1794: Fire
| Fire |
 Title text: Billy Joel briefly detained |
Explanation
In the United States and Canada, the terms one-alarm fire, two-alarm fire, and three-alarm fire are used to categorize the level of response to fires by local authorities. The term multiple-alarm fire is also used to indicate a severe fire.
A newspaper is shown reporting on a fire at an alarm factory. However, due to the very nature of the location, the alarms in the factory (at least 50,000 of which are functioning smoke, heat and/or carbon monoxide alarms) have been set off, leading to the event being described as a "50,000-alarm fire", which does not relate necessarily to the severity of the fire, but to the number of alarms that have been triggered in the factory.
The illustration shows visible sound waves from the alarms, which would be impossible to capture in real life (unless it's a video recording at several thousand frames per second).
The title text mentions the musician Billy Joel being questioned as a suspect for the fire, which is a reference to his song "We Didn't Start the Fire". In other words, Billy Joel claims that he is not responsible for the fire at the alarm factory.
Transcript
[The panel shows the front page of a newspaper and several unreadable sections left of, right of, and below the main front page news. A large heading is written above a photo. In the photo an alarm factory is on fire, with "alarm" symbols depicting sound waves. Below the headline and below the picture are black lines indicating the main text in the article.]
- Headline: 50,000-Alarm Fire at Alarm Factory
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This is probably the first time I have ZERO idea what the comic is supposed to mean... --141.101.96.88 17:02, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
Seems to be a reference to the way fire departments measure fire intensity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple-alarm_fire 108.162.212.161 17:12, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
The joke being that because its an alarm factory its 50,000 alarms, the amount of physical alarms on site, as opposed to the alarm rating given by the fire commander 162.158.142.70 17:14, 3 February 2017 (UTC) MrMX
The exaggeration of the alarm rate can be a reference on how current media in US are driven to report on harmless events in a much more drastic way. It's maybe a reference to the "alternative facts" that we get told where the press spokesman exaggerates the number of people attending a presidential inauguration or the other spokeswoman to talk about a massacre that never happened. 162.158.91.137 17:35, 5 February 2017 (UTC)
Not sure the alarms have to be functioning or "set off" to be relevant, they could just be alarms, in whatever state, that are on fire. 172.68.54.76 17:24, 3 February 2017 (UTC)Fred -- Could even be burglar alarms, or medical alarms... Though 50.000 fire alarms that actually somehow simultaneously catch fire is funny. 141.101.104.209 19:25, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
"We didn't start the fire" :-) Keybounce (talk) 18:44, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
Billy Joel also sings "An Innocent Man" in which he reiterates through the chorus "I am an innocent man". "We Didn't Start the Fire" is clearly the most relevant, but this is a nice extra little tid-bit. 162.158.79.5 20:42, 3 February 2017 (UTC)
I hadn't noticed the "sound-waves" in the newspaper photo. That's very amusing. Jkshapiro (talk) 01:35, 5 February 2017 (UTC)
The people on Candid really seem to like this one. :) --JayRulesXKCD what's up? 17:27, 6 February 2017 (UTC)
I added a mention of http://patch.com/massachusetts/cambridge/cambridge-fire-blazing-reached-six-alarms (which, notwithstanding the URL, was ultimately a ten-alarm blaze). 108.162.219.16 19:56, 6 February 2017 (UTC)
Disagree with the latest edit, regarding the "sound-waves" in the newspaper photograph: "aside from the fact that this is a cartoon and that's how cartoons work". Even in the cartoon world, photographs don't typically include an audio component. Jkshapiro (talk) 23:42, 11 February 2017 (UTC)
It's reminiscent of a Steve Wright joke about the candle factory that burned down. Everyone stood and sang "happy birthday" (referring to the tradition of candles on the cake, one for each year of the victim's age). Or the more obscure joke a 1 "L" lama, that's a priest a 2 "L" llama, that's a beast a 3 "L" lama, that's a really big fire! 162.158.63.34 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Reminds me this: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/dec/20/huge-explosion-fireworks-market-mexico-video 108.162.241.4 14:58, 8 April 2017 (UTC)
