posted on Friday, February 22, 2008 12:23 PM
by
klehan
Fire alarm interrupts debate on fire-safety bill in Tennessee
Moments like this are why the Internet was invented: Online video footage of a fire alarm going off in the middle of a committee debate on a fire safety bill.
Tennessee Rep. Mike Turner, who works a day job as a professional firefighter, was arguing the merits of his fire safety bill when the fire alarm started sounding in the Legislative Plaza hearing room.
The moment, captured by the Taxing Tennessee blog, shows Turner handling the interruption with aplomb. To watch the video,
click
here.
"Mr. Chairman, I think this is an endorsement from upstairs. This bill needs to get out of this committee," Turner said, raising his voice to be heard above the irritating, high-pitched beep of the smoke detector.
As the beeping continued and staffers ran to find out whether there really was a fire, Turner muttered: "Hope that's not a lie detector."
Turned out, smoke from a grill in the cafeteria set off the alarms.