to raise concerns in dramatic fashion in hopes of averting significant negative outcomes, as in “Our donor metrics have all been trending down for the past four quarters and management just isn’t getting it, we need to pull the fire alarm”; refers to actions or communications that will quickly get attention, especially that of one’s superiors or other decision-makers; doing so may include a desire to mitigate personal fallout by calling attention to problems before they have fully actualized, deflecting responsibility when things blow up; a milder variant is raise your hand, which suggests the decorousness of a student politely attracting the teacher’s regard without creating a ruckus; as with the literal example underpinning this phrase, it is always preferable to sound the alarm early, before the fire leaves only smoldering ruins