is there anyone who downright hates fire alarms/drills?

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I went to high school with a guy who had autism and they had it in writing that he had to be removed from the building before the fire alarm was set off every time. My school handled it the right way. If it's in his I.E.P that he can't handle alarms, they have to follow it. I think as autism rises, more schools are going to have to accommodate people with autism and I'm sure fire alarms are a subject that comes up often.

I really hate fire alarms. They're so loud. I get that they have to be that way to alert all the classes, but having an alarm every few classrooms? That's overdoing it a bit. The classes aren't that loud that there has to be not only a fire alarm in every room but outside the room too.

Just to clarify another thing, when I was in elementary and intermediate school, the alarms in the classrooms were just strobe lights only, but in elementary school, a siren was played over the intercom during an alarm (which made my fear worse at the time). That change took place starting in my 3rd grade year mostly because in my 2nd grade year, we were having portable classrooms outside that did not have any signals installed, and students and teachers were having trouble hearing the outdoor alarm at the time.

When I was in Jr. high onward, however, all of the classrooms (except for a few in high school) had horns in the room, which is what prompted me to casually use my shoulders to hold my ears. In Jr. high and high school, a drill would occur either a minute or two after the tardy bell in each class period, or it would take place sometime during the first 10 minutes. During the times that I was threatened with disciplinary action for advance knowledge of a drill, I would use my shoulders to casually hold my ears so the alarm would not catch me off-guard.

I too hated fire alarms when I was a kid -- it was one of the biggest sensory issues I had. My elementary school had a drill once per month, and some days I couldn't concentrate in class knowing that the alarm could go off any second. I hated the sound of the alarm (a loud buzzer), and I hated not knowing when it would go off.

I tended to feel "safer" if the classroom door was closed, so then the alarm wouldn't be so loud when it went off. I also felt relieved once the monthly drill was over, knowing I wouldn't have to worry about until the next month.

I had this issue mainly through elementary school...once I entered junior high it wasn't so bad anymore. Also, my junior high school eventually changed the sound of the alarm from a blaring buzzer to a high-pitched chirping sound that didn't bother me.

But in general, I was scared of nearly any loud buzzing noise. Another one I hated was the times-up horn at basketball games. My father was a coach and often took me along to games as a kid, and sometimes the sound of the horn would scare me so much I'd start crying...and the echo inside the gym made it all the worse. I eventually took to wearing ear plugs at basketball games, which of course led to some teasing...but I dealt with it. (Although, I did have a meltdown one time when a particularly cruel kid actually pulled my earplugs out and wouldn't give them back...I think I even socked him in the face.)

I used to get extremely anxious when a fire drill or fire alarm test was announced (or when I sensed that one of these events would take place) in elementary school, sometimes days before it would actually happen. I absolutely feared hearing the loud and sudden sound of the alarm; waiting for the instant when it would go off always made me very anxious. Even though I didn't enjoy these situations, I didn't really have a problem with unannouned drills or unexpected/false alarms since there was no anticipation, therefore eliminating the stress I would feel in the case of an announced drill.

I stopped fearing fire drills in high school since I realized that the administrators at my school practically never planned them, so this situation was quite rare. Even when they did, the drills were never announced; this eliminated the anticipation that would usually stress me out, as I wasn't aware that a drill would be held. I'm glad that they were rare occurrences since the alarm in that building happened to be intolerably loud in some areas.

Yes, I still have a little bit of fear when we have a fire drill. Thankfully not so far this year.

Elementary was much worse than it is now in HS...the alarms were electromechanical buzzers (Simplex 2901) and scared the rear end out of me. Very loud low pitched buzzer - I still hate those old vibrating buzzers!! Sometimes I was allowed to go outside but that only was a couple of times...usually I plugged my ears, used earplugs, or in the case of one time years ago, unplugged a pair of headphones from the computer lab. I would be so worried about them that I almost stayed home from school a few times on drill days. The portables were even worse - 4903s. Those are the loudest alarms I have ever heard...loud LOUD!! One time in 4th grade we had an alarm going off and those things were horrible...hope I never go through those again.
Still 2901s when we were in 7th grade - and they went off at least twice due to faulty smoke detectors in the school year. One of those times was in pouring down rain - staff was directing kids just getting off the bus for the morning out to the evacuation area. Half of the school (or more) was soaked going into 1st period.
Had TruAlerts - loud code 3 buzzers in 8th and 9th grade. Still scared the crap out of me - I remember having a drill seconds after the 1st bell after lunch.
The best ones were when I was in Monroe...they were Wheelocks with a voice evac and a QUIET code 3 buzzer. Wow those didn't bother me at all! Wish I was in the same school still.
Loud alarms have come back here in Yakima with System Sensor P2Rs. They are LOUD screeching buzzers when you are near them. Not as bad as those horrible Simplexs, but still not good for my sensitivity. I am much better than I was in 1st grade however with drills, and we've only had to hear those screeching P2Rs once. There have been way more lockdown drills for drugs than fire drills. Maybe it's because the students should know how to get out of the building now.

I volunteer at an elementary school once a week and those fire alarms look like pure hell. They are Edwards Flush Mounts from around 1965-70 with the "FIRE HORN" plate on them. I hope they never ever go off when I am volunteering. Some of the NTs that are my friends at school even dreaded and hated them. They said they were deafening.

I don't really care about the sound. As long as it's not too loud.

Yes! Now that I'm in Secondary it's not that bad because the alarms arn't so bad, but it still is bad. The horrible noise that gives you a headache, the sudden stress of getting into register order... I hate them!

The noise is so loud and irritating. And when you're finally outside and away from the noise, you have to adjust to the weather. And they wait until you're finally comfortable with the weather outside to let you in. It also disturbs class time where I could be doing something more productive instead of learning to stand outside in the cold. It's even worse when one of your specific classrooms has a ringing noise that screeches over the beeping noise.

How often did everyone's school have a fire drill? In my region, it was usually once per month, although sometimes a month was skipped. I'm not sure if this is mandated everywhere, though.

Personally, I think the only time a fire drill might be necessary is during national fire prevention week (the second week of October in America.) Having one every single month seems a bit ridiculous.

^fire drills are usually around every two months but it's not like i actually care to check. perhaps 9 or 10 weeks.
we have earthquake drills and lockdowns just as often as well. earthquakes are a big thing here in cali.

the alarms were pretty loud but i was allowed to cover my ears and usually i got in more trouble for loosing the class on the way out and ending up with some random class and they'd end up radioing back and forth so they could fix the head counts. it got better when i figured out to physically attach myself to a person from the original class from for the trip there and the one back. slightly annoying to the classmate but they were very nice about it.
i had a harder time with whatever drill put us in the basement. alarms, too many people, plus i ALAWAYS ended up in the group for the boy locker, room which smells weird.

I know this is a little late, but here is the link to the audio recording I made in 2011.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCIPHK-HcE8
The YouTube feature was not working properly when I wrote this post originally.