Bernell DorroughNearly four years ago, a 4:30 a.m. dorm fire at Seton Hall University caused the deaths of three students. This tragedy followed 18 consecutive false alarms within 4 months.
A late-night false alarm comes as an unwelcome wake-up call for students hard at work or getting a few precious hours of sleep, but a lack of response to alarms is a cause of concern among students and Washington University officials.
Sophomore Jie Wang was awakened by a recent early-morning false alarm.
Although annoyed, safety concerns caused her to join the rest of her building’s residents outside.
“If I didn’t [leave], what if it was real?” said Wang.
Wang added that she understands why other students might hesitate to evacuate.
“Alarms go off so often, and every time they go off, it’s because someone’s making popcorn,” said Wang. “But I wanted to be safe, because I thought no one would be making popcorn at 4:00 a.m.”
According to University Safety Coordinator Paul Landgraf, the recent false alarms have had various causes, including steam from a shower, a bag of burnt popcorn and an activated fire alarm pull station.
“There are always those people who choose not to take fire alarms seriously or hesitate to leave a building when a fire alarm goes off,” wrote Landgraf in an email to Student Life. “Fortunately, this is a small percentage of the student population.”
According to Landgraf, the fire drills that took place at the beginning of the year went well overall.
“In all but one or two buildings, most students evacuated in less than three minutes, which is very good,” wrote Landgraf.
Not leaving when an alarm is sounded has legal consequences, according to Landgraf.
“It is against the law and local city ordinance for people not to respond to a fire alarm and obstruct the operation of fire department or police department personnel,” wrote Landgraf. “This is because it not only puts themselves at risk, but the police officers, fire fighters and emergency medical personnel who respond to fires, as they may have to perform search and rescue because someone chose not to leave a building.”
Senior Jason Kenny, a residential advisor, noticed that some of his building’s residents did not leave during a recent false alarm.
“I really thought about not going outside,” said Kenny. “There were a lot of people who didn’t leave. It was really cold outside that night.”
Senior Melissa Woolls is an RA in another building where a false alarm sounded early in the morning.
“I know my whole floor went down, but I’ve heard that some slept through it,” said Woolls. “Some people were a little upset [about having to leave], but it’s not a weekly occurrence, so it’s not a huge deal.”
According to University Chief of Police Don Strom, hesitation to evacuate is present not just among students in dorms, but also among other people who use academic buildings throughout campus.
“I think we all have to make the assumption that when the alarm goes off that some sort of threat has been recognized,” said Strom. “Unfortunately [lack of response] is part of the problem that occurs by having false alarms…people become less conscientious.”
Not leaving a building immediately can have tragic consequences.
“I remember situations during which people didn’t heed the warning of the alarm, and the fire spread so quickly that the small window they had to get out of the building evaporated,” said Strom.
Sophomore Amin Shazly shares this concern.
“It worries me to think that when people hear a fire alarm, they’ll think it’s one of those [false alarms] and not leave the building,” said Shazly.
According to Landgraf, a cautious attitude toward alarms is vital to fire safety.
“Getting to that mindset takes many different things to occur,” said Landgraf. “The University tries to address them through education programs, training sessions and asking each student to get out and stay alive when fire alarms go off.”