"2011-11-08T05:00:52","date_gmt":"2011-11-07T21:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.wordpress.com\/?p=613"},"modified":"2013-06-17T19:44:45","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T19:44:45","slug":"dressed-in-your-pajamas-in-the-grand-salon-at-sea-11082011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=613","title":{"rendered":"Dressed In Your Pajamas in the Grand Salon \u2013 At Sea \u2013 [11\/08\/2011]"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the record: everything is fine, the fire was apparently small and the teams had it out with a half hour. Everything\u2019s in one piece, everyone is fine. As should be proved by the fact that I’m writing about it only an hour after it happened…and I’m writing about it more for the purposes of getting it out of my head so I can get back to sleep…<\/strong><\/p>\n

You get used to drills as a crewmember, they\u2019re very regular \u2013 and much as we hate them and complain about them (\u201cwhy do I have to have drill in Honolulu??\u201d) we know they\u2019re extremely important. But they\u2019re much like the old announcements you used to hear on the radio..<\/p>\n

This is a test of the emergency broadcast system, in the event of an actual emergency\u2026we repeat this is only a test<\/em><\/p>\n

And then, in the wee small hours of the morning, it\u2019s not a test\u2026<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re woken by the fire alarm at ten to four in the morning, it takes a second for your mind to catch up with your body. You\u2019re body\u2019s already moving, auto-program, your ears hear the alarm shrilling through the air and your feet are on the ground, your hands are grabbing for the nearest clothes you have (which, fortunately for me, is always my uniform) \u2013you even have enough sense to remember to throw your door onto the latch when you can’t find your key…. and only then does your brain catch up\u2026as you\u2019re bolting up the stairs (\u201cpeople! No elevators! Stairs only people!\u201d)<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a drill.<\/p>\n

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain speaking from the bridge; a fire has been detected in the forward incinerator room. At this time there is no cause for concern \u2013 please remain calm and follow any and all instructions given by crewmembers or announcements. The following is information for our crewmembers and is part of our standard emergency procedures:\u00a0 All emergency teams please report to your stations. Passenger Notification Teams, Emergency Elevator Teams, Emergency Medical Team please report to your stations. All other crewmembers please remain at your stations and await further instructions<\/em><\/p>\n

Bleary eyed and run by adrenaline half of us still in pajamas, the Passenger Notification Team reports to the front office and looks at each other, waiting for instructions. Waiting to see whether or not we have to post signs informing the passengers of the location of the blaze, or if we\u2019re doing stand-in-the-hallways duty. For my part, I ended up standing mid-ship with three others, sending befuddled passengers back to their rooms<\/p>\n

Please sir, just stay in your stateroom until you hear further announcements, no ma\u2019am there\u2019s no need to panic the situation is under control..<\/em><\/p>\n

Your heart turns over and clenches as you realize that as you pass the deck one forward doors, you can smell smoke.<\/p>\n

It clenches again when you remember you live on A-deck forward\u2026<\/p>\n

Crazy the things that go through your head, but that cannot show on your face. All that matters is keeping people calm, and everything they tell us in training is true, in a real emergency 60% of people will do absolutely nothing\u2026<\/p>\n

It’s ironic really, that we’re in the middle of a huge body of water, and yet the most terrifying thing you can have on a ship is a fire.<\/p>\n

Everything’s fine, everyone’s fine, though getting back to sleep is going to be an exercise in futility I suspect…<\/p>\n

But not a moment I\u2019d like to relive\u2026also not one I\u2019ll forget\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the record: everything is fine, the fire was apparently small and the teams had it out with a half hour. Everything\u2019s in one piece, everyone is fine. As should be proved by the fact that I’m writing about it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grand-asiaaustralia-2011"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-9T","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=613"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613\/revisions\/2339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}