Written by Sarah Kyle
After a recent string of fire alarms in Shores Hall, officials from Public Safety and Physical Resources have evaluated the situation and have a plan of action to reduce future alarms: Educate and, when necessary, replace.Director of Public Safety Craig Russell and Assistant Director of Public Safety Kevin Davis said they believe one of the culprits of the false alarms in the dorm to be automated aerosol air deodorizers (sensor- or time-activated air fresheners mounted on the wall) placed just below the smoke detector in one block of rooms.”What we think was happening is it would go off, set the alarm off, but no one would be able to see anything when they showed up because it wasn’t going off at that moment,” Russell said. “We’d reset the alarm, and then a little later it’d go off again. We’re not absolutely sure that’s what did it, but once they pulled it out, the alarms quit.”Russell said that even though these alarms did not signal fire, it is important to remember that they are working exactly as intended: to detect particles in the air.”When those alarms sound even under those circumstances, they are doing what they are supposed to do,” Russell said. “I know it can be frustrating when an aerosol room freshener sets off an alarm, but the alarm is actually working how it’s supposed to work when it does that. It’s not a malfunction of the system.”Russell and Davis said any number of seemingly unlikely substances can set off an alarm, including steam from a hot shower, hair straighteners used directly below an alarm, perfume or body spray, aerosol deodorant and aerosol air fresheners.Davis said another cause of the alarms is leaving food on the stove unattended, not using overhead oven fans while cooking and burning popcorn in the microwave.”In the dorms that have kitchens: Stay with your food as you’re cooking it,” Davis said. “In the ones that don’t: Stay with your popcorn that you’re microwaving or your macaroni and cheese.”Russell said that while most of the alarms have been caused by human error, the cause of one of the Shores alarms could not be diagnosed. In these cases, Physical Resources will automatically replace any faulty alarms.”The plan right now is to better educate those not only in Shores, but everywhere, on the types of things that can set those alarms off. Maybe we can reduce some of them that way,” Russell said. “The alarms that we cannot explain, [Physical Resources] will simply replace all of the detectors in whatever suite of rooms are set up in one zone. Right now, [they] are implementing that plan.”Davis said Public Safety has made multiple improvements to fire safety practices in the dorms in the last few years, including Knox-Boxes containing master keys for the fire department and the continued installation of automatic dialers in all dorms.”Fire safety is one of those things that we’ve taken seriously for years,” Davis said.While Russell said that it can be tempting for students to ignore fire alarms after a seemingly excessive string of alarms, he said it is important for them to evacuate a building any time an alarm sounds.”A building can catch fire and trap somebody very, very quickly,” Russell said. “We’d rather have a little bit of inconvenience — and it is an inconvenience to wake up in the middle of the night — but that’s preferable to someone getting hurt or worse in a real fire.”
