Another factor to consider is the power of conditioning. Not clearing out during an alarm conditions people to wait around and see what happens. In the event of a real alarm, they don't evacuate unless they see smoke, flame, or another person leaving. While your alarm may actually be false, by them learning to not clear out during alarms that would inconvenience them, they may later be at a place of work or school and decide again to not evacuate.
I worked at a place where there were no strobes or alarms (office space, not a performance venue). All they had were phones that notified you of an emergency. In one case, it was a full week before I noticed that the phone near my desk said "TORNADO WARNING" on it. I asked around and found out that a week before we had been under a tornado warning. It worked a little better during a fire drill, as the phones actually rang, which they hadn't during the tornado warning. Still, every fire alarm there started with everyone looking around going, "You gonna leave?"
I remember a priceless moment in high school after school had already ended for the day. Students were hanging out in hallways, going to extracurriculars. Some teachers went home, but others were still sitting at their desks. The fire alarms went off and nobody moved. I saw one teacher stand up, go into the hallway, look both ways, then go back into his room and close the door. All of the students just stayed where they were in the hallways. Many of those students are now in college dorms, where fire alarms tend to happen often, both as real alarms and as false alarms. They've got a pretty solid impression now not to leave their room unless they see smoke or until someone eventually knocks on their door and tells them to leave. What they don't know is that while they're on the 12th floor, the 3rd floor might be burning up and the longer they wait to get out, the harder it will be to get out alive.
That guy who didn't leave during the alarm? He's the drama dept. head. If I wasn't in the room, he'd happily let a rehearsal continue through a fire alarm. (He's usually really a good guy, but fire protection is one of those things that him and I tend to disagree on -- it inconveniences him. But whenever I'm in the room, he does what he knows I'd want him to do for no other reason than he doesn't want to have that debate with me for the thirty-fifth time...)
I worked at a place where there were no strobes or alarms (office space, not a performance venue). All they had were phones that notified you of an emergency. In one case, it was a full week before I noticed that the phone near my desk said "TORNADO WARNING" on it. I asked around and found out that a week before we had been under a tornado warning. It worked a little better during a fire drill, as the phones actually rang, which they hadn't during the tornado warning. Still, every fire alarm there started with everyone looking around going, "You gonna leave?"
I remember a priceless moment in high school after school had already ended for the day. Students were hanging out in hallways, going to extracurriculars. Some teachers went home, but others were still sitting at their desks. The fire alarms went off and nobody moved. I saw one teacher stand up, go into the hallway, look both ways, then go back into his room and close the door. All of the students just stayed where they were in the hallways. Many of those students are now in college dorms, where fire alarms tend to happen often, both as real alarms and as false alarms. They've got a pretty solid impression now not to leave their room unless they see smoke or until someone eventually knocks on their door and tells them to leave. What they don't know is that while they're on the 12th floor, the 3rd floor might be burning up and the longer they wait to get out, the harder it will be to get out alive.
That guy who didn't leave during the alarm? He's the drama dept. head. If I wasn't in the room, he'd happily let a rehearsal continue through a fire alarm. (He's usually really a good guy, but fire protection is one of those things that him and I tend to disagree on -- it inconveniences him. But whenever I'm in the room, he does what he knows I'd want him to do for no other reason than he doesn't want to have that debate with me for the thirty-fifth time...)