BERMUDA—A number of people at the Bermuda Captive Conference here today are walking around bleary-eyed and yawning. That's not because of a night of partying (although that was the case with a few that I've talked to), but rather due to loud sirens blaring throughout the hotel in the early morning hours. |

Those staying here were woken at 1:30 a.m., by sirens relayed over a loudspeaker. They were followed by a recorded announcement of a problem that was being investigated. This sequence was relayed over and over. Finally the sirens stopped. I drifted back to sleep, but was soon wide awake because of more sirens. They lasted a while and then stopped, thankfully.

While the situation was unsettling, I could easily have put it aside, had it not been for an almost the identical situation at the last conference I attended, only weeks ago. That was the Public Risk Management Association conference in Dallas.

There, all the rooms opened into a huge atrium, where in the early morning hours a siren blasted with a loud “warning, warning,” stating that a fire had been reported and all should evacuate.

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