False Arrester
Winter Park, Fla.
A Job Well Done
While cleaning the roof vents at a local restaurant, a cleaning crew inadvertently pulled down and disconnected some EMT that ran to a control panel and controlled four different ventilators. We were called in and instructed to get them running ASAP and then rewire the control panel. We successfully got three running, but when we connected what we thought were the start leads for the fourth vent, I started to hear a hissing noise. We soon realized it was the sound of the CO2 fire suppression system emptying into the kitchen. By the time we made it past the fleeing staff and into the room, it was filled with a cloud that looked like plumes of white smoke the space shuttle makes when it takes off.
Rich Kuklewicz
Turner Falls, Mass.
Illustrations by Clint Metcalf